Sustainable Gardening in LGC
Last week a few TTL’ers went to the Hub on Station Road to meet with Elizabeth Towler (Environment & Landscape Officer from the LGC Heritage Foundation) and Steve Howells (Chairman of the ARCH Community Group who run the local “In Bloom” competition). It was a heart-warming meeting because their ideas square nicely with the Transition ethos.
They want to put the ‘Garden’ back into Garden City by providing encouragement and education for residents who aren’t natural gardeners and who lack the knowledge to start growing their own food and creating gardens with wildlife in mind. They want to encourage SUSTAINABILITY and ORGANIC PRINCIPLES! Yay!!
The older properties in Letchworth were all provided with sizable gardens with the expectation that people would want to grow food to feed their families as well as flowers and shrubs. For various reasons few of the current younger generation of house owners ever learned to be gardeners and unless we do something about it that state will continue.
As all seasoned Transitioners know, food security and food miles are a big issue, and the importance of looking after our birds and bees can’t be forgotten either. So, their plan is to develop gardens in Letchworth town centre, at the top of the Wynd to include raised beds in an allotment garden, a plot showing wildlife gardening and sustainability and an exhibition garden showing techniques and seasonality.
There will also be a training and education centre opening in a currently unused shop which will provide lectures and seminars together with an RHS ‘In Bloom’ shop selling gardening related kit.
The RHS is ‘on board’ with Letchworth because it is a special year for them; it’s their 50th anniversary, and they consider our town to be a good project. It’s all very exciting!
If you’re wondering where you fit in, they are looking for local partners and volunteers with a view to launching the project in the first week in April. So roll up and volunteer!
It is National Gardening Week Starting April 14th and their will be lots of activity in town. In July it is once again ‘Anglia in Bloom’ time, which is organised locally by ARCH. They are looking to include as many local varieties of wildflowers as they can find so if you can help please let ARCH know.
The Wynd gardens is a project that could have a big impact on our town’s food resilience. It is hoped that this project will go from strength to strength and grow bigger each year, but of course that depends on how much help they get.
We’d love to know what you think. Please leave a comment or get in touch through our contact page.