The Cultivation Street campaign celebrates and supports schools and community gardens, and what makes them so fantastic. Community gardens come in a myriad of shapes, sizes and styles. They all have a different heart and a unique mission.
Come and say hello at our Cultivation Street garden centre weekend.
We’re aiming to help you build closer ties with your local garden centre. They are great places to go for advice and inspiration, and always so helpful.
So come along to one of these events to chat about Cultivation Street, community gardening and ask me any gardening questions you have!
Saturday 30 May
5pm – Barn Farm Plants Garden Centre, Banbury
Events include a prize draw for Barn Farm Plants vouchers.
Cultivation Street is over for another year. And it has been a great second year for the campaign. Thank you to everyone who took part and helped make the UK a nicer place to live.
Thank you also to our fantastic entries. The quality of the entries has significantly increased this year – we’ve been blown away by everything you are doing!
We have had so many exciting new entries from communities that are just starting their gardening projects, as well as those that are already well established.
It has also been wonderful to see how the entries from last year have grown and developed – even more people are on board now. I hope the campaign gets people talking and encourages them to get involved in local gardening projects.
We have also seen a stronger interaction with the wider gardening industry, from growers, suppliers and garden centres. It’s fantastic to see so many people joining in!
This year we saw entries treble, and it was exceptionally hard to narrow them down.
We were particularly impressed to see the quality of entries to Cultivation School. It’s hugely rewarding and inspiring to see such dedicated teachers helping youngsters learn about plants, gardening and the outdoors.
School volunteer Kath Pickard was talking to a dinner lady one day about the derelict area at the back of the school. It had been left as a tip – full of rubble left over from nearby building work. Together they decided to take on the challenge of transforming it into a school garden.
It took them endless hours of work. They roped in teachers, parents and other school staff to help out. Eventually, they had cleared the site and built a raised bed for each class in the school.
They held a Class Crop Challenge and each group chose to grow a different crop. Kath told us “The results were amazing! All the children got stuck in, learned about gardening and tasted new vegetables at the end!”
This year, they decided to take the challenge one step further. Each class had to design their own plot around a theme and grow produce for a big harvest festival.
The children had complete freedom with their plot. The crops were then judged and trophies awarded to the winners.
The school also took on the extra challenge of marking the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. The race actually came through Skipton, in North Yorkshire.
They decided to transform the garden at the front of the school into a ‘Sea of Yellow,’ using yellow plants to echo the infamous yellow jersey.
Kath says “It’s great to see them getting involved and interested in the great outdoors. It’s amazing what can be achieved through gardening.”
Skipton Parish School was awarded a runner-up Cultivation School prize from the judges. The prize is £500 of National Garden Gift Vouchers.
The judges created the runner-up prize especially for the school to mark their incredible achievements. They praised Kath’s ability to see the potential in the site, and her initiative in turning it into a space for the whole school to enjoy.
The pupils also submitted a diary to the competition, which charted the garden’s progress and all the new things they had learned.
Congratulations to everyone at Skipton Parish School!
