Hello!!
We are ROOM TO GROW!! A project set up by me - Angie - and my good friend Mike with the aim to turn unused spaces into edible oasis'!!
With a team of socially distanced volunteers we installed 6 mini allotments in front gardens in Uplands and Brynmill for the community to enjoy and learn about food growing and permiculture!
I run a resturant called Hoogah based on Brynymor Road and since opening have aspired to bring ethical, affordable food to the local community with a mission to reduce food miles and keep money in the Welsh economy. I had a dream to build a kitchen garden for the cafe but now I dream of being able to buy produce from the Room To Grow gardens! 1/3 of produce will go to the volunteers and RTG community members, 1/3 will be donated or used to fundraise for local causes and 1/3 will become available for purchase by resturants and community members! Who knows, we may even grow enough produce to start a veg box! The income from selling a portion of the produce will help the project to remain sustainable with a steady income!
Turning the streets into food forrests was initially Mike's idea, mike runs a social enterprise called Key Cymru which supports and parents socially beneficial projects like RTG. Mike is a passionate foodie, his great grandfather used to deliver vegetables by horse and cart back in the day (showing your age there Mikey sorry!).
Thanks to the support of the community and local councillors we got off to a flying start and are now ready to launch into the next phase of the plan - a green corridor!!
What is a green corridor I hear you cry?! Well ignoring the jargon it's going to be 3 streets that join Brynymor Road to Uplands square along which we plant as many mini allotments and pollinator gardens as we can - we will be contacting landlords and homeowners along King Edwards Road, Rhydings Park Road and Gwdyr Crescent in the coming weeks to join in!
It's a simple idea but a pretty bold one so we are fundraising to help towards the start up costs, we will be asking landlords and homeowners to contribute or even purchase the planters from us eventually but to get things off the ground we need your help!\