Cooper Park Community Beds

There are fruit bushes, veg and herbs available at the beds near the old aviary in Cooper Park. Please help yourself to what you can use. Bear in mind it’s a public space so follow guidance about coronavirus – keep a distance if others are there, wear gloves and/or wash or disinfect your hands after harvesting and wash everything before eating. Here’s our latest update:

Chives are thriving amongst the herbs and blackcurrant bushes in the raised beds. The bees are very busy around them. I counted 10 buzzing around.  You can eat the flowers of these plants, add the petals to brighten up a leafy salad. For the leaves just snip at the bottom of the stem to harvest, wash them and use a scissors to cut them into small pieces. Add to some diced steamed new tatties, cooled with some mayonnaise mixed through for a tattie salad.

 

The gooseberries are coming on well this year along with the strawberries and herbs in the raised bed. Be careful when they are ready to harvest there are thorns on the stems. Won’t be long now till they turn red, that’s when you know these ones are ready, you can then take a few handfuls and make a lovely gooseberry coulis  to drizzle on some natural yoghurt.

We’ll layer some of the stems for propagating so we can share in the autumn. Some of the hardwood cuttings that were taken in March have rooted so they’ll be ready to share too.

 

 

New annual bed:

Two rows of salad tatties, cabbage, kale, turnip and onion all planted in the park.

Protected by willow hoops and jute twine.

You can just see the old aviary in the back ground. That has been filled with tomatoes, French beans, onions, courgette, cucumber, peppers and lots more.