Edible Urban

Ada Place (zone 7) enjoys 806 square meters of public space and have already embarked on a successful food growing project. The housing around these grassed areas take up around 628 square meters while the forecourt, mostly used for car parking measures1448 square meters. The gardens are used greatly by the local Bangladeshi community. They recycle found objects to create a bricolage effect to support the gowing of dodi’s and runner beans.

Goldsmith’s Triangle (zone 8), built during the early 1950’s, contain over 2703 sq meters of courtyard garden space. Its mixed fruit and vegetable production bring the community together producing around 10% of their short session vegetable needs. Moreover, its pathways through the gardens provide ample opportunity for residents to talk to each other.

Hospital (zone 11) The corner of the former Queen Elizabeth Hospital for children has been disused for years. It is home to several apiaries. If you take a walk down Goldsmiths Row and look up at the roof tops of the empty buildings, you can see thousands of honey bees flying from the 20 hives. The large disused carpark at the rear, is covered is raised beds and produces 100 salad bags per week during the growing session.

Coate Street (zone 10), has plently of space for growing, polytunnels and composting. It can produce most of its own soil and harvest rain water from its sloping rooftops. Yet the space remains empty. Contrast this with the food growers of Teale Street or the secret garden on the Warburton and Darcy Estate (top right of London Fields, zone 2).

Whiston Road (zone 13), has extensive gardens measuring 0.7 hectare (or 7,000 sq.m) producing a basket of crops totalling 24.67 tonnes.This includes parsnips, Spinach, shallots, and onions from intercropping.

Regents Row . The estate leads up towards houses with private gardens producing 69kg of cabbage with an inter-crop of Spinach equal to 120kg. The public spaces provide a communal gardening club for all ages.

Teale Street (zone 9) boast one of the most successful food gardens in the area. Its many small front gardens are full of pumpkins, spinach, potatoes, and beans. These vegetables hang over into the street, using the railings and front garden walls.If you are lucky, you will see the gardeners. They are happy to engage in conversations about the plants they grow.

Moye Close (Zone 12). On the east side of the Goldsmiths Row is a small close. Rows of carrots produce a yield of 13kg a year. These are companion planted with peas (18kg), chives (18kg), onion (72kg) and leeks (174kg). South of Moye Close, an orchard has been planted by the Hackney City Farmers to compliment the farm’s vegetable garden.

Broadway Market West (zone 5). Despite its fragmented look and obvious excess of consumption, the North end of Broadway offers a consolidated rooftop space of 733 m2. This is enough space 10 beehives and a short session vegetable garden providing salads and annuals.

Duncan Road (zone 4) and Sheep Lane form a border to Alden House. The 76 flats have acess to the 1,100 m2 gardens, giving them 14 m2 per person for growing of food. These older blocks of flats have much more generous allocation of gardens, with the flats and gardens having equal footprints. These make them idea for converting to food production. The use of this area for food production dates back to the 17th century, when Sheep Lane was known as Mutton Lane.

London Fields (zone 2) This leisure corner of London Fields opens out northwards and features 20 dwarf apples trees. Each tree produces approx 40 kg of fruit, with an overall harvest of 4700 apples. In September, the park becomeds a festival space and the various market gardeners and local food growers take over the park to celebrate. They sell red cabbages, onions, broad, French and runner beans, as well as local honey and the wine for which this corner of Hackney has become famous. Walk through the small gate and estate car park behind the sculpture to get to Warburton & Darcy TRA garden. It contains as vast variety of edible plants, fruit and vegetable plots. Relax on a bench amongst the well established herb beds.

London Fields Primary School (zone 3) has a large rooftop area suitable for an edible forest garden and 6 beehives. The 400 m2 garden contains over 120 varieties of trees, shrubs and herbs. This garden is modelled on the RISC edible forst garden, the only one in the UK. see www.risc.org.uk

SPACE (Zone 1) The varied rooftops of the SPACE Gallery and the surrounding buildings are home to 45 beehives. In late August, each hive produces 30 kgs of honey, some 1350 kgs in total or 3,000 jars. The lower rooftops are short session vegetable gardens and leisure spaces.

Wharf Zone 6. This new development on Wharf Road lacks the garden spaces of the older housing developments in the area (see zone 4). Their small civic squares support some food growing, a rehearsal space for residents to learn and socialise.

Dericote (zone 16) and Croston Street have large private gardens. Each house uses 14% of its back garden for food production, as was common during World War Two. On the North of Dericote, behind the houses, is a large forest garden. Click on the audio for more details of the edible forest garden.

Welshpool (zone 15) Central to this area is the 17 storeys Welshpool House built in 1965. Its surrounding gardens are a fixture of fruit trees and raised beds. Residents garden this space collectively on Saturdays or on days off during the week. The garages in Benjamin Close have been converted to mushroom farms and a large rooftop apiary.