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‘Revolutionary in a quiet way’: the rise of community gardens in the UK

Royal Horticultural Society sets up first Community Awards as community gardens become more common

Lucy Mitchell, a community project worker with the Golden Hill Community Garden, in Horfield, Bristol.
Lucy Mitchell, a community project worker with the Golden Hill community garden, in Horfield, Bristol. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian
“The first melon of the season always tastes amazing,” says Lucy Mitchell. “I don’t think anyone has ever taken one home – every year, we just cut them into as many slices as there are people in the garden and make sure everyone gets a melon moment.”

After almost a decade of being involved with the Golden Hill community garden in Horfield, Bristol, she never gets complacent about the significance of these simple things. “We remember ‘Big Jim’, the biggest sunflower who ever grew here, or the miracle sunflowers that grew in the gravel and we wait for the frogs to return to the pond. These things all layer into our story and we look forward to them.”

Community gardens are becoming ever more common across the UK, and at the end of September, the Royal Horticultural Society will announce the winners of its first Community Awards.

“Where groups like this existed, communities seemed to be more resilient when it came to a crisis [like Covid] because they had a pre-established network of volunteers and people already knew each other so they could easily offer support,” says Kay Clark, who heads up the RHS community gardening programme. “With wellbeing and nature connection becoming top priority during lockdown, we had this massive surge of interest in gardening and the community groups were there to help people learn how to garden, teach skills, share knowledge, plants, tools and all sorts as well as inspire people and cheer them up.”

Gardeners chatting at the Golden Hill community garden in Bristol
Gardeners chatting at the Golden Hill community garden in Bristol Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Alamy

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