What Will The Harvest Be?

A new kind of garden

Project: A commission to develop a public & community garden at Abbey Gardens, a protected site in East London, not far from the 2012 Olympic Village. The site contains the remains of a 12th century Cistercian Abbey (St. Mary Stratford Langthorne, Essex) and will be adjacent to a new extension of the Docklands Light Railway opening in 2010.

Collaborators: Friends of Abbey Gardens
Commissioner: Modus Operandi for Newham Council

Our proposals for the garden cover several years of development and relate back to its Cistercian origins when the monks used the land as a site of great productivity. The local Newham area – in a state of immanent change and growth – provides an inspiring context, bringing in new transport links, new residents and commuters, and in time the Olympic visitors and competitors. Historically this echoes the hub of travelers, commerce, debate and food production that the medieval Cistercian Abbey, once sited at the heart of a much larger garden, would have been. Later influences such as wartime ‘Dig for Victory’ allotments and the early 20th century Newham agricultural ‘squatters’, the Plaistow Landgrabbers have also inspired us.

Latest News: 26.06.09 We have started to build the Harvest Garden and work on the raised beds is steadily progressing. Get in touch if you'd like to be involved with the developing garden or better still come along to our free Garden Club sessions which have now started (led by Chris chris 'at' whatwilltheharvestbe.com).

Free Garden Club Sessions (June - Nov 2009)

Saturdays 10.00 am - 2.00 pm
Tuesdays 10.00 - 1.00 pm
Thursdays 5.00 pm - dusk

All welcome - there's a variety of jobs from mulching to planting, everyone can help out - beginners or experts