John Evelyn Community Garden

Rich in history and heritage. Lewisham Community Garden Series: Part 9

By Josey Crane Burrows, Good Food Lewisham Volunteer

 A beautiful loquat tree caught my eye as I wandered into the John Evelyn Community Garden in Deptford – it was established in 2000 and named after the late John Evelyn (local resident, writer and gardener). A new parterre styled garden is currently being created near the entrance, funded by the The Mayor's Green Finance Fund which once done, will be a delight to gaze down upon for those living in the flats above. Malcolm (Chair of the garden) and volunteers Shiroma and Sarah kindly showed me around, told me about the garden and in which areas they need help.

They have various fruit trees - apple, mulberry, elder, plum and an Alexander herb tree, one I hadn’t heard of before (it’s like celery and can be used in salads) as well as an oak and bay tree. People come and pick the produce and offer a small donation. They have a composting toilet, a pond, polytunnel and a pagoda for people (or cats) to relax under – a black cat took refuge under the pagoda as we stood and chatted. The pagoda will also be restored using funding from The Mayor’s Green Finance Fund.

Volunteer sessions

Sundays 2 – 6pm (summer) / 2-4pm (winter)

No need to call before attending, just pop along and sign-in.

Malcolm tells me that they’re keen to attract practically minded people from a broad range of specialisms – IT, engineers, architects as well as those keen to do some gardening.

Regular volunteers become registered as “Friends of John Evelyn Garden”, attend meetings and benefit from access to training courses and their wider community contacts.

Art and Creativity based workshops

The garden is also a hub for various art and creativity-based workshops. They’ve hosted jam-making sessions, corporate gardening days, elderflower cordial making, and art projects using natural dyes and run school visits for local children. The Green Space Art Collective run by Malcolm, Sarah and Shiroma offer creative art projects inspired by the natural world at the garden, find out about upcoming events here:

https://www.instagram.com/greenspaceartcollective/

Help needed

They’re in need of more funding for projects, volunteers and help with promoting the garden.

What’s the one thing?

When I ask the all-important question “what’s the one thing you’d like people to know about your space?”, they say this:

“The John Evelyn Garden is rich in history and heritage, a natural place for anyone wanting to garden or to enjoy spending time in nature. We treat nature as a friend and believe in the principles of permaculture, biodiversity and organic gardening”.

Vision for the future

In time, Malcolm says he’d like the community garden to be self-watering and self-powering and hopes to create a 2-storey shed with computers to monitor the garden.

Pop along

It’s the hard work and dedication of groups of volunteers like Malcolm, Shiroma and Sarah that help to keep community gardens alive and thriving so if you have any free time, please pop along. There's nothing quite like spending time in nature, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to help rejuvenate our mind and body and The John Evelyn Garden offers exactly that.

Address: Windlass Pl, London SE8 3QA