Local gardening opportunities

We are lucky to have an array of opportunities to get involved in local greening and nature conservation work in the local area. Some of these are listed below. 

Forest garden maintenance at the Cecil Sharp House Garden
Wednesdays twice a month, 10am-12.30pm

The Cecil Sharp House garden is cared for by Permablitz London, and includes apple trees, a herb spiral, green roof areas, a greenhouse, and a wide range of perennial and annual shrubs and plants, some of which are edible.
More information 

Camden Green Gym
Sessions are held twice a week in sites across Camden.
More information 
 
Adelaide Nature Reserve Association
Sessions normally run at the reserve on the last Sunday of the month, 11am-2pm. More information
For more details contact Dave Lawrence: dave.lawrence@uclmail.net.
 
The Royal Parks Volunteering
Volunteer in parks across London including Regent’s Park and occasionally Primrose Hill.
More information

Castelhaven Community Centre

Castelhaven offers gardening and food growing sessions at several local locations. More information

What’s to be done?

London is one of the greenest cities in the world, rich in open spaces, parks, city squares, private gardens, city farms, nature reserves and allotments.  Now communal land in housing estates as well as temporary allotments on land waiting to be developed are being made available to urban growers. 

Why wait for a crisis? Join a local community gardening project to improve the biodiversity in local green spaces. Or try growing your own, even if it’s only a few saladstuffs in pots, or herbs on a windowsill.  Buy local food from local suppliers (see our Buying Locally page). Ask questions about your food. Where did it come from? What chemicals were used in its production and packaging? How was it transported to its point of sale? Cook recipes with local ingredients in their prime: see our Seasonal Recipes page written by local food writer Rosie Stark.

A mass of resources:

Watch ‘The Power of Community’ for some inspiration! It shows how a population in Havana, forced by political changes to rely heavily on imports has, in just twelve years, become 90% self-sufficient in locally grown fruit and vegetables - and all due to small-scale localised farming techniques.  Cuba is now being seen as a model for what looks almost certain to be a widely repeated experience

Get involved with an organisation: London has a head start over other cities.  We have community food-growing organisations like Capital Growth, City Leaf, Groundwork, BTCV, Federation of Community Gardens and City Farms, and many others not to mention individual home owners willing to share their gardens. This all makes Urban Agriculture an increasing reality

Get online or read some books: A few of our favourites are....
Allotment Month by Month by Alan Buckingham
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/digin/
Local Food: How to Make it Happen in Your Community: How to Unleash a Food Revolution Where You Live by Tamzin Pickerton & Rob Hopkins
The Green Home: Creating Your Own Garden Farm by Nicki Trench