Ridgway Street Community Gardens
We made a lot of progress in our garden over the last twelve months, we had support to clear some overgrown areas and install large raised beds from our
corporate volunteers – many hands make light work!
We have grown most of our plants from seed including tomato, courgette, cabbage, lettuce, kale, nasturtium flowers and sweet peas.
Many of our fruit bushes seemed to flourish including black currant, red currant, raspberries, blue berries, strawberries and our fruit trees are getting ready to bear a good crop later in the year.
We benefited from the guidance of Jo and Suzanne who have been running sessions in our garden, supporting us to install a pond to encourage wildlife and
growing our own fruit and veg. We have a great garden group who are learning from our Wednesday sessions and also bring their skills and experience to the group.
We have a great time in the fresh air keeping active, staying connected and learning new skills. Our group have benefited from some funding from MPCAN and
Manchester Active which was received with thanks and helped us to achieve our goals of increasing the diversity of wildlife visiting our garden and improving the growing spaces.
Holland Street Community Gardens
The community gardens at Holland Street are mostly looked after by loyal volunteers Dot and Brenda, who are often found there on Wednesdays and Sundays between 11.30am and 2pm. The gardens benefited from interventions made under the development of the Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor and has had some bird feeders and an insect hotel put in, alongside some new gardening beds.
Chippenham Road Gardens
From the start of Autumn 2024, a group of local volunteers have been coming together for weekly gardening sessions at Chippenham Road community gardens, led by local resident Sal. With support from Diggit MCR and Jigsaw Homes, raised beds have been brimming with bulbs and a variety of flowers, alongside a herb garden. In the springtime volunteers began harvesting vegetables such as broad beans, a rhubarb patch, beetroot and tomatoes from a new greenhouse funded by Asda Foundation. They are also hoping to install a polytunnel which would open up possibilities such as longer growing seasons and protected spaces for community sessions, rain or shine.
Chippenham gardens has seen a range of volunteers come and go, regular and new, young and old, and has brought folks together for growing, conversations, and building community. Sessions are taking a break for the time being but will be back soon on Friday afternoons and are welcome to all.