Back to Front is a project that supports growing food in front gardens. This can be from pots outside all the way to little food havens a step away from the kitchen.
Some communities in Leeds already use their Front Gardens in this way and they provided the initial inspiration to the project. Over the last couple of years, the project has signed up over 300 participants to grow food Back to Front in parts of Leeds. The City has a large proportion of back-to-back houses with only Front Gardens to grow food, so it makes perfect sense.
Participants have created wonderful Back to Front gardens full of fruits, vegetables and ideas for making the most of small spaces. So why not join in and spread the word? You too can have a beautiful and tasty front garden!
Over the years, Back to Front has enjoyed the support from many people and organisations. We have worked with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), Leeds Met, Leeds City Council, Groundworks, LATCH, Shine and the local NHS to name a few. We have been funded by Leeds City Council, the Local Government Association, Awards for All and Jimbo’s honouring the memory of the late Jimmi Heselden. We are grateful to the family for their ongoing support.
Our latest funding from Esmee Fairbairn will see us through the next three years focusing our efforts to recruit 100 new Front Garden growers and supporting one street per year where at least a third of residents will be growing ‘Back to Front’. We will be working closely with Thackray Medical Museum and Shine in Harehills to develop community growing hubs and arts activities linked to the local cultural heritage to get people interested in food growing. We have plans for food growing awards, workshops, origami fruit and veg and poetry.
Please drop us a line if there is something you would like to see happening!
