RHS & BBC The One Show community garden award winner revealed

The RHS and BBC The One Show have announced the winner of the Growing Together Award 2023 for Community Gardening as The UP Garden, a formerly abandoned laundry yard in an East London housing estate, reclaimed by local residents to create a free-to-access upcycled community space.

A community effort

In the summer of 2021, a local resident had the idea to create a community space to allow for play and social gardening. An unused laundry yard in Eric Close, Forest Gate, 900 square metres in size (about the area of two basketball courts), was chosen and funding secured. Built in the 1950s, it originally contained a playground and was fully accessible to the whole estate – the washing lines remain, at one end of the yard, to this day. Over the decades, the space became overgrown with spiky brambles, making it inaccessible and unusable.

Work began to clear the site in the spring of 2022, and the whole community has been involved every step of the way. From consultation events on the garden layout, upcycling workshops to build furniture and planters, to community planting workshops to form the different gardening areas. Additionally, volunteering sessions were organised to create everything needed for the space.

Residents have given their time and energy, and their support kept the project going even when there were setbacks. Additionally, local businesses have made generous donations including plants, water tanks, sheds and refreshments to ensure the project’s success.

On 30 October 2022, The UP Garden opened its doors to visitors as a place for people of all ages to learn about gardening, biodiversity and eco-sustainability in a social environment. This colourful, welcoming space now hosts seasonal events and nature-based workshops, and is a hub for the community.

Bringing people together

The 2023 competition received more than 90 entries. Every entry was doing something to transform green spaces for the benefit of connecting communities through the power of gardening. All of these projects will be recognised with a certificate of achievement for their work.

This year’s winner, The UP Garden, will receive £500 in National Garden Gift Vouchers, a plaque and certificate. The two runners up, Alive Wellspring Settlement and Grow Well Riverside, will also receive gift vouchers, and BBC The One Show will film some of the most outstanding entries.

Alive Wellspring Settlement, a community gardening project in Bristol, supports families, many who are new to growing and for whom English is a second language. They have converted two courtyards into gardens for growing fruit and veg to share between the community gardeners, local residents, and food club and community café.

Grow Well Riverside, a social prescribing project in Cardiff, through perseverance and determination, have transformed a bare space. It is now a vibrant, green area with ten new beds, lots of seating, herb hedges, wildflower meadow strips, fruit trees and pollinator-friendly flowers.

All these spaces are bringing people together, helping reduce isolation and having a positive impact on both physical and mental health.

If you’ve transformed a green space, we’d love to hear about it. Visit our community gardening pages to find out more about how you can get involved. Sign up to our monthly newsletters for seasonal gardening news and tips.