Our last post gave an update on two of the four vegetable garden plots we run: Even in the depths of winter – Part 1. This post features an update from a long established community garden on an estate in Laindon run by our partners at Basildon & Southend Housing Action. It’s not the most promising location but a few years of hard graft have helped to transform a corner of what would otherwise have been a pretty drab location. This particular garden is dual purpose – growing vegetables for consumption as well as flowers and shrubs to brighten the place up. Securing a food supply and boosting community morale in one hit…

Imagine what it could be like if every close/block on every estate in the area we cover ran small pocket gardens like this. It would be a step towards a sustainable means of localised food production. Combined with acquiring skills in pickling and other food preservation methods, pocket gardens like these could go some way to empowering people to start taking control of their food production at the grassroots and away from the large corporations. Once you start looking, there are plenty of plots that could be turned over to community run pocket gardens like this…let’s get going!

To inspire and encourage people to start going down this route, we’ll be posting regular(ish) updates on what’s happening with our plots. If you’re doing something similar and would like to share your experiences, feel free to get in touch with a write up and some images, and we’ll happily publish it. Also, please take a look at the links in the right hand side bar where you’ll find plenty of resources to get you going on growing your own…