CIISA- BROCKLEY STATION COMMUNITY GARDENING

(This is the patch on the bank that I spend my afternoon de weeding in order to prep it for sowing seeds)

As this project is about soil I didn’t just want to focus of the sonic qualities but also the physical. In order to get a full understanding of soil and the way it works I joined my local community garden in Brockley. The project is to re-wild Brockley station and bring some nature to the area. I also wanted to join this group as a way to give back to my local community. Running every Tuesday from 3-6pm I think this will be an incredibly transformative experince and enable me to understand soil in a whole new way.

The fellow volunteers consist of artist creative and already established gardeners. I wanted to understanding they’re relationships with soil and the plants on a deeper level. Luckily the head of the team is my friend Callum who has been gardener for the past 3 years whilst still studiying a holticortial course alongside the projects he’s already involved in. due to his background in gardening he not only agreed to teach me how to garden but facts about each plant we are uprooting and planting. This precious knowledge is crucial for me to get to know soil better and help deepen my already fascinated brain in the way of the underground.

On the first session me and him started by de weeding one of the banks and pruning some silver birch trees. Along the way I was constantly asking him questions about why we do these things to the trees and soil and his ethics around it. It was interesting to find out that he shares a similar outlook on life that I do. We both believe in conscious grading and going off of intuition when it comes to pruning and de- weeding. He like me also believes in Gaia (Mother Nature) and approaches the garden with a deep consideration of what he’s doing. Also like me Callum asks before he dose anything, just like how when I use any recording equipment in nature I ask the land for permission and leave an offering after I press stop, where as for him, his offering is noursihing the soil in the most biodynamic way possible.

I found it incredibly nourishing to be able to get dirt all over my hands. Something that in London I find hard to do. Growing up in Dorset I was constantly covered in soil, so for me this volunteering bring me back to my childhood in way, remembering the times of gardening with my mother and watching our creations floourish.

Callum then ran me through all of the ideas for the station going to each site and discussing what could be done with them. I found interesting of how much TFL won’t let the team do. He also told me that some of the areas the team planted in TFL came in and chopped all of it down. The main issue seems to be that Calum and the team are constantly emailing TFL asking for permission about the project and by the time they respond its too late to plants the seeds needed.

(This is me and mike working on the patch de weeding)

I am incredibly exited to work on the plots more through spring and see all of the shrubbery and seeds come to life. I am also exited to be able to explore my relationship with soil on a deeper and more intimate level. I think that it will enable me to articulate myself better for this essay project and be a beneficial and crucial part of understanding my practice.

On my second week of volunteering I brought a geofon with me because I was intrigued as to how the soil would sound in that space. I was curious in thinking about if and how the sound of the trains would effect the soil. I posed this question to some of the leaders of the group and they suggested that it might actually be beneficial due to the fact that the sonic vibrations from the trains which is evident in the recordings I took would loosen up the soil. This allows the seeds to come through the soil easier, therefore helping the garden instead of hurting it.

I took these recordings on both sides of the station. The first side is a patch on a bank where they trued to grow wildflowers. Wildflower soil dose not need to be the healthiest of soil as they are easy germinators. This specific patch has its own issues as the team has been in a battle with TFL about what can go where. Whilst we were listening to the soil we were also doing a biodiversity survey. This surgery consisted of a small group of us marking out a specific area on the bank, counting how many flowers were there and waiting to see how many insects, bees, butterflies, flies and other winged pollinators would visit the flowers.

The whole teams really loved being able to listen to the soil, each person took turns to listen as I described to them how it works and what things they should pay attention to with they’re listening. The bank that we listen on had very tough soil. It actually used to be used as a dumping ground from a nearby building so they soil itself isn’t very healthy. We often find shards of glass and other human materials buried deep within the soil.

These were the recordings taken on the bank with the wildflowers.

When reflecting on these recordings it was evident that both sides of the bank had a poor soil quality as I was unable to hear much ground activity. It was interesting through, being able to hears what it sounds like for the trains to come by and how incrediably loud that was.

These recordings were taken on the side of the garden that has been most looked after.

This is a combination of all of these recordings put together.

We also planted our first tree which Callum had bought the day before. This is a corkscrew hazel, which hopefully will outlive all of us!

This week at the gardens we started with de weeding and area of grass that we wanted to make free for som bulbs. We also planted some bulbs on a bank that had de weeded and full cleared the week before. This was my first time planting bulbs. Callum sources them for a sustainable company that he used for all of the gardens that he works at. After we planted the bulbs we spread a bag of wildflower seed that my partner had generously given to the garden for free. He is a biodiversity and seed specialist now working in London but he acquired the seed from his bosses wildflower farm in Shrewsbury that I have previously taken soil recordings at. Once we all had a chance to spread the seed along the bank we patted it down with our feet and sprayed it with water. According to Callum this bank in 2 months time will be brings with colour and many pollinators for the bees. This once weed and rubbish filled bank will now be something lovely to look at for the commuters and people visiting Brockley.