Broomfield Park in Palmers Green is Growing and Getting Wilder!

19th April 2015

by David March, Friends of Broomfield Park (FoBP)

AS FEATURED IN OUR SUMMER 2015 edition of Palmers Green & Southgate LIFE magazine

Yes, it’s true. The Friends of Broomfield Park (FoBP) have been given the go-ahead to create a Community Growing Space and have also been awarded £5K from the Enfield Residents Priority Fund to create a Wildlife Pond.

The Community Growing Space will be on a strip of land between the orchard and the tennis courts. It will be a space where people of all ages, especially school children and older people, can work together and grow their own healthy food. It will be possible to meet up with and make new friends and get regular physical exercise. There will be events and training demonstrations in the growing space and visits to other growing spaces.

We are at an early stage of the project, so this is an ideal opportunity for you to get involved in both its design and organisation. We would like to be as flexible as possible about how the space might be used and what will be grown. The group will need to sort out a number of important things, including the design of the space; and issues such

as the balance between areas for individuals, families, local groups and schools; how the ‘fruits of labour’ are to be used; the principle of ‘work in/produce out’ and whether it will be feasible to supply the Palmers Greenery community café.

The group will need to find a way to ensure that different groups and individuals are able to get involved in both the design of the space and work together effectively and cooperatively. For example, the design will need to include some raised beds as many people find these easier to look after. We hope that vandalism and theft will not be significant issues, as there will be secure boundaries, and there will be controls on easy access. It is noted that there have not been major security problems for other community growing ventures.

The WILDLIFE POND is part of a plan to improve biodiversity in the park, which includes a wildflower meadow and a hedgerow along part of Aldermans Hill and Powys Lane. Although a final decision has not yet been made on its location, our preferred site is next to the Community Orchard and Community Growing Space.

The pond will provide a habitat for many species of plants, invertebrates and amphibians. Frogs and other amphibians will help control garden pests in the

Community Growing Space, and flowering water plants and marginals will provide additional nectar and pollen for bees. We hope to involve young and older people in creating the new pond, which, with its dipping platform and interpretation board, will be a valuable resource for environmental studies by students from local schools and older people.

We would like to hear from individuals, local schools and organisations who would like to get involved in these projects. If you have grown vegetables or created a pond in your garden, tell us what you have learnt about it.

Visit www.friendsofbroomfieldpark.org or email communitygrowingspace@friendsofbroomfieldpark.org