17 September 2024
Behind the scenes: Creating the Children's & Community Garden
Earlier this summer, the gates opened to the brand-new Children’s and Community Garden at Wakehurst. Go behind the scenes to discover its story, told by Wakehurst cultural gardener, Carmen Sheridan.
The changes were spurred on by a desire to open the space to even more children, creating accessible and inclusive spaces for all to play and grow. After 10 years of mud pie baking, the existing Mud Kitchen was on its last legs, in need of a refresh and redecoration.
The first step was to get designs and ideas down on paper. Just before Christmas, a group was brought together at Wakehurst to start imaging what the new Children’s & Community Garden would look like.
The horticulture team had fun getting into a child's mind, creating innovative features and details for the ovens, as well as a stall where children could 'sell' their mud pies. We worked with local carpenters who brought these designs and ideas to life.
Work began in the area back in January, with our Artisan Gardener, Giles, skillfully digging and levelling the area to create a blank canvas. The next step was putting the edging in, using laser levels to ensure everything was aligned to precision. Although the edging looks effortless now, it was quite a task to get the steel to bend and flow in the desired way!
Wet, rainy days resulted in the team ending up plastered in mud most of the time, but work continued. We planted the birch trees, with the Arboretum team anchoring them into the ground to prevent wind rock. As the trees grow and their trunk widens, we’ll cut the decking away to allow them the space they need.
The local carpenters came back in and worked their magic, creating the decked area, whilst Dom, a local artist, created a beautiful woven fence along the back wall - using dogwood (Cornus) cut from the Winter Garden.
It was very meditative to watch him at work and the panel is a masterpiece! We wanted the area to feel as natural as possible, so we sourced material from around the garden to achieve this. The carpenters created beautiful benches and stools from felled wood, such as ash and western red cedar.
With an amazing crew of volunteers, we planted even more trees - cherry, plum and quince - and raked the area to a level and added the grass seed.
The final touches were the cabinets added to the deck, and Giles finished the paths with Breeden gravel. The team came together one last time for a wood staining session, in the baking sunshine!
Stop by the Children's & Community Garden on your next visit to Wakehurst, to discover the brand new Mud Kitchen, as well as an edible meadow and the UK's first experimental bee bank. This raised area provides a haven for ground-nesting bees, as part of our Nature Unlocked research project.
.jpg1d72.webp "Wakehurst in autumn, Jim Holden © RBG Kew")
