Author: gavin

Fruits of our labour

This week saw the installation of boxes into the latrines in Residence 4, the idea being that they will be filled with the sawdust from the carpentry workshop. I plan to give the children and housemothers a talk on how to use the latrines, putting a scoop of sawdust down the latrine after use, thus the end-product will be of a better quality than the existing product, the reason being, the carbon of the sawdust helps to breakdown the nitrogen-rich faeces in a carbon-nitrogen balance.

Cuttings pit

We have planted the seedlings in the greenhouses and summer growing area, many vegetables and some melons. It was a fantastic effort getting all the planting done, which was satisfying to all.

The soil is fine and over the years it will get better and better. The trenches have been excellent for seedling development and have provided us with our own seedlings. Now all carriers are full and the total for the greenhouse and summer growing area is more than 70.

We have mulched our fruit tree beds which will help to begin to create better soil and retain moisture – increasingly important as now summer is here, I am also reminded of how strong the sun is and how hot it will get over the next few months.

This week has been a good week with continued progression. We finished planting trees in the visitor’s centre and have created some small flowerbeds, filling them with flowers beneath. Jigmet of the Visitor Centre has taken full responsibility for irrigating what we have planted this year.

On Monday we went to Taglang-la to collect slate. It was an interesting day and great to see so much beautiful stone all around the mountain. I tried to take two main colours so that a substantial amount was obtained but there is a plethora of available stone up there some in the most beautiful colours.

On Friday a delivery from Jains arrived which is a promising sign, their MD from Srinagar is in Ladakh next week and is scheduling a meeting/visit here. Aside from all the seedlings that we planted inside the green house, we have planted a few more trees inside the visitors centre terrace and made use of the plant stock we have been developing, by planting out two borders inside the Visitor Centre.

With Simon, as resident landscape architect, and Sarah, as a volunteer landscape architect, work on implementing the plan got off to a great start in the spring of 2013. A plant nursery has been established, a landscape office has been built, the spine path has been planted and work is underway on the terrace in front of the visitor centre. Simon and Sarah will be returning to the UK in mid-summer and their places will be taken by Paddy, as resident landscape architect, and Arlene, as a volunteer landscape architect. Arlene’s trip will be funded by the UK Landscape Institute’s Travel Award. Thank you and good luck to all concerned!

After a cold winter, landscape work resumed in the Spring of 2013. Simon returned for a second period as the resident landcsape architect. He flew to Nepal and travelled to Ladakh on his motor bike. Sarah, also a Greenwich landscape architect, joined him to work as a volunteer landscape architect. The irrigation pipes supplied by Jains can be seen in the background, waiting to be installed in the next month or so. The photographs are both of the nursery compound which was built in 2012 to Simon’s design. This work has to proceed the main planting because Ladakh does not have a nursery industry which could supply trees and other plants.

Buddhist Garden Design History

On 26th February 2013 Tom Turner is giving a lecture about the influence of Buddhism on garden design, followed by a lecture by Simon Drury-Brown on the possible design of a Dragon Garden for the Druk White Lotus School in Ladakh, India. Tickets are available from Eventbrite. The lectures will be in the King William Building on the Maritime Campus, starting at 6.30 pm

Staff and students from the University of Greenwich Landscape Architecture programmes are offering to help make a garden for the Druk (Dragon) White Lotus School in Ladakh, India. The design of the Druk White Lotus School, by Arup Associates, is based on a Tibetan mandala. ‘Mandala’ is a Sanskrit word. It was used for the sections of the Rig Veda and became associated with a visual symbol, based on a circle and square, used for the layout of temples and the design of stupas and many other sacred objects. DWLS was severely damaged by a mudslide in 2010. The site is in a cold desert and there is a great need for a garden and landscape environment. If a project is seen to be viable, our hope is to pioneer an approach to cold desert landscape design which will have a wider relevance in the Himalayan region. Global warming is causing the glaciers to retreat and putting the whole area at risk.