What’s a kitchen without a garden? Determined this year to connect with the process of growing my own produce, I sat down and mapped out a rough plan for a small Vegetable & Herb plot in my back yard, inspired by Xanthe White’s Organic Vegetable Garden guide, and pointers from Carene during last years’ Hackney City Farm Organic Gardening Course. A few hours of satisfying toil later, the garden is cleared, ready for action.

The plants start arriving at the Hackney City Farm food forest. They find their place, and are planted by the group with rich manure from the Farm to help them on their way. Handwritten signs are made for each plant with growing details and interesting facts.

Planning of the new ‘Food Forest’ garden being created on Hackney City Farm property behind Broadway Market, as part of an 11 week course on Garden regeneration. The group has drawn up a plan for planting trees, edible shrubs and plants in the space, with a pond, Pagoda shelter and several seating areas. The next step is to start digging!

Salad leaves and nasturtiums harvested from the Hackney City Farm, by students of the 10 week Organic Farming programme.