Sustaining Malden Manor Station's Garden

Two community planting days have been held during the last year and maintenance has continued by the Garden Group to keep it looking lovely.

Yesterday, Dr. Bike came along and set up their gazebo for bike maintenance sessions. This is great because the garden was always meant to be a place for learning and meeting new people.

As well as raising the planter against the wall, funding was sought for an extension to the trellis in the corner of the garden. The area has now been tidied up and a new piece of trellis added. However, it's very shallow here and a water course runs underneath so planting is limited.

Sorry it has taken so long to update the project. A lot has been going on at Malden Manor Station including the formation of the Malden Manor Community Group and the opening of the Community Hub in a disused shop at the station. Yesterday saw the official opening party when Kingston's Mayor Cllr Margaret Thompson came to cut the ribbon. Lots of people came along and Dr. Bike held a bike maintenance session in the Station Garden, which looks fabulous. Sustrans have been supporting the project for two years. The Malden Manor Community Group will preside over a Garden Group, so that the station garden will be cared for into the future. They will also apply for funding for more planters.

So now that Spring is here, it's full steam ahead with the conversion of the empty station shop into a community hub. The old fridges were cleared out and a fresh lick of paint given. Can't wait to see this in action. Cool.

This latest planter should make a real difference to feel of Malden Manor Station.

Because of Winter, things have been very quiet at the Station Garden. Some litter picking has been happening on an ad-hoc basis. In Autumn, a new planter was put in at the Sheephouse Way entrance to Malden Manor Station, built by garden group volunteers. Last week, new planting was completed. The garden group has now merged with a new, larger community group that is turning a disused shop at the station into a community hub/food bank. It's great news, because litter picking and other activities can be run from here regularly.

What an improvement our new planter makes.

After initial issues getting sleepers to match existing, our skilled handy person Mike gets going on raising the level of a planter. We can now plant a wider variety of plants in there. Looking good!