Welcome to Wharfside Community Gardens, and to our first blog post! It's taken us a little longer than expected and a huge amount of effort, but we are finally in a position to open our Community Growing Spaces.
We've been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applications we have received since announcing our opening date and unfortunately have not been able to assign a plot to every applicant. Don't be dismayed if you missed out this time though, we are hoping to replicate this model throughout the region, delivering many more Community Garden sites and much needed access to the outdoors.
So what do we have in store?
Although we're opening our gates from the 1st of March, there's still much more to come.
We'll be setting up green water gathering and recycling on site to ensure a year round water supply.
We're building a small supply of garden consumables, hand tools and other equipment which can be borrowed whilst on site (free of charge), just in case you forget to bring your own.
We plan to seed the majority of the community areas as wildflower meadows and develop habitat on site for all those helpful creepy crawlies.
We've planted up the site boundary with hundreds of native hedgerow species (Hawthorn, Alder, Oak, Hazel, Birch and Holly) and will be maintaining this for the coming few years.
Our monthly newsletter and members only forum are in development and will be released shortly.
Events and community building
Many, if not all us, are strangers at this point. But we hope to change that. We believe that there is a lot to be gained from 'community' and plan to organise group building events throughout the year. We're flexible and will support any community event on site, whether it be summer BBQ's, Christmas Wreath Building or Bonfire Night Burns.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch, or even better, Join the Committee.
Setting up a Committee
We believe that Plotholders should have a say in the day-to-day operation of the site, the use of the community spaces and future development. We'd like everyone to have a say, however understand that schedules and commitments don't always allow. To this end, we're looking for a few members willing to join the Committee in an advisory capacity and appoint a Chair who will liaise with the Landowner on their behalf.
If you have any questions or need to get in touch, you can contact us at wharfside@triviumland.co.uk