Early summer starts to transform a little patch of Leeds into a veritable Garden of Eden!

Just a couple of miles from Leeds city centre, tucked away behind the houses of the Hyde Park/Woodhouse area and alongside Leeds City Academy, lies this small plot of enchanting forest. The land is owned by Leeds City Council but some inspired people have negotiated the right to convert it into a forest garden for the benefit of the Hyde Park and Woodhouse community….and anyone else who is interested. Forest gardening is pretty much creating a cultivated foraging space! The garden is planted in ‘layers’, the exact opposite to conventional planting in straight 2D rows. Vines are thus encouraged to climb up trees and big narrow plants are partnered with small bushy plants to create swathes of unbroken, almost weed-free plantings. In this way the garden makes use of much more vertical space to get more yield, reduce maintenance time and build a more resilient and diverse garden. The aim is that all the plants in the garden are either edible, medicinal or useful in some way. Some of the edible perennial vegetables are unfamiliar and often considered ‘weeds’, but flowers and shoots can be perfectly edible and delicious. Early summer and the first signs of fruit crops are starting to emerge…and the maintenance workload starts to build with a green mass starting to engulf the graden. The garden is an important social resource within Hyde Park area which has one of the lowest ratios of green space to grey built-up environment in the entire country and anyone can harvest any time there is a crop available.

If you want to lend a hand just contact the garden team with message here or call ‘Ben’ on 07922513704.

Group Meditation in Bedford Fields Community Forest Garden

Morning sessions, every Thursday  8:00 – 8:20am (sharp).
Evening session: Thursday 7pm – ­8.30pm.

Start off your day with a short group meditation from 8:00am every Thursday for twenty minutes led by Sam Danzig.

Or, come and start to learn and practise even more with Harry Woolner every Thursday evening from 7-8:30pm, where Harry will lead a guided group meditation followed by an audio Dhamma talk that details different aspects of the practice and philosophy and mediation.

Please arrive on time or slightly early  to ensure you do not disturb a meditation that may be in progress.
Bring your own cushions if you would like to sit on the floor. There are a  number of chairs available for sitting as well.
Wear comfortable loose fitting clothing and please ensure you have extra layers or blankets if the weather is cold.
The sessions are free, but any donations for the sessions can be made in a donations box and will only go towards the costs of heating and power, tea and extra cushions/blankets.

For more information please call Ben on 07922513704, email  bedfordfieldsforestgarden.com or visit www.bedfordfields.co.uk

[Double clicking on any of the images below will open up that image up in a slideshow format. You can then run the slide show using ‘left’ and ‘right’ buttons.  Personally I prefer to go also to full screen having opened the slide show – F11 on my PC, don’t forget to get out of full screen is the same button , not ESC]

For more on Bedford Fields Community Forest Garden see posts from my first visit in February or from my second visit in April.