The Wonky Prong
On the Crossfields Estate in Deptford, London (where I have lived for the past three years) there was a small unused piece of land where people used to dump rubbish and it was full of broken glass and rusting beer cans.
The flats on the estate do not have gardens, and some of the residents were enthusiastic about growing food. In 2012 I set up a community gardening project called The Wonky Prong and applied for funding from various organisations in order to build a community garden. The funding bodies included The Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency, Capital Growth and Lewisham Homes.
Using the funding we built raised beds, had soil, trees and plants delivered and installed an external tap.
The community garden is just next to the ball-court on the estate, and so children playing would come over to see what we were doing and join in. We grew a wide variety of fruit, herbs and vegetables.. with the emphasis on quick harvesting and sweet tasting produce which the children come pick and eat straight away.. such as mange toute peas, strawberries and cherry tomatoes.
