One of our littlest volunteers wins the prize for best wellies.
A bit of rain is good for the gardens, right? Which is great news for the community garden we work on with Hyde Park Source and Cross Green Community Group in East Leeds. We’re happy when the heavens open, which they have helpfully done on a regular basis recently. This means there’s plenty of fresh food to be harvested and that’s what we’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks, along with working our way through the endless list of tasks that go into making a garden like this so effective.
Team work – our youngest volunteers work together harvesting potatoes
We’re lucky enough to have plenty of local volunteers who turn up to lend a hand each week. From the little ones here harvesting potatoes, to the hardy souls using raw muscle to clear the wasteland at the back of the site, everyone’s doing their bit.
Harvest time! Courgettes and potatoes for next week’s drop in lunch cooked by Cross Green Community Group
Oh, what a beauty… And it’s not even a marrow. The courgettes are growing like wildfire.
At the moment, most of the produce from the garden goes into the drop in lunch that Cross Green Community Group volunteers cook once a week. One of Back to Front’s main aims is to give free raised beds to local people so they can grow their own produce at home too. The community garden acts as a hub where people can join in, get advice from the gardeners and take plants home to grow themselves.
It’s a project with a steady build – the more visible and vibrant the garden becomes, the more interest it attracts from local residents. We’ve put signs on the beds showing what’s growing in them and when to harvest, so that people can see that the garden is for everyone, not just the people who work on it. We’re having a banner made with the logos of all the organizations involved in the project to make the cross-community approach more evident. Finally, the garden has grown – it’s what they do! – and the more luscious it becomes, the more attention it gets. It’s an inspiring place to spend time – even better when you get to eat the harvest!
We’re learning a lot from being involved in this lovely project. If you’d like to join us to dig, shovel, rake or plant on a Thursday morning, 10-12, we’d be happy to see you. Email info@backtofront.org.uk if you’d like to come along. No special skills required – all you need is enthusiasm!