Rosamund Community Garden Update June 2025

a wildlife garden for the community in Guildford, Longdown Road, GU4 8PP

Hello and welcome to June’s garden update.

📅UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE GARDEN

Thursday, 5th June: FareShare Tea party at the Garden 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm (closed group)

Thursday, 5th June 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm Foraging group with Joyful Outdoors (closed group)

Saturday, 7th June 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Family Gardening Session at Rosamund Community Garden. Bring the whole family for some outdoor fun! It’s a wonderful opportunity to connect with nature, learn new skills, and enjoy the fresh air. Drop in on the first Saturday of each month » non-members please REGISTER HERE 

Sunday, 8th June Bodgers 10:30 am - 3:00 pm Day in the Hub (closed group)

Thursday, 12th June 10:00 am - 3:00 pm Surrey Choices cobbing group (closed group)

Saturday, 14th June 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Random Dialogues at the Hub INFO

Sunday, 13th July 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Cobbing at the Hub (open group all welcome)

🌍EVENTS AT ZERO GUILDFORD » CLICK

🧺Kindred Cloth Collective: A Natural Dyeing Project & Fashion Commons at Rosamund Community Garden

Author: Erin Donohoe

My name is Erin Donohoe, and I’m the founder of Kindred Cloth Collective – a community-led fashion commons that explores natural dyeing, plant cultivation, and regenerative fashion practices. Over the past few months, I’ve been working with the inspiring team at Rosamund Community Garden in Guildford to grow dye plants and researching traditional, low-impact textile dyeing and colour making techniques though natural dyeing exploration, and practice-based workshops to explore new ways of extracting colour for dye, as the fashion industry is heavily reliant on synthetic dyestuff that have negative impacts on the health and future of our planet. 

This project is part of my ongoing MA research into sustainable fashion, and it’s rooted in the idea that reconnecting with plants can also reconnect us with each other.

With the support of the garden team and volunteers, we’ve been cultivating plants like coreopsis, weld, black night, dyers chamomile, woad, and many other native plant species that already grow, such as comfrey – all of which produce beautiful natural dyes. We plan to run hands-on workshops where participants can learn how to extract colour using safe and simple techniques, that can be used to extend the longevity of existing garments. 

This project is more than just making colour, it’s about working with local ecosystems, protecting biodiversity, while finding new ways to revive existing textile items we may throw away. 

By growing our own dyes and sharing skills locally, we’re reimagining fashion as something collaborative and place-based, not extractive or disposable. 

We’ll be harvesting woad leaves this summer, with more workshops to come. If you’re curious you’re warmly invited to join in – no experience needed! Keep an eye on Rosamund Garden website and follow me on Instagram:

@kindredclothcollective for updates. 

🌱GARDEN NEWS

by Clare Millington

This lovely, dry, sunny spring has really suited the garden and kept slugs at bay, meaning our young plants have a chance of getting going before the rain comes back.

It’s been a massive aphid and blackfly month, though, so we’re awaiting the ladybirds and lacewings with baited breath. In the meantime, a good spray with diluted washing-up liquid is quite effective at putting them off.

We’ve cleared out the salads in Poly 1, using a cut and drop method, where the roots are kept in the soil to minimise disturbance and to continue to maintain the water in the soil and release sugars to feed the micro-organisms. This works well with annuals like salad crops as they don’t grow again, like perennial weeds and the cut plants can be strewn as a mulch to keep the soil covered.

We’ve planted tomatoes and basil into this, and cucumbers into Poly 2.

The beans and squash are nearly all planted out around the garden, and any extras will be popped into the forest garden for this year, while the perennials are being established.

Volunteers

We’ve had some lovely new volunteers coming to the garden, with lots of enquiries from SCC support workers looking for placements for clients needing to re-connect with people and nature. 

We’d love to hear about your experiences at the garden, and get feedback on how we can improve the experience and what projects people would like to get involved in going forward.

We’re hoping to get a summer BBQ in the diary (before the Apple Pressing) for volunteers to share stories, ideas and food. Watch this space for dates.

The Hub

We had a wonderful day with Aqu Education group doing their corporate volunteering. They had a lot of fun learning to cob and wattle and daub, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Last week, we hosted a group of Nepalese people from Camberley, facilitated by Surrey Hills Society. We learnt a few Nepalese words and there was lots of laughter while they completed their wattle and daub wall. I hastily put away my sandwich, when they magically produced a feast of delicious curries, breads and bhagis from their backpacks.

We went for a walk in the meadows and learnt about Nepalese life from Tek (who organises their outings and get togethers) It really was very special to invite them to the garden and hear their stories. They will be coming back for a private apple pressing day in September.

The Pitstop and AMC have been busy this month putting up the trellis for the outdoor area, completing the new compost bays and making edging for our beds. It’s all looking really smart, and we’re going to have some open cobbing sessions next month, for anyone who fancies a go at traditional building. Do email if you want to join the next session on 13th July.

Dye Bed

The dye plants are looking amazing and Erin is getting them big and strong, by potting on, before they go into the dye bed (last month we planted some smaller plants and they didn’t make it).

We had our first dyeing session and made a green comfrey dye over the firepit. Erin experimented with using rhubarb leaves as a mordant, and we’ll keep adding to the patterns with different techniques over the next sessions.

Meanwhile, the woad has flowered in a spectacular display of yellow, and we’ll be collecting the seed to share with other projects when it’s ready.

Plant Sale

Zero Carbon very kindly organised a plant sale in Guildford last weekend, to promote Rosamund and raise some funds for the garden. 

The volunteers did a great job engaging with the public and spreading awareness of what we do. We raised £75 cash and are waiting to hear re the card payments. It was a lovely day and big thanks to Steph and the Zero crew, and our lovely volunteers for turning up to help out.

Zero are planning to spotlight each of their projects and partners every month to promote and inform.

SAVE THE DATE: APPLE PRESSING DAY AT ROSAMUND 21ST SEPTEMBER 2025 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

We’ve been donated a second press and scrumbler this year, so the day should be even more productive than the last one. Looking forward to another fantastic turnout and lots of beautiful juice.

👩🏻‍🌾 JUNE JOBS AT THE GARDEN

  • Water the tomatoes and cucumbers in the tunnels when dry (check by digging your finger into the soil beforehand as overwatering is as bad as under). Write when you water in the diary in the white shed.

  • Check all the outside beds, and water new plants (squash, peas and beans etc)

  • Plant out bigger plants using compost from the 1st bay

  • Weed and mulch around established plants in front beds

  • Harvest - lettuce, kale and broadbeans from raised beds

  • Sow - lettuce, peas and flowers and annual herbs(coriander, dill etc) in modules.

PLANT OF THE MONTH by Helen Harris

Plant of the month: pyramidal orchid

Latin Name: Anacamptis pyramidalis

Distribution: Widespread -  native to Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. Widespread in England and Wales but rare in Scotland. 

Preferred habitat: thrives in open grassy habitats, preferring calcareous or lime-rich soils and sunny locations such as meadows, roadside verges

UK Flowering time: June / July, perennial. 

Description: Its characteristic pyramid-shaped clusters of up to 100 small bright pinkish-purple flowers on a single stem rising from a leaf base of long narrow pointed leaves that are close to the ground. Height up to 55cm (20-25cm more usual). 

Ecology: Attracts an array of pollinators, including butterflies and moths. Notably, the orchid’s flowers produce a sweet scent and feature specialized structures that allow for efficient pollination by encouraging insects to brush against anthers and stigma. Orchid seeds are tiny, like dust and do not store enough food to grow on their own, specific fungi in the soil mycorrhiza are necessary to fuel germination; later the orchid roots provide nutrients back to the fungi. 

Medicinal uses: Its tuberous roots contain a substance called salep, which has been prized in traditional medicine and culinary practices, particularly in the Middle East and parts of Europe. Salep powder, derived from the orchid’s roots, was once used to prepare a nourishing drink believed to fortify health and soothe digestive ailments.

However, due to increasing conservation concerns and the protection of wild orchid populations, the use of wild orchids for salep production has declined markedly. 

Folklore: In ancient traditions, orchids were often associated with love, beauty, and fertility. In ancient Greece, the orchid was associated with the god Dionysus and some stories suggest that orchids can be used to craft potions for romantic enchantment and seduction.

In rural European folklore, orchids were sometimes believed to have protective or magical properties. Their tubers were thought to hold charms for good fortune.

Refs:

The Rosamund Community Garden shares a membership system with Guildford Environmental Forum for joining info please email [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you in the garden soon!

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