The Old Chapel Salad Bar and Herberium

[roofgardener]

Hi there again everybody, and a warm welcome to 2022.

Well, I managed to get MOST of my archive photographs working again, so my old Roofgarden diaries are now working again. Sadly, the ones from 2021 look to be lost forever. Not to worry though; there weren't THAT many of them.

Well, I have a new project to titivate you all with.

I'm struggling to get to know all my new neighbours, so I'm going to stage a little stunt to get people to know me

Here is a photograph of the frontage of my new flat.



And a close up of the 'open to the sky' section to the left of it.



My cunning plan is to fill this area up with tiered plant-pot troughs with salad stuff and Erbs. And - hey presto - the Old Chapel Salad Bar and Herberium is born. I will put little signs up inviting people to help themselves, with little scissors on lanyards for them to cut the herbs and salad stuff, and lots of little pots for them to put it in and take it away.

Thoughts so far ?

(Other than... he must be MAD. Where would he grow the salads and Erbs ? Won't they all get stolen within days ? )

Well, I'll tell you the full story over the course of January

[Eli]

Good luck roofgardener I hope your plan is successful  

[grindle]

sounds like a great idea, look forward to seeing the progress

[SueA]

Lovely idea Roofy, I would be careful to make it clear that you only want people to snip little bits off or you might find them taking the full pot/trough of salad away with them ! It depends on the kind of area you're in as well, do they look like the kind of people who will use herbs or not? Hope it works for you, there is a community fruit/veg/herb garden here where we live outside the local fire station where people can help themselves but I'm not sure how many do, I think most of it probably ends up in the firemen's sandwiches!

[roofgardener]

Well, those are good questions SueA . My road is a virtual cul-de-sac, and most people on it are VERY well heeled. The only 'strangers' we get are the occasional dog walker.
(there IS a jitty at the end of the road that leads back to the main village).

I think many of them WILL use Erbs. But... the truth is.. I don't really know. It is all a little bit of an experiment.

I'm going to produce little laminated signs on each of the troughs and flowerpots explaining what the Erbs are, and how to use them. Hopefully people WILl just snip little bits off.

It doesn't REALLY matter though, 'cos the troughs on the front will be backed up by spare troughs of everything in my BACK garden. My 'engine room'.

I'll be posting some photographs of THAT fairly shortly

[SueA]

Should be good then Roofy, hope you get some takers & get to know some of the neighbours that way.

[Cherry]

Don’t forget to plant something pretty too. Nasturtiums, pansies and prostrate rosemary near the front, all edible. I like your idea.

[roofgardener]

Jan 9, 2022 9:25:21 GMT Cherry said:

Don’t forget to plant something pretty too. Nasturtiums, pansies and prostrate rosemary near the front, all edible. I like your idea.

Now THAT is an interesting thought !!

[roofgardener]

Well folks, my cunning plan relies on using my back garden to grow my salad reserves for when the front troughs are exhausted.

here is my back garden, shortly after I moved in.
(You can click on the pictures to see a larger version)

As you can see, the garden goes all the way to the edge on both sides. If you look closely, you can also see the weeds in the grass, which are particularly prelevant in the left-hand (from the perpective of looking out the back door) edge.


So, what have we done ? Well, firstly, I've mowed the lawn and weed/feeded it.


More significantly, I've dug up the lawn about 3' on one side to form a border, and put plastic edging strips down.

Then I've set up a workbench, and two shelving units (with their own covers) to house all my lotions, potions and plantpots etc.

This will by my 'engine room' for potting etc

The final thing is the back-door area. This has a transverse path about 3' wide running along my back wall. (currently very cluttered, but that will change).

This is virtually south-facing. My border DOES get a fair bit of sunshine, but the back path gets LOTS of sunshine. I will be placing multiple troughs and pots here to act as my growing centre for the front-porch Herberium.

Well, that's the plan, anyway

More to follow

[daitheplant]

Roofus, just remember, there is no such thing as an eccentric gardener. You go for it mate. Dai

[grindle]

bet it's nice to have a fair bit of space now

[ladybird]

Nice to see you back Roofy. lovely idea with the salad and herbs. I look forward to seeing what you do this year

[bestplayer]

Good idea Roofgardener, let's hope it will work!

[roofgardener]

Thanks all.
Now, I need some suggestions.
For the main salad stuff, I was going to go for little gem lettuce, rhokket, and raddishes. And perhaps some spring onions ?

Any other suggestions ?

[daitheplant]

Tomatoes, cucumber and potatoes?