Our Community Garden
In 2020, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, local residents started to use a small and neglected municipal park called Ufton Gardens on the corner of Downham Road and Ufton Grove. Craving a safe and green outdoor space this little park became a sanctuary. Our own committee member, Cec Darker, who lives close by, took up the baton and started planting the borders to introduce more colour and biodiversity. When Cec asked de Beauvoir Gardeners to get involved we welcomed the opportunity to develop a community garden and we went into partnership with Hackney Council to look after the space.
We now have three raised beds which are used by local families to grow food. We have held two art exhibitions around the railings and the park is home to numerous ‘art installations’. There is a beautiful wildflower meadow in the summer and a woodland area where local nurseries learn about insects in their very own forest school. In the autumn of 2021 we made two bug hotels with the help and advice of committee member bee expert Alison Benjamin of Urban Bees.
Our aim is to create a wildlife friendly space for the whole community to enjoy – whether is is simply sitting and enjoying the butterflies or getting down and dirty with planting and weeding. Not that we see wildflowers as weeds in this park – its only the dreaded bindweed and a few over-enthusiastic specimens that get weeded out. Thanks to eveyyone who has donated plants. Watch this space for our programme of workshops in 2022.
Please follow us on instagram: @dbgcommunitygarden.
De Beauvoir Gardeners 