Garden Organic in your community
We couldn’t achieve all that we do as a charity without the passion, dedication and support of volunteers. Together we’re growing a movement that takes practical action to conserve seeds, nurture soil and wildlife, compost, and reduce waste.
We’ve certainly hit the ground running in 2026 with a very busy start to the year! Here’s just a few updates from our work in communities around the UK.
East of England 🔗
The Norfolk Master Composters kicked off their 20th anniversary year with a deep dive into soil health with head of horticulture Chris Collins. The workshop was a fantastic opportunity for volunteers to learn more about the importance of taking care of your soil. One participant said: “It was a really informative and entertaining day. What a truly inspirational guest speaker: I could have listened to him all week!”
Over in Suffolk, we’ve been working in partnership with Flagship Housing to help transform green spaces, boosting their value for residents and nature. Chris Collins has been hosting workshops with the grounds teams, covering biodiversity and composting and using a mix of theory and practical work.
We’re also looking forward to opening a new compost demonstration site at The Food Museum, in Stowmarket, very soon! As part of our Master Composter Programme with Suffolk County Council, we’ll display educational signage alongside a range of working bins. Volunteers will be on hand for organised tours and workshops.
Southwest 🔗
With the recent appointment of coordinator Karen to the Gloucestershire Master Composter programme, activity has ramped up and this month we welcomed a new cohort of keen volunteers. Part of the day included a visit to Bisley Community Composting Scheme and the compost demonstration site. Also celebrating its 20th anniversary, Bisley is an inspirational community composting scheme that has helped inform and inspire more sites locally and nationally.
Midlands 🔗
In partnership with Warwickshire County Council, we’ve been supporting residents to better understand issues around flooding and drought, and how we can collectively help mitigate potential problems in our growing spaces. Residents have been invited to take part in citizen science surveys and attend webinars to better understand what we can all do to help.
Closer to our base at Ryton, our Sowing Your Seeds Project team, funded by the National Lottey Heritage Fund, has been out and about at events, talks and seed swaps across the region including Kenilworth, Bedworth, Nottingham, Rugby, Loughborough, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leicester and Barton under Needwood. To find out more about the wonderful heritage varieties, uncovered stories, and upcoming events visit Sowing your Seeds: Heritage Crops for a Resilient Future.
As well as overseeing some exciting developments in our own demonstration gardens, the gardens team have also been supporting a planting project in Rugby. The brief was to plant for biodiversity, and here are some of their choices…
- Holly olive (Osmanthus heterophyllus): fragrant flowers in autumn-winter make this invaluable to the ecosystem, attracting bees and butterflies when little else is available.
- Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus): spring flowers are followed by berries in the autumn, attracting a wide variety of insects including hoverflies and birds.
- Caucasus catmint (Nepeta grandiflora): with a long flowering season and nectar-rich flowers, this is a magnet for an array of insects and pollinators.
Get involved! 🔗
If you’d like to get involved promoting organic growing in your community then please get in touch via email.
If we haven’t got a funded programme in your area, you can sign up to our ‘UK-wide network’ to become part of our active network, and we’ll support you with webinars, newsletters and links to the most up to date educational resources and engagement tools. Click here.