The ‘Edible Slope’ arrives at Mayfield

Real Food Wythenshawe (RFW), part of the Mayfield Green Health Alliance, have transformed a section the Mayfield Community Garden into a creative ‘edible slope’.

RFW wanted to create the idea of the slope being a loading bay, painstakingly decorating and planting crates and old bicycles which have been placed informally, as if waiting to be loaded onto a train, a nod to Mayfield’s history as a former train station.

All of the items on the slope have been handmade, upcycled or rescued from landfill. The crates have all been meticulously made by RFW volunteers at Wythenshawe Park Farm. Volunteer Sandra created the stencils that proudly emboss the crates with the words ‘Real Food Wythenshawe’, and the project has been a great exercise to explore woodwork skills with volunteers.

Quirky items also ‘tumble’ down the slope, from stiletto heels planted up with winter pansies (the leaves are edible!) to gas canisters that have been cut in half to make planters filled with herbs. The painted bikes on the site were donated by Wythenshawe Christian organisation ‘The Message’ which seeks to refurbish broken bikes – unfortunately these ones could not be saved, so the RFW team creatively repurposed them for use in the Mayfield garden.

As for the plants and flowers, they have been grown in poly tunnels by RFW volunteers at Wythenshawe Park Farm, and then planted in vintage dressing tables and mirrors, their surfaces covered in inspirational messages.

The winter flowering garden contains; swedes, Chinese leaves, strawberries, radishes, herbs, celery, kale and pansies, proving that edible plants can be as beautiful and engaging as flowers. The team have also planted spring bulbs, to continue to provide colour pockets as the 2018 growing season begins next spring, and the Mayfield garden becomes a hive of activity again in the new year.