Northway Gardens Organisation - News
 

May 2016
HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW NORTHWAY ROSE GARDENS LATELY?

 ITS BEE AND INSECT FRIENDLY
 Many are just pleased to see the many Bee and insect friendly plants. Some of the interesting wild plants ( even the Nettles and Yellow Ivy) were donated from gardens in the Chilterns. The Comfrey came closer to home NW11 7LP. All is organic. No weedkillers used. We make as much of our own leaf mould and Compost as possible.
 
A LONG TERM PLAN
It is designed to be sustainable, low maintainence  and low cost. An asset to the Suburb. We want it to give pleasure for many years, not to fail for being too complicated or costly in the long term.
 
WHATS YOUR OPINION? 
 
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
We are over 130 local residents who have contributed money, time, plants, labour and TLC.   And no digging as we use paid Gardeners (Barry and Eddie) for this. Do join us. There are absolutely no boring meetings and no minutes!  Pick some weeds, trim the grass edges, rake the leaves if you want when you want and share the goodies donated by Sherrards.
 
WE NEED YOUR MONEY PLEASE
This year can we ask  for donations to pay Barry and Eddie who do all the heavy work? It is 200 metres from the road to the end (from either Northway or Oakwood road). That's a long way with a full 70 kg wheelbarrow - don't try it sometime. Do see the 'before' photos on display at the Gardens.
 
We  are Northway Gardens Organisation (NGO).
Natwest Temple Fortune
Our Bank Account is 66631904
Sort Code 51 50 11
Or a Cheque to NGO, 69 Brookland Rise NW11 6DT
 
Many thanks from the NGO team.
 
And special thanks to our 2016 sponsor Ellis and co estate agents
and HGS Trust and HGS Residents Association for their grants.

March 2016
Looking Good

In October 2105 we put the excellent RA donation of some £2300 towards even more soil, compost, manure and grit
to the 20 Beds. Now we have received a donation of £325 from The HGS Trust and have applied to the RA for a similar amount. The Beds are looking good and there many new bulbs to be seen.
We were given a Community award by the Finchley Society and hope for another this year. All the volunteers are pleased to get this.
We are starting to see plants and shrubs maturing and by September the Rose Gardens should look very different
from what it looked like on November 2014.
To make a donation contact Brian Ingram 0208 458 5313


April 2015
6 Tonnes of Manure on the Rose Gardens

"It took 7 hours just to wheelbarrow the manure onto the beds" said Kristin Green one of the Northway Gardens Organisation leaders. "With 3 more Tonnes going on next week this will help transform the soil structure and allow plants to grow properly". "It was hot steamy work!" said Kristin. Brian Ingram added "With all beds now planted up including 7 Beds of wonderful Roses, we are on our way to transforming these ignored gardens; after 15 years of neglect it is starting to look sensible. The feedback from all visitors has been excellent and our little group of local residents (NGO) is very pleased. Barnet and us are going for low maintenance planting that will ensure the long term viability here." A new water supply has also been installed.

These Northway Gardens were started in 1905 and were the first and major Garden Planting in Hampstead Garden Suburb according to English Heritage.

NGO has had to rely only on donations from residents and supporters; although they are applying again, optimistically, to the Residents Association for some funding.

Their Bank Details are: Northway Gardens Organisation, NATWEST, Temple Fortune branch, Sort Code: 51 50 11, Account: 66631904
Or send a cheque payable to Northway Gardens Organisation to 69 Brookland Rise NW11 6D
Contact NGO: 0208 458 5313    07503212253


February 2015
Adopt a flower bed

We are now looking for interested families and households to each adopt one of the remaining 10 flower beds -plant and care for your very own piece of the park! Full assistance given if needed. You could plant simple things like Sunflowers, Cosmos, Nasturtiums or your favourite shrub.

Just this weekend a Resident planted a bed with 3 different Roses with wonderful HGS connections:

Red - Robert Winston
Yellow - Henrietta Barnet
Orange - Fellowship

All three are floribunda bush roses and are approximately 60w x 90h. details can be viewed online at Harkness roses. It will be underplanted  with Lavender during the summer if all goes well.

Residents and local businesses including Cosway Estate Agents and Brill Owen Architects have already chosen their beds.This has the potential to be a wonderful community project for all ages. Your involvement is greatly appreciated and encouraged. 

See our article on Page 11 of the latest Suburb News.

Please get in touch if you're interested.

January 2015
Water Supply & Soil Quality Update

LATEST:  WATER SUPPLY CONFIRMED
Barnet have just confirmed agreement to the installation of the new water supply as we wanted it.  This means the water cost will be £600, less than expected. We hope this means that the long term future of the Gardens is now assured - the threat of grassing over the gardens has been removed. Also future sustainable maintenance will be easier.
SOIL QUALITY: UPDATE
In 2003 Trees and Open Spaces wrote that the soil here was very poor indeed and to plant anything here would be a waste. Nothing was done after that. The good news is that Rose Sickness is unlikely now to be a big issue! The bad news is we now know the soil has not seen any work or Manure for 15 years. We are costing in an extra £1000 for Manure to our budget -and are out collecting money for this extra cost.
 
"We were able to dig and plant for 3 weeks before rain stopped play for the winter. It is now very muddy clay.
We were keen to plant some bulbs (Daffodils, Tulips, Snowdrops etc now) for Spring and to get some great early flowering shrubs into the ground, as well as explore the soil. We also planted some Roses (with advice from David Austin Roses) to first test the beds for possible Rose sickness. (For new Roses in theory all the soil should be removed and replaced with new but this would impossibly cost tens of thousands of pounds.) A spokesperson for Northway Gardens Organisation said 'Barnet chose us because our scheme is innovative, low maintenance, colourful, sensible and sustainable -and low cost'.
 
Said Brian Ingram "It does look a bit rough now in mid winter but over £800 of Manure and John Innes #2 has been used so far. Residents should appreciate that the top soil is only 3-4 inches deep and then it really is thick heavy clay which does need to be improved before much more can be done". (One specific 2 ft deep hole took 45 minutes to dig). Summer bulbs such as Crososmia, Iris, Schizostylis, Nerine, Liriope and Gladioli  will be planted as well as more  shrubs and annuals once the weather improves. At least one bed will be just for Bees and Butterflies.
 
So far we have relied on the great support and donations of residents. Residents who would like to donate, suggest or learn more could send a cheque made payable to "Northway Gardens Organisation" or contact Brian Ingram (NGO) at 69 Brookland Rise NW11 6DT, by phone on 0208 4458 5313 or e-mail
RosegardensNW11@gmail.com or facebook  Rosegardens NW11.

October 2014
Northway Gardens Organisation win bid to adopt Rose Gardens

Barnet Council’s Greenspaces team has announce that the Northway Gardens Organisation (NGO) has been successful in their bid to adopt the Rose Gardens in Northway Gardens.

The Greenspaces team had received two bids from local community groups who showed an interest in adopting the Rose Gardens. In order to give both groups a fair opportunity to showcase their ideas and plans, a simple evaluation matrix was designed to take into account the viability of each proposal. The evaluation considered the social impact for the local community, how the groups planned to consult and engage with the local community and the sustainability of the schemes.

The Northway Gardens Organisation will adopt the Rose Gardens for a period of three years. The group plan to replant the area with a mixture of plants in order to provide colour throughout the year and across all seasons. Within the gardens, the council will merge the two smallest beds into a new large flower bed. The council has also committed to providing the group with compost to help reinvigorate the soil within the gardens.

The group’s scheme will see the introduction of plants such as Hardy Roses, Spirea, Fuchsia and Liriope. There will also be a number of posts where Hydrangea, Variegated Jasmine, Trumpet VIne, Solanum Glasnevin will be trained to climb, adding further character to the gardens. All of these improvements will be delivered by volunteers and with the assistance of a local gardener who the group have secured for the length of the adoption.

If you would like to find out more or get involved please email rosegardensnw11@gmail.com or you can find the group on Facebook; rosegardensNW11

If you would like to see a favourite Shrub planted please do let us know. You could even
adopt a flower bed or donate to it.
Do go now and see the 'before'.  From Spring onward you should see a big difference.
Some planting will happen in November after digging over the beds and adding compost.




 
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