Local gardeners, volunteers and community activists are celebrating the first birthday of a pioneering community garden in Rickmansworth.
Since setting up the town’s popular community garden last June, Sustainable Three Rivers (S3R) has built up a flock of volunteers who visit three times a week to cultivate vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers. Thanks to a close partnership with Rickmansworth Library, the community garden also hosts reading groups, as well as numerous workshops on gardening and the environment.
On June 14 and 15, special events were held as part of the nationwide Great Big Green Week. The highlights included a workshop on planting pollinator-friendly hanging baskets and a family-friendly gardening masterclass.
S3R is also excited to announce that it is now working alongside the grounds maintenance team at Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) to develop the rose garden so that it is ready to cope with climate change. Plants known for their resilience in the face of both extreme heat and heavy rainfall have been planted in the garden, plus native English plants known to attract many varieties of butterflies and bees.
Chair of S3R Rosi Jordon said: “The more we all learn about creating wildlife-friendly spaces and growing our own food, the greater the positive impact we will have on our beautiful planet.”
The S3R team – which now boasts more than 400 subscribers and a strong core of volunteers – is also busy visiting local schools. At a visit to St John’s Catholic Primary School in Rickmansworth last May, children learned how to plant sunflower seeds in raised beds and took home their own flower bulbs.
One pupil said: “It was a great afternoon because I’ve never touched a sunflower seed before.”
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