Cultivation Street Week

As a proud B Corp certified business, we’re pleased to be able to support a number of community-based initiatives both locally and nationally. One cause we’re fully in support of is Cultivation Street Week.

Cultivation Street Week, an initiative created by Cultivation Street, is a celebration of community gardens across the UK, raising awareness of the benefits they provide to local people, both physically and mentally.  

We’re fully in support of the positive impact behind community gardens – so much so, that back in 2020/21 we ran our Seeds of Joy competition, giving community gardens across the UK the chance to win £5,000 to contribute towards their project. After a lot of deliberation and a public vote, we were very pleased to congratulate three winning teams.

Here’s a sneak peek at what they’ve been up to since winning….

Chapel Street Park

Chapel Street Park is the oldest park in Levenshulme, Manchester and the team behind the Chapel Street Park Community Garden have achieved a lot since we last spoke to them, transforming the garden to include many new additions such as a children’s area, growing space, wildlife area, orchard, seating and storage as well as beginning to develop their own water harvesting system!

In addition to this, they’ve planted an incredible 500 trees and bushes as well as hosting open day events. An amazing effort!

Little Grower’s Club

The Little Grower’s Club encourages young children from local primary schools to grow veggies for themselves and local food banks. They have a dedicated veg patch in an area of Streatham Common Community Garden, London, to educate little ones on how plants and vegetables grow whilst also demonstrating how they can be turned into delicious meals. We’re delighted to have been able to provide the Little Grower’s Club with funding to help young children to grow and cook their own healthy food. Here’s some snapshots…

Stonewater’s Brighton Women’s Refuge

A safe space that provides support and accommodation to women and children in need, Stonewater’s Brighton Women’s Refuge provide a fantastic service and we couldn’t be happier to have supported them.

Within the Refuge, they’ve created the Gardening & Wellbeing Group who meet on a weekly basis to enjoy a session of planting seeds, general garden maintenance as well as cooking using the herbs and veggies to make scrumptious meals. The group enjoy learning about gardening and growing their own food, often continuing their passion this gardening once they leave.

We’re delighted to see that these wonderful community gardens are continuing to thrive and be a valuable space in their local communities and look forward to continuing to track their progress for years to come.

Have you set up your own community garden? If so, we’d love to find out more. Please tag us @higgidy or email us via thekitchen@higgidy.co.uk.