I've been involved in a couple of gardening projects this semester with the wonderful faculty and students at NYU Shanghai. It has been an amazing experience working in such an intelligent, curious and creative environment, and I've had an absolute ball! As it's currently exam week and we find ourselves hurtling towards the summer break, this week we decided to make an off-campus visit to the newly constructed Shanghai garden in the former Expo park. The garden may be brand new, but it has been constructed in a classical Chinese style. The key elements include dense planting in various heights, with an assortment of leaf colours and textures, and a deliberately minimal use of flowers that allow the visitor to focus on the varying vistas offered without becoming too overwhelmed. This style of garden is both calming and very beautiful, I'm sure you'll agree 💚💚💚 Scroll through to see a photo of the mountain behind the lake. All is not as it seems! Anyone who knows Shanghai will know that it's as flat as a pancake here. Like the Shanghai garden, the mountain is also newly constructed. You can see that they have recently planted a large forest on top of it. What you can't see is that the inside of the mountain is actually a multi-storey carpark for the park's visitors!! This concept is both bonkers and utterly brilliant. I love it!! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiexpopark #nyushanghai #classicalchinesegarden #chinesegarden
Let's pretend for just a second, that's its not a grey and dreary day out there... #shanghaigardener #organicchina #rooftopfarm #anken #growyourownfood
We have the beginnings of an aphid problem on our pomegranate trees. Luckily, help is just a Taobao click away. This small pouch of ladybugs and their larvae arrived on overnight delivery and went up to the rooftop first thing this morning, where they got straight to work on our aphid population. Very, very, very satisfying to see! 🐞🐞🐞👍🤣 #shanghaigardener #rooftopfarm #ladybugs #anken #organicchina
Looks like a carpenter bee has decided to make a bamboo support pole under one of our pomegranate trees into its new home. I'm not sure that it's the wisest choice, given how much rain we get here in Shanghai. The internet suggests that this one is a male, as females don't have any markings on their heads. I wonder if he brought his family with him, or if he moved in alone, bachelor style... Anyway, let's see how he feels about this spot after tomorrow's forecasted dumping of rain.... In the meantime, he's really enjoying all those lovely brassica flowers we purposely left for the pollinators. Very happy to see this pollinator appreciates our efforts!. Carpenter bees are enormous, BTW. Are there any bees that are bigger? And they're so fuzzy and cute! Welcome, friend! 🐝🐝🐝 #shanghaigardener #pollination #shanghaiurbanfarming #anken #beekeeping
Looks like the rain is back again in Shanghai. We've left a few of the brassicas to bloom for the pollinators, and on grey days like these they really do give our garden some lovely colour, don't you think? We had a good harvest of broadbeans as well as our first strawberries. It has been a race to get to the strawberries before the snails do. Sometimes we win, sometimes they do...🤣🤣🍓🍓🐌🐌 🍓 🍓 #shanghaigardener #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #anken #pollination #growyourownfood
I'm just going to sit here and watch you watching me... #pollination #workerbee #shanghaigardener
Water retention during the summer is a major issue for us, and various mulches have proved problematic because of snails. One particular area that is often bare and dries out quickly in the hotter months is the area around and beneath our teepees. So this year we're trying something new - living mulch. We'd previously planted out the teepees with cucumbers and long beans, so today, we followed up with a few creeping thyme and chamomile plants in the same beds. The hope is that they will form a low carpet beneath our climbers that will help with both water retention and weed suppression. Additionally, they're both aromatic and edible, and because they both bloom, they should also be very attractive to our pollinators... Let's see how it goes. It's always fun to try new things! Final harvests this week of cabbage, peas, and radish. The roselle went in this morning and ginger too, though it's a little bit early for ginger, so hopefully it will be ok! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #greenshanghai #anken #rooftopfarm #communitygarden #growyourownfood
This is what happens when it rains, and rains, and rains, and.... Last weekend, we had 2 rows of baby carrot seedlings. Today, we have none. A quick 5 minute search in the soil where the carrots used to be, and this is the result. While I'm very much in favour of living in harmony with Nature, I don't think Nature got the memo about living in harmony with us!!🤣🤣🤣 How rude! Nothing else to be done but replant with something new, and to start conducting regular Snail Safaris... 💪🐌 ☄️🔥 🎯🔦🪓❌️🐌💪🤣 This week, the arugula came out, and taro, cucumbers and Swiss chard were all put in. Despite the little bit of snail damage, everything else looks pretty healthy and lush. Is it raining where you are, too? Are snails (or slugs) a problem for you too right now? #shanghaigardener #greenshanghai #urbanfarming #shanghaiurbanfarming #rooftopfarm #communitygarden
Tuesday afternoon, and we have sunshine again! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #greenshanghai #rooftopfarm #urbanfarming
Gardening under some very grey skies this morning, but still, there's plenty of colour in the garden and lots of lovely new spring growth 💚🌱🌱💚 #shanghaigardener #communitygarden #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #greenshanghai #shanghaiurbanfarming
Lots of maintenance to do this weekend, including construction of a new teepee for our long beans, coming soon... It's 29 degrees outside today, which is very unusual for the end of March. Some of our brassicas are bolting, but we happily took some good-sized cabbages home with us, our reward for a hot morning's hard work 🥬🥬🥬 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #growyourownfood #greenshanghai #communitygarden #rooftopgarden #urbanfarming
Alex from Anken stopped by our garden this morning to get her hands dirty in the soil alongside us. Many people don't know this, but it is thanks to Anken's unwavering support that our community farm has been able to thrive for more than a decade on their rooftop. It's incredibly rare to have an opportunity for urban farming in downtown Shanghai, and we're deeply grateful for Anken's commitment to sustainability and community well-being🌱💚🌱 How about where you are? Is central city or rooftop farming common in your city/town/country? Our other exciting visitor this week was this carpenter bee. We used to see them a lot and then suddenly last year we had none. We're working hard right now to become more attractive to pollinators and create a nectar rich (and of course insecticide free) haven for them. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of these from now on 🌻🐝 And a quick update on our olla wicking pots - so far, so good! I'm optimistic that they will make a difference during during our hot and dry summer months... #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #greenshanghai #communitygarden #anken #rooftopfarm
There's so much going on this week, I almost don't know where to start. Spring is definitely here. The trees and vines are budding, and the bulbs, beans, and blueberries are all blooming. It's really starting to look lovely💚🌱🌱 After an early soil delivery, we topped up some of our garden beds and started new sowings of chard and summer flower seeds. This season's trial crop, celery, was also transplanted. Let's see how it goes!🤞🤞 Because the pea seedlings are growing fast, we've decided to take off the protective bird netting. However, the threat of attack-by-pigeon is very real for us, so we've set up some reflective windmills and a couple of bird of prey style scarecrows to scare them off... I hope they work! The last photo is one of the yummy hamantaschen cookies made by our volunteer Anna. The perfect reward for a morning of hard work! 💚🤩 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #greenshanghai #growyourownfood #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #urbanfarming
Signs of spring and new growth everywhere. We've never yet had an own-grown blueberry.. could this year be the year??? Definitely lots of flowers forming, so fingers crossed! We're trialing a new way to irrigate this summer, by burying olla terracotta pots into some of the garden beds. The first batch went in yesterday. Have you used olla before? What did you think? Let us know! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #greenshanghai #urbanfarming #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #growwhatyoueat
Paperbush (Edgeworthia) finally blooming and keeping the bees busy🐝🐝 #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #shanghailiving #zhongshanparkshanghai #中山公园 #changning #chinesegarden
It was 6 degrees at ground level when we started gardening this morning, but up on the rooftop in our little microclimate, it was warm enough for t-shirts🌞 It has been a long and cold winter, but the end is finally in sight. Temperatures (especially night-time temps) should start to rise during the next week. We're looking forward to regular gardening and springtime planting from now on! This week we refreshed the soil in our growbags and got a head start on our new season potatoes. We'll be eating these in June.... 🥔🥔🥔 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #greenshanghai #urbanfarming #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #growwhatyoueat
In spring last year I bought a small pomegranate tree for the rooftop. Unfortunately, it got so battered and broken during shipping that the poor thing never had a chance. So here's my second attempt - 2 pomegranates trees, 2 varieties, with much thicker trunks than the one I bought last year. They've arrived in quite reasonable condition, I think, although without any buds or other signs of life it's difficult to know for sure. Hopefully, they'll start waking up and putting on new growth in another month or so. Is anyone else growing pomegranates? When do yours start sending out buds? First pic - Red Ruyi pomegranate Second pic - Tunisian soft seed pomegranate # #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #rooftopfarm #urbanfarming #growyourownfood #greenshanghai #communitygarden
A beautiful sunny day today in between cold snaps, and the perfect excuse to go back to the rooftop for a clean-up and our first working Saturday of 2024. So nice to snack on fresh carrots and kumquats while we worked too! #shanghaigardener #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #growwhatyoueat #greenshanghai #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming
Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Spring Festival! Even though it's still very much winter, signs that spring is coming are around every corner. Wishing everyone the very best for the new year ahead. May the Year of the Dragon bring you all the greatest health and happiness ❤️❤️🌱 #shanghailiving #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #zhongshanparkshanghai #中山公园 #changning #chinesegarden
We had sleet this morning and more on the way tomorrow. Despite the chill, the first signs of spring are all around. Today's Plant of the Day is Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox, 腊梅/蜡梅/làméi). This fragment shrub is native to China and is usually one of the first local plants to bloom in late winter/early spring. Because of this, it provides an important food source for bees and other pollinators. Planted all over Shanghai, wintersweet are pretty easy to find, but if you're wanting to find the biggest displays then head to any city park or botanical garden. 📷 taken at Zhongshan Park, Changning District #shanghaigardener #zhongshanpark #中山公园 #changning #chinesegarden
I've been away, and now I'm back! It's lovely to return to the rooftop and to see all the changes while I have been away. Shanghai has turned on its most typical winter weather to start off the new year. Lots of frosts, lots of rain, and currently a seemingly interminable grey... After a few very dry and warm winters over the last few years, I guess I can't really complain too much, though I'm definitely looking forward to the sun coming back. Until that happens, I've a lot of planning for the spring garden still to do. And I'll be working on some exciting new projects this year - I can't wait to share them with you over the next few months... Are you excited for spring? I know I am! 🌱🌱🌱 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #greenshanghai #communitygarden
Only 1 degree celcius this morning and much too cold to be up on rooftops. Here, instead, is a photo from a few days back of our resident sparrows enjoying some treats and late afternoon sunshine at the bird feeder. Have a great weekend everyone, and stay warm! #shanghaigardener #communitygarden #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #shanghaiurbanfarming
Warm temps (23 degrees) and lots of sunshine on the rooftop this morning. The first frost and the first snow are on their way though, so the ginger was harvested and the figs pushed into a sheltered corner. The last of the fig leaves should fall off in the next few days, then we'll wrap the trees ahead of next weekend's icy blast. It will be sad to see this autumn come to an end as it has been absolutely glorious, but I am looking forward to the days getting longer again soon (even if it will be cold...) ❄️❄️❄️ #shanghaigardener #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #shanghaiurbanfarming #communitygarden #growyourownfood #greenshanghai
Autumn tai chi #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #gingko #autumn #ipshanghai #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #中山公园
Marvellous Maple #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #urbangreen #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #中山公园
Yellow #zhongshanparkshanghai #中山公园 #changning #chinesegarden #autumn #shanghaigardener
Follow this path to an amazing rooftop garden! Not a community garden, rather this is more of a display farm and event space. And it's lovely. The whole garden grows in just 15cm of soil on the roof of a shopping mall in Changning district. Even the fruit (cherry and peach) trees grow in this shallow soil. How do they do it?? A really nice space to visit with the whole family if you happen to be in the area: Fun Farm, The Place (南丰城), Zunyi Lu, Changning District. Are you in Shanghai and know of any nice gardens to check out? Let me know! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #rooftopfarm #rooftopgarden #changning
Look at that blue sky! Perfect autumnal weather conditions yesterday on the rooftop. Only a few more weeks left now in our gardening year, but still a few plants to be planted and crops to be harvested. One of our volunteers brought ginger cookies to share, made using our own-grown ginger. They were delicious! It's getting too cold for the tomatoes to ripen on the vines now, so this week we're experimenting with ripening them at home in paper bags, with some other fruit (like bananas) to speed the process along. Hopefully they will still taste as good as the vine ripened ones! Let's see... #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #greenshanghai #communitygarden
A fascinating visit to the new NYU campus yesterday, checking out both their rooftop farm and their indoor hydroponic systems. It was so interesting to see how technology can be used to aid the management of food production. Very thought provoking indeed, I feel like I caught a glimpse of the future! #shanghaigardener #urbanfarming #growyourownfood #rooftopfarm #nyushanghai
Pavillion, Rose Garden #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #ip_shanghai #中山公园
Paperbush (Edgeworthia) blooms forming. This highly fragrant China native flowers in late winter. Something to look forward to on the gloomiest days. #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #中山公园
What lies beyond? #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #changning #chinesegarden #中山公园
Does anyone know anything about sand ginger (沙姜)? We were gifted a few pieces to plant this year, and we finally harvested it yesterday. The rhizomes are pretty small. Maybe it needed a sunnier location? Or maybe our growing season here is too short. I don't really know. Also, I'm not really sure how to cook it. Any ideas? #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming #growwhatyoueat #communitygarden #rooftopfarm
Today, the whole West Lawn is under repair #中山公园 #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #urbanjungle #urbangreen #shanghailife #shanghaigardener
Searching for the perfect leaf 🍁 #zhongshanparkshanghai #ipshanghai #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #changning #chinesegarden #中山公园
Beware, monsters! Xianghua Bridge, originally located in ancient Fahua town Shanghai and moved to its current site at Zhongshan Park in 1958. #中山公园 #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #urbanjungle
No sign of the sun for days now... #中山公园 #zhongshanparkshanghai #chinesegarden #changning #ipshanghai #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #urbangreen #urbanjungle
Signs of change... #zhongshanparkshanghai #中山公园 #changning #chinesegarden #shanghailife #gingko #shanghaigardener
Such a huge drop in temperature this week - you may notice that we've gone from t-shirts last weekend to jackets and many layers today. Another season rolls by... Photos today include planting garlic under our colourful skyline, more lemongrass harvests, and our transplanted cabbages and celtus. Also a sprinkling of chicken and sheep poop for an added boost! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #communitygarden #growyourownfood
The Japanese Pavillion, Sakura Garden #中山公园 #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #urbanjungle #urbangreen #shanghailife #shanghaigardener
The Copper Pavillion #中山公园 #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #shanghailife #shanghaigardener
An avenue of camphor trees, just outside Entrance 1 on Changning Lu. Originally the park extended all the way to Changning Lu, but was pushed back from the road with the construction of metro line 2. Now the footpath area outside the park is beautiful once more, with trees and shrubs and flowers in all seasons. A recent modification at Zhongshan Park saw the walls removed, leaving the internal and external areas to blend seamlessly once more. #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #ipshanghai #urbanjungle #中山公园
A day of harvests and plantings, and lots of bugs too! Finally the sweet potatoes are all harvested. They're massive this week, but I'm sure still very delicious. The garlic is now sown, and 2 beds of cabbages were transplanted. It looks like we've got a potential stink bug problem on our tomatoes. We found quite a lot of nymphs, so keeping things organic, we simply water blasted them off. We'll continue to do that daily to see if it makes a difference. Luckily no damage was noted on the fruit. We've also been finding quite a few of these moth pupae underground in the sweet potato beds. We reburied some, but I will admit to taking the biggest and most wriggly one home and burying it in a pot in my laundry to see what it turns into (I think probably hummingbird moth). It's now named Hercules and I can't wait to meet him again in the spring. The Husband was admittedly not as excited as me to be sharing our apartment...🤣🤣🤣 #shanghaigardener #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #urbanfarming #communitygarden
A great spot for those social media pics... #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #ipshanghai #urbanjungle #urbangreen #中山公园
The "Seed Garden", part of the 2022 redesign by FISH along the Wanhangdu section of the park. #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #中山公园 #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #urbangreen #urbanjungle #ipshanghai
Plenty of quiet corners... #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #中山公园
Strolling... #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #中山公园 #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #chinesegarden #ipshanghai
The Marble Pavillion, always a favourite spot to pose for photographs. #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #中山公园 #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #ipshanghai
Zhongshan Park Cool #zhongshanparkshanghai #changning #chinesegarden #中山公园 #ipshanghai #shanghailife #shanghaigardener
Have you checked out the old Zhongshan Park greenhouse lately? It's had a total makeover this year - the plant nursery has been moved out and the doors opened to the public. Now inside you'll find a bright, airy space that houses a coffee stand and a gardening educational facility with some plants and flowers available to buy too. It's really lovely. 🥰😍 #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #chinesegarden #urbangreen #ipshanghai #urbanjungle
Turmeric and more sweet potatoes were harvested this morning and each of us took our share home in bags that were almost too heavy to lift. It's a lot of food! The weather is absolutely glorious in Shanghai today, so if you're out and about in the city, enjoy! #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #growwhatyoueat #urbanfarming
Rest a while under the big camphor tree, West Lawn #zhongshanparkshanghai #chinesegarden #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #timeoutshanghai #thatsshanghai #ipshanghai
Lover's Bridge, set in the idyllic Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood) forest, Zhongshan Park #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #中山公园 #urbangreen #timeoutshanghai #thatsshanghai
Monument to Frederic Chopin, by Lu Pin, 2007. Gifted from Poland in memory of Chopin, this seven-meter high statue is the tallest of its kind in the world. Note the magnificent Goldenrain tree (栾树 Luánshù) covered in seed pods and autumnal colour just behind. #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghailiving #shanghaigardener #thatsshanghai #timeoutshanghai
By the round window #zhongshanparkshanghai #中山公园 #shanghailife #shanghailiving #shanghaigardener #timeoutshanghai #thatsshanghai
Thanks for all the hard work you do! #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghailiving #shanghaigardener #timeoutshanghai #thatsshanghai
A round of applause for the first sweet potato harvest! Just look at these beauties, aren't they fabulous! With 2 more beds of sweet potatoes yet to be harvested, we will need to come up with some new recipes and creative ideas for eating them. As always, send me your suggestions if you have some. We love trying them out! ❤️ #shanghaigardener #communitygarden #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #growwhatyoueat
Children playing in the Sound Shell 8pm, Zhongshan Park #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghailiving #shanghaigardener #timeoutshanghai #thatsshanghai
Resting by the sound shell by day... #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailife #shanghailiving #shanghaigardener #timeoutshanghai #thatsshanghai
First autumn colours #zhongshanparkshanghai #shanghailiving #shanghailife #shanghaigardener #thatsshanghai #timeoutshanghai
The first autumn colour is already creeping onto the rooftop this week. Looking foward to harvesting that lovely turmeric sometime soon, hopefully. Meanwhile, apart from some seasonal snail damage, the cauliflowers, beans and celtus are all growing well and looking very healthy. We've started using coffee grinds again to keep the 🐌🐌🐌 away. Fingers crossed it works! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #growwhatyoueat
Gardening between downpours again today. Despite strong winds and intermittent rain we ticked off a long list of tasks, including transplanting most of the cauliflower and celtus seedlings from the nursery polytunnel into the raised beds. We also harvested from one of the sweet potato plants to check on the progress so far, and they're looking pretty good. I imagine we'll be eating the rest in a couple more weeks when they'll be even bigger... 🤞🤞🤞 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #communitygarden #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood #growwhatyoueat #urbanfarming
A very special day yesterday getting involved with the bee-keeping at the China Space Agency farm in Shanghai 🐝🐝🐝 There, volunteers keep hives of both Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera) and native Chinese bees (Apis cerana). We opened and inspected the hives and discussed the problems that can potentially arise. We also tasted the honey from each species and were fascinated to discover that the flavours were quite distinct, even though the bees essentially work in the same territory and gather pollen from the same plants. We also spent some time in the gigantic China Space Agency greenhouse. The plants inside are grown from seeds that have been in orbit and are part of an experiment to see if being in space affects the resulting crops in any way. Each spring, a colony of bees is moved inside the greenhouse to pollinate these plants, and we were lucky to be able to taste some of the resulting "Space Honey". Again, very different in flavour from the others. Such a rare and unique opportunity! 🚀 🌱🌱🐝 🐝 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming #beekeeping #spacehoney
!@#$%^& birds! 🤣😮💨😮💨 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #communitygarden #growyourownfood #ediblegarden #rooftopfarm
It's STILL raining in Shanghai, can you believe it?? But the peanuts are done waiting for us and had to be harvested today, even if conditions were less than ideal. Look at our haul though, isn't it amazing?!🥜🥜 The garden is full of snail life, thanks to the soggy conditions. Hopefully our cauliflower seedlings are big enough to survive them. Also spotted today was this green beauty, the Triangle Crab spider. Something amazing you should know about Crab spiders - just like a chameleon they can change colour to blend into the background! But it takes them 2 to 21 days to complete the change, so mostly they just pick a plant they like and try to stay there as much as possible🕷 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #communitygarden #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #growyourownfood
Zhongshan Park, Part II We're being kept off the rooftop for as long as it keeps raining... Instead of wrangling our own plants, I've been wandering the many paths in Zhongshan Park to get my Green. BTW it's amazing there after the rain - so very lush and the smell is incredibly earthy and fresh. Plus way less people! #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #shanghailiving #zhongshanpark #summerinshanghai
A quick walk this evening at sunset in Zhongshan Park, in between downpours... #shanghaigardener #shanghailife #zhongshanpark #greenshanghai
I love how many different insects we can see in our garden. Today's visitor was the Oriental Common Bluebottle Butterfly (Graphium sarpedon). So pretty! This is why we leave our chives to flower every summer - they're incredibly nectar rich and provide a valuable source of food for pollinators like bees, wasps, hoverflies and butterflies too. We emptied out one of our compost tumbler chambers today and found lots of lovely, crumbly, rich compost inside (and more than a few curl grubs too!). These are now removed and we've plenty of gorgeous compost to use over the next few weeks. Home-made compost is the best best! #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm #communitygarden #composting
Thursday afternoon in the sunshine 💚 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #communitygarden #urbanfarming #rooftopfarm
It has been a while since The Mister visited the garden, so we decided that today was the day. We'd been on the rooftop exactly 5 minutes when the tropical storm hit us. So unlucky! In the end we had to abandon all plans and run for cover inside. It was nice to show off the plants, even if it was only for 5 minutes!🤣🤣 If you're in Shanghai I hope you're managing to stay dry! #shanghaigardener #summerinshanghai #rooftopfarm #communitygarden #urbanfarming
This week we find ourselves between seasons - some of the autumn crops can be sown now, but the summer crops are not done yet. There's suddenly a shortage of useable space while we wait to clear away the summer plants! To solve the problem we had to get creative, using pots, grow bags and old wine boxes and by creating a temporary nursery tunnel to house our seedlings until they can be transplanted. The netting is essential as pigeons will sample everything if given the chance! If you're in Shanghai and are looking to offload old flower pots or bags of soil then please do think of us. All donations are gratefully received. We can definitely put them to good use!🙏🙏 #shanghaigardener #shanghaiurbanfarming #urbangardenersrepublic #urbanfarming #growwhatyoueat #growyourownfood #rooftopfarm #communitygarden
My balcony's Fern Corner is looking really lush this hot and humid summer. It's well guarded by this old Qilin statue I gifted myself after last years lockdown lifted. He's so sassy, I adore him! #shanghaigardener #urbangardenersrepublic #ferns #balconygardening #qilin