Dear Readers, on Friday last week we decided to go to Highgate, and purely on a whim we walked downhill towards where the old Highgate Garden Centre used to be. I feared that it would be a building site full of partially-built new flats, but instead we found this.

Omved Gardens is owned by Karen and Lekhu Leason, who used to own the Garden Centre, but who wanted to create a garden and event space, with a particular focus on sustainability and food. The site wasn’t officially open when we stumbled upon it, but we were given permission to wander around and take some photos. It looks like a lovely space, with lots of plants for pollinators and some statuary by Sarah Walton, including this fish, and some very fine bird baths.

The focus on food will be developed in partnership with the UN World Food Program and The Chef’s Manifesto, which aims to look at the production, distribution and preparation of food in line with sustainable goals. The next event is an Autumn Harvest supper club, to be held on 13th October, and very nice it sounds too. They are also holding poetry events and a photography exhibition.

Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)

The kitchen garden, which is used for the supper clubs and other food-related events, holds a whole host of interesting plants, such as amaranth…

spaghetti squash….

sweetcorn…

and all manner of other interesting herbs, spices and foodplants.

At the bottom of the site there are two ponds.

There was quite a lot of building and tree work going on around the site, but I’m not sure how much of it is related to extending the garden, or whether it is to do with building development. What I do know is that this is a most interesting and valuable resource, tucked away behind a row of shops. I was very sad when the garden centre went, but this is actually much more useful for the whole community, human and non-human. I have signed up for the newsletter, so let’s see what happens next!

Nasturtiums in the kitchen garden