The Cambridge Community Growing Group intends to raise awareness locally about the importance of gardening collectively, and to run training sessions for gardeners to help improve their skills and grow things in a more environmentally-friendly way.

Training Sessions

Introductory Level Gardening Skills Course for Community Gardeners

At Cambridge University Botanic Garden on Saturday 21st September from 10am to 4pm

Cambridge University Botanic Garden are providing a FREE day course for people already involved in Community gardening, or those interested in being involved.
The Course will include

• How to Weed/Weed Identification
• How to prepare the ground for planting/Sowing Seeds
• How to Plant/Seedlings and Container plants/Division
• How to Prune/ Deadhead/ herbaceous, and woody plants
• How to Sow Seeds, indoors and outdoors

Participants must register to attend. Register by contacting Sandie Cain Horticultural Learning Coordinator at slc87@cam.ac.uk

Funding Opportunities

See below for open funding opportunities we’ve come across which may be of use to community gardens locally, and let us know any we’ve missed:

National Lottery Awards for All England – Grants of £300 to £10,000 for projects which bring communities together and improve local spaces

Semble.org Are an organisation that bring community groups together with businesses and volunteers to make change happen. They also have a great funding page that is really useful to community gardens.

Useful Reading

Please take a look at the links below for further information on community gardening and evidence of its benefits:

• The Community Gardening Movement, written by Tina Jackson: http://www.foodwise.com.au/the-community-gardening-movement/
• Benefits of community growing, green spaces and outdoor education, published by the Federation of City Farms and Gardens: https://www.farmgarden.org.uk/sites/farmgarden.org.uk/files/benefits-community-growing-research-and-evidence.pdf
• Tips on setting up a community garden, by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations: https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/how-to/how-to-set-up-a-community-garden
• Advice for community groups growing food and managing land within parks https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/food_growing_in_parks/
• Common Good Land Use in England – State of the Sector Report 2019 – http://www.sharedassets.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/common-good-land-use-in-england-state-of-the-sector-report-2019.pdf and Quick Guides to Common Good Land Use – http://www.sharedassets.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/quick-guides-to-common-good-land-use.pdf