Volunteers launch new upcycled garden at The Green Patch!
about 38 weeks ago
Have you ever wanted to transform that neglected corner of your garden?
We've done just that with an overgrown section of The Green Patch, all at zero cost. Tasked with the challenge, our volunteers have brought this section back to life by upcycling materials to create a sustainable garden without spending anything.
In recent times, we have seen a rise in people turning towards regenerative gardening methods such as using wildflowers, rewilding and composting as sustainable gardening methods get widely adopted. Regenerative gardening tends to cost less as it promotes the use of natural processes and the recycling and upcycling of waste. We wanted to put sustainability at the forefront of this project and we have achieved this by using materials and plants we already had, with the exception of some donations from our wonderful volunteers.
We also wanted to combat rising costs, when creating this garden, to show people they do not have to spend anything to transform a space and get gardening. A survey published by Kantar Media found that on average UK households spend around £150 on their garden each year. With the rising cost of living, we thought about ways to cut costs when creating this space. Reusing materials that would have been otherwise discarded. This helped us to achieve our zero cost approach as it prompted us to rethink about how we could reuse plants, materials and packets of seeds volunteers hadn't yet used to give it a new life.
We understand that some people may feel nervous and overwhelmed about starting a new garden project as gardening can seem intimidating when you are just starting out. So we have used this garden to show people how easy and cost effective designing and creating a garden can be.
If you want to explore gardening further, or want a calm place to come to, then join us on our volunteer days every Tuesday and Thursday from 10am - 3pm so you can have a go without buying lots of gardening tools. Alternatively, keep an eye out for our upcoming plant sales and seed swaps where you can get your hands on your own upcycled kits to get gardening!