Over the summer 6 different community groups and around 100 families have been growing vegetables and herbs. These were given as small plants in April by our “Growing food, Growing Friends” project. We especially wanted to encourage people with no garden to grow plants in tubs.
On Sunday August 31 we held a picnic in the Forest Garden in Valentines Park for those who have taken part and other members of the community. We wanted to meet up again to see how everyone has got on in growing both food and friends. We brought food and drink to share (Including a huge pan of chai, which was very popular!) There were food demos and activities for children.
A stall gave away seeds ready for next year. We also had an informal workshop / conversation about what plants had grown well and not so well.
It was a fun, friendly afternoon.
Chatting together and listening to lots of encouraging stories:
- Aliya had given plants to 20 families of children with Special Educational Needs. They had loved the opportunity to grow.
- Asif had created a vegetable garden at the Belgrave Road Mosque
- Gowthami had succeeded in growing mint and tomatoes on a balcony and encouraged 5 neighbours to do the same. Her whole family had caught the garfdening”bug”
- Salina had produced enough cucumbers and bottle gourds to keep her family supplied throughout the summer.
We are thinking about what Food related projects we could do next year. If you have any ideas and are interested to take part, then get in touch.
What we did
We recruited 15 volunteers who invited their 10 nearest neighbours to take part in our project. We grew seedlings, and bought and collected seeds of 10 different kinds of vegetable and fruit. As well as these, we offered window boxes, tubs and compost to 100 local families, many of whom don’t have growing space as they live in flats or their front garden has been concreted over. We also ran front garden workshops in making cuttings whilst lockdown was still going on, and later a chutney making workshop with apples one person had from her trees. Two participants made short videos on how to grow gourds. We also did a cuttings workshop in the Transition Ilford Forest garden once restrictions were lifted
Many people took an interest in growing for the first time. People were thrilled when crops actually grew!
In one street there was a noticeable “knock on” effect in that other people (who were not in the project) also started to grow in containers in their front garden.
Another benefit was that people got to know their neighbours better. We live in an ethnically very diverse neighbourhood, so it was great to see people of different backgrounds mixing.
We formed a planning group which enabled different people to offer skills they have. For example one person went round local hardware shops and got vouchers we could use for their products (like plant food).
We were keen to involve Bangladeshi women, some of whom were already excellent gardeners. We recruited two Bangladeshi volunteers who contacted other people in their community. They grew excellent Khodu (Gourd) and tomatoes, which were in great demand!
We don’t have funding this year but we have decided to run a scaled down project. We will offer seeds and compost but not containers. Can you grow some seeds we can use later? We are currently looking for people to grow seeds indoors so that they will be ready to distribute when the growing season starts. We can give you packets of seeds (eg tomato and chilli) small containers and some seed compost if you need it. Your job will be to look after the seeds until they are ready to be planted out or passed on to this year’s growers. Could you be a volunteer? The project gives you a great chance to get to know your neighbours better. If you would like to volunteer we can give you all you need to enable your neighbours to get growing! If either of these opportunities interest you then get in touch with us by email at transitionilford@gmail.com
