The Garden in New Ferry
Seeing as my family home is in New Ferry, which is just across the river from Liverpool where I’ve been studying since autumn, I thought I’d cultivate a garden so that I could eat nutritious food during my time at university. I began in August, a month before my course started, creating multiple new beds using old bricks my grandad had laid aside to give them shape and elevation. I mixed in ready compost created by food waste from the house, and manure from the garden centre. I planted a few vegetables, hoping I would get a crop before winter. Most of them died off, but a few remain and perhaps they’ll make it to spring! I also planted a fig, and two gooseberries, although it’s hard to tell how alive they are. The other thing I did was transplant lots of mini calendula flowers from the front garden, and one of them is now flowering! Hopefully they will perniciously take over the garden with their many shades of sun coloured petals. My favorite part of the entire project is making good use of the compost system. I love the entire process of putting kitchen food waste in the compost bin, taking it outside, and tipping it on the compost heap and watching the decay and insect activity over the following months as it morphs into dark, nutrient dense plant food. There is something so satisfying about turning your waste into something useful, rather than sending it to landfill. It’s like, ‘You may have my soul, but I’m not letting you have my potato peelings!’ So far this winter I have pruned the apple trees to improve their structure and let more light in for this years veg. I’ve also coppiced a large hazel, and I now have many green rods, some as wide as 4 inches in places. It will grow back I’m sure. My remaining goals for this winter are to pollard a couple of ash trees which will let in some more light, and reduce the beech hedge by about a third, and another third next year, so I don’t shock it too much, as it is quite overgrown. I would also like to plant some more fruit bushes, as they are so low maintenance and produce such nutritious berries.
Freshly pruned apple trees in January
Planted by grandad decades ago
