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This project at The Activity Loft at No 11, The Vineries, in Gillingham was funded by the Community Safety Partnership in
October 2006 to design a new front and back garden incorporating a community art project. The garden (as it was then) can be seen below.
In late 2006, the garden was cleared of glass and debris and a new lawn was laid. In this period, Serpentina held design workshops with local children and parents
to choose plants and to look at the uses of the garden eg mother and toddler groups, teenage groups, parties for hired groups etc. An art workshops was held in November
2006 in the house, attended by approximately 60 residents of The Vineries of all ages.
 
Following this design day, plans for the garden were created and discussed with the Steering Group (see pic above) in January 2007.
Artist Serpentina ordered seeds from Chase Organics and herbs from
Manor Farm Herbs. Several beds were to be edible plants or those used medicinally such as chamomile, lavender etc. In mid-summer produce would be grown according to season and
visitors to the house can enjoy fresh strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, herbs and salad greens. Care was taken to include flowers and plants to attract bees and insects to the garden.
Raised beds were then made for the plants and a seat was constructed using tree stumps and stained wood so that visitors can enjoy sitting in the shade in summer... A gardening group
was established to maintain the garden in its first season, and hopefully beyond. Lots of hard digging, careful transplanting and feeding of herbs like thyme and sage and some more unusual
ones like Wintery savory, lovage and borage took place from February through to April 2007. Education for the gardeners about composting, using cuttings to stalk plants, putting teabags in
compost and flowers that will attract bees and ladybirds, birds and insects was my idea from the start and particularly to garden organically without harmful pesticides, using companion planting to
discourage insects and wildlife to eat the ones that damage plants.
By mid-summer I envisage blooms of colour, edible fruits and herbs for making teas and salad greens to eat. There will be sunflowers grown to produce edible seeds which can be used to feed the
birds (if the humans don't get to them first!). We have been careful not to plant poisonous flowers, as encouraging toddlers to taste growing food could be disastrous in the case of some plants like
Foxgloves and lupins (despite missing their bright colours and form in a garden of this type).
As an artist, I wanted to transform and brighten up the exisiting space. The shutters on the windows and doors were transformed by children from the estate in February, helped by
volunteers and people from the community. All the paints used came from Ecos, and contain nothing harmful and very low VOCs.
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