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Last week, a fantastic team of volunteers from NSG, AWE and the local community supported a renovation project in a housing estate in Newbury, Berkshire. Organised by the Secret Garden Project, the purpose of the event was to make environmental improvements, encourage biodiversity and provide a community space in an area that was previously derelict and suffered from deprivation.

The volunteers completed various tasks to develop and beautify the community garden for local residents. As well as housing herbs and flowers, the garden now contains fruit and vegetables for the local community to enjoy in the coming months. By encouraging organic recycling and composting, the garden will also provide a habitat for insects and pollinators. The volunteers’ tasks included:

• Building self-watering educational planters (reducing the need for watering in the summer by 70%).
• Building raised growing beds.
• Filling new raised beds with soil.
• Constructing new compost bins.
• Making trellises for climbing plants.
• Weeding and replanting.

James Rudd, Sustainability Manager at NSG and volunteer on the day, commented:

“All of the volunteers had a great time and were delighted that the sun shone all day. The changes we made to the garden will help make the area more sustainable, which will benefit the local community and increase biodiversity. I look forward to hearing about the locals enjoying the fruits of our work in the summer when everything starts to grow!”