Be a part of Dwelling
Members are invited to participate in this year’s Designers in Residence by donating fruit trees to form part of Resident Hester Buck’s final exhibition. Her project looks at the value of community gardens on post-war social housing estates, and how they create social infrastructures through the residents’ collective actions. The display will be a five-point trail of plants at the Museum, and each point will describe how these gardens operate as a form of common ground: a resource open to everyone, requiring regular care and harvesting, and which must be negotiated by a group. After the exhibition the trees will be donated to community gardens across London.
Donated trees should be fruit trees suitable to be planted outdoors, such as pears, apples, quinces, cherries or crab apples, no taller than 2m in height, but could be trained trees such as espalier, cordoned or fanned. All donations should be dropped off to the loading bay at the Museum during regular museum opening hours from Friday 30 November – Sunday 2 December.
Step 1 - Cut a young, healthy branch from your fruit tree using a sharp knife or pair of pruning shears. Cut the branch on a 45-degree angle.
Step 2 - Peel the bark from the bottom third of the branch cutting, using the edge of your knife blade. Fill a drinking glass with lukewarm water and allow the cutting to soak for approximately five minutes.
Step 3 - Fill a 6-inch pot with damp organic potting soil while the branch cutting is soaking in the water. Push a pencil into the centre of the soil, creating a hole that is at least 4 inches deep.
Step 4 - Pour a small amount of liquid rooting hormone into a second glass and dip the branch cutting into it briefly. Push the lower third of the branch into the prepared hole in the potting soil. Pat the soil firmly around the branch cutting.
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