St Vincent's Community Garden Project

The environment

The core aim for our project is to create a vibrant community space thats as eco-conscious as possible. Each piece of work we do, we consider how to do it in the most ecological. The project started with a derelict, over grown piece of land that wasn't being used for anything. Initially we worked with professionals in the horticulture industry to ensure our approach was environmentally sustainable and encourages biodiversity to responsibly develop the space. A great example of this is when we initially cleared the space we had to pull up a lot (60!!) of trees. Rather than sending these to landfil we created a stumpery (a wildlife garden creating a habitat for insects and other wildlife). This will provide much needed green space for these creatures and a wonderful natural habitat for local residents. Seacombe is a very built up area with little access to green spaces, so the garden is welcomed project by the local community.

The local economy

Wherever possible, we have brought from local businesses and avoided large retailers unless absolutely necessary.

Volunteering, jobs & education

We have a regular group of volunteers who have found a sense of belonging within the group. As mentioned previously, the local community does not have much green space, so the creation of the community garden has enable people to develop gardening skills the otherwise don't get use!

Activity, health and leisure

We have been very successful with growing this year and have been able to distrubute fruit and veg to volunteers, beneficiaries at the centre and also the local foodbank. This has been a wonderful source of fresh fruits and vegetables for people on lower incomes who may not have access to fresh food like this otherwise.