RHS Growing Community Garden

Did you know...

• At the centre of the space is a huge fish made of discarded plastic bottles. All of these bottles were pulled out of the River Avon by children and community groups around Bath. There's also an eel called Emeelia made entirely from plastic bottle caps
• The garden showcases some of the different ways we can re-use waste materials. The wood used to build the pergola is reclaimed, and flowers made of old plastic packaging are dotted around the space. The cast iron dome near the pergola is an old upside-down hanging basket reclaimed from a hotel, and the scrap bicycles, which were borrowed from Keynsham In Bloom, hold planters created by school children
• A number of community groups were involved in designing and building the garden, including the Scouts and Mencap, helping to promote horticulture with young people

About the garden

Positioned next to the scarecrow installation, this walk-through community garden focuses on how gardening can engage people across all ages and diversities. The space includes fruit and veg, flowers for cutting and a polytunnel to encourage their production, together with a community shop and meeting space.

Promoting wildlife is also a consideration, with an urban forest and plenty of plants for pollinators. There’s a display demonstrating how beneficial worms are to soil health, and how poor our soils would be without them, and the garden offers a host of ideas to encourage people to recycle, including finding new uses for plastics.