Aim

To provide families access to good quality greenspace to learn in a fun way about growing, cooking and eating their own home-grown produce

Milton Community Garden is a significant community asset enhancing the environment, providing family activities and social space, offering horticultural training opportunities and alleviating poverty. Some of the activities that we want to develop are:-

Youth Gardening
Our work with children and young people has a valuable role in building confidence, offering unstructured, safe outdoor play, providing a safe and nurturing environment. The current youth gardening programme provides Young Planters Clubs running for Age 5-8 years on Tuesday Afternoons, 3-4.30pm and for Age 9-12 years on Wednesday Afternoons, 3-4.30pm.
 

Therapeutic Gardening
 We want to support gardening sessions for people with addictions or mental health needs run by our skilled gardener which aim to build people’s confidence and self –esteem as well as a safe space to socialise.

Growing of bedding plants
In an area that lacks quality green space we aim to encourage people to improve and take pride in their own surroundings by obtaining affordable bedding plants to plant in their own gardens. This can inspire people to volunteer in the community garden.

Family events and activities
We run many successful family oriented events and activities such as open garden days, picnics, barbecues, foraging walks, nature days which enables people to get outdoors and appreciate the natural environment. There is space where parents can socialise while their children are engaged in activities. This provides a nurturing environment for elderly people to mix with all generations.

Climate Impact
The growing of organic fruit and veg in Milton supplies Fruit & Veg Barras. There are participatory gardening sessions and children’s gardening to ensure community-led approach, training local community members in food growing skills to ensure sustainability of activities.

We practically demonstrate and train people in food growing and continue to facilitate activities about the food cycle and the importance of eating local, seasonal food. We are also spreading the ethos of upcycling in our growing projects, as well as in craft and sewing projects.

Our activities are promoting the upcycling ethos through using reclaimed wood and materials wherever possible on structures at gardens, e.g. raised beds and decking, and providing opportunities to gain the necessary skills will enable community members to do more DIY tasks at home. This is helping to reduce both the financial and environmental cost of procuring new items.  There are significant learning opportunities across the growing, upcycling, DIY and cooking activities which can be useful both in people’s everyday life and transferrable to the field of employment. 

Engagement with local schools to involve parents, as well as pupils, in growing projects can enable children and parents to spend more time together involved in environmentally beneficial activities, strengthening family connections.

This project successfully funded on 7th December 2021