The Up Garden opened in October 2022 for the local community of all ages to learn about gardening, biodiversity and eco-sustainability.

By Neandra Etienne

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and BBC The One Show has announced The UP Garden in Forest Gate as winner of the Growing Together Award 2023 for community gardening.

The Up Garden released a statement about their win:

“This award is a huge honour and validation of our approach to creating a community garden, which is that it is less about knowing about gardening, and more about knowing your community. We hope that The UP Garden inspires other communities to come together to reclaim unused land to fulfil their specific needs.”

Local resident and founder of The UP Garden Suzanne Hu was Lead Project Manager during its construction, and is now Chair of the Committee since its launch.

Work began to clear the site, previously an unused laundry yard in Forest Gate, in the spring of 2022. The local community helped bring new life to the space by having up-cycling workshops to build furniture and planters, community planting workshops to form the different gardening areas, and volunteering sessions were organised to create everything needed for
the space.

Local businesses also made contributions, donating plants, water tanks, sheds and refreshments.

The Up Garden opened in October 2022 for the local community of all ages to learn about gardening, biodiversity and eco-sustainability.

The Up Garden celebrated the win at their Autumntide event, which also marked their first anniversary.

The Up Garden hosts Social Weedia, a weekly community gardening drop-in session, a monthly outdoor work-out takeover, run by GoodGym, and has plans to host Wintertide, a seasonal gathering of nature-based family activities and local music.

The Up Garden applied for funding from People Powered Places. They plan to add a book exchange, community piano and nature trail in 2024. www.theupgarden.org

The Royal Horticultural Society is a gardening charity – www.rhs.org.uk

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