Grass Roots 1 the RHS Community Update

Grass Roots 1 The RHS Community Update

Issue • Spring 2020 rhs.org.uk/get-involved Share some sunshine with Grow Social Free sunflower seeds to get started

Plant a butterfly border Growing for food banks Measure your impact on wildlife

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2 Welcome 3 News 5 Lessons from Bloom 6 Grow a butterfly garden 8 Monitoring wildlife 10 Saving seed Welcome… 12 Growing for food banks RHS / GEORGI MABEE 14 Big Soup Share ….to the spring issue of Grass Roots, the magazine for all community gardening groups, including Bloom and It’s Your Neighborhood groups 12 Gardening for the planet and RHS Affiliated Societies.

With a relatively mild winter, by February it Despite this, we would love to hear your seemed spring had sprung early, only to be brilliant ideas on inviting bringing different swiftly followed by a succession of named groups together and reaching out to storms and record levels of rain. Then, people that may be feeling isolated. We worst of all, has been the unprecedented hope you will be able to put some of these threat of COVID-19, which has curtailed into action at some point this year. many plans for all of us. We do hope you The sunflower seeds, free with this issue, are staying safe and well. are a chance to spread some local cheer – It had been hugely inspiring to see so perhaps you can share some seedlings with many groups embracing the idea of Grow others, or the spent seeds in the autumn. Social – a chance to form new connections Take care out there, in your communities through growing. @RHSBloom However, in line with government advice, rhscommunitygardening we are now recommending all groups postpone their events if they haven’t

Cover image: RHS / Mark Waugh. A volunteer at done so already. DEBOIS RHS / PAUL Emily Braham – Editor Petrus Incredible Edible Rochdale’s community allotment and garden. Your views – Your views – from twitter Queen’s award @KSBScotland #BeautifulScotland is all This magazine is printed on paper using about sharing and learning from each Stoke Poges, Wexham & Fulmer 100 percent recycled fibre. Please pass it other. Brighten up Kirkconnel and New on or recycle it. Horticultural Society was delighted to Luce met at last year’s awards and are receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary now meeting to share hints and tips. Grass Roots is published by Service from Princess Alexandra in RHS Community Horticulture February. The highest award a voluntary 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE group can receive in the UK, it @uptonuponsevern Troughs on riverside T: 020 7821 3122 recognises the ‘passing of horticultural railings submerged for 2–3 days, E: [email protected] knowledge and tradition from hopefully will be OK. Very sad some ©2020 The Royal Horticultural Society generation to generation since 1884.’ houses flooded, which is much worse. Registered Charity no: 222879 / SC038262 Pupils from three primary schools presented the princess with a book of @kathfarrell Volunteering at a The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s history about Stoke Poges, a scrapbook community garden gave me huge leading gardening charity, dedicated to with photographs of the three schools’ support when I became a single parent advancing horticulture and promoting gardening. pupils gardening, with their comments a decade ago, and launched my career Our community campaigns support more about gardening, and a posy. as a horticulturist. I recommend than 5,000 groups in creating greener and more interconnected communities. For more community gardening to everyone... information about RHS Britain in Bloom, RHS Ruth Rooley, Chairperson, Stoke Poges, It’s Your Neighbourhood and RHS Affiliated Wexham & Fulmer Horticultural Society Share your news @RHSBloom or email: Societies, please visit rhs.org.uk/get-involved [email protected]. Letters and tweets may be edited.

Grass Roots • Spring 2020 Uneven

New fund to bring people together

The Allen Lane Foundation has a new fund for community projects Growing social in 2020 that work to bring people together, Thousands of schools and groups around of Bloom we had this new opportunity,’ including marginalised groups, or the country had signed-up to host he explains. ‘I wanted to put the spotlight which help to break down social connecting events as part of Grow Social on the Sikh community, so it was personal barriers. The fund is particularly – a new RHS initiative to help schools and in a way, then Joanna from the church welcoming projects that could work groups spread the benefits of growing. was amazing, so the dots started joining. to heal local divisions and promote It was hoped these events would help The church is within 100 yards from the social cohesion in the wake of the groups reach out to people that could be Gurdwara – we are these two central Brexit referendum, as well those feeling isolated, in recognition of the role buildings in the village, so it just made which would support disadvantaged that community gardening can play in sense. Now we are like two best mates in communities. Available UK-wide addressing the UK’s loneliness epidemic. the community.’ except London. Unfortunately, following government In another, York House Community Interested people should contact advice and the ongoing situation with Gardens, an It’s Your Neighbourhood Tim Cutts – [email protected] COVID-19, we are recommending that all group in Milton Keynes, supports a network https://allenlane.org.uk groups postpone their Grow Social events of communities with individual plots on a until later in the year. shared reclaimed piece of land, including However, here are a couple of examples branch of the WI, a playgroup, and Spread your love that could offer inspiration for future therapeutic horticulture groups. There are of trees events, or some much needed cheer in shared working days and open events to The Woodland Trust’s Tree Charter the meantime. invite groups to connect with each other, as campaign, of which the RHS is a Paul Singh from Wednesfield in Bloom, well as to open up the garden to the public. partner, is looking for new branch shared how the competition has allowed Stony Stratford in Bloom hosts an annual members – are you or your group the village’s Sikh Gurdwara and St Thomas plant sale fundraiser for the gardens at the interested in being a local tree Church to come together, the two village site, coinciding with a coffee morning and champion? This could involve institutions now hosting joint breakfasts, mini Shakespearean performances. encouraging and sharing the benefit working days and clean-up events. ‘The As this situation is changing daily, please of trees where you live, or helping to Gurdwara had flowers anyway, to help the follow government and NHS advice for up- secure more support and land for grounds look beautiful, but then because to-date information on COVID-19. tree planting. You could also apply to become a ‘charter branch lead’ and co-ordinate local efforts. Visit https://treecharter.uk/ get-involved, or for more information, contact charter woodlandtrust.org.uk.

City nature challenge This April, nature enthusiasts are encouraged to join global efforts to find and document the wildlife living in cities as part of the fifth international City Nature Challenge. The bioblitz-style citizen science competition, designed to get people involved in wildlife recording, is organised by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences. It takes place between 24–27 April 2020, and will see more than 250 cities competing to see who can make the most observations of nature, find the most species and get the most people involved.

Citynaturechallenge.org RHS / BRIAN MORRISON

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Support global science You could join in citizen science efforts this month to harness the power of volunteers to help solve some the world’s biggest problems. There are options to add details of your group’s work to online datasets and contribute to international understanding on topics of interest to science. Events and topics include ‘keeping your neighbourhood litter free’ – helping to map litter across the planet – and light pollution, a known factor in recent mass declines in global insect numbers. https://scistarter.org/events

RHS / HELEN YATES Urban tree report A new report says that UK urban centres should plant a greater range Growing new connections of tree species, with more large New community growing projects around reflection. The garden will eventually be species with wide canopy cover. the UK are again are again poised to set used by the team for informal therapy work, The report published in the journal seed. thanks to RHS funding under the such as to help share skills on managing Forestry: An International Journal of Greening Great Britain campaign, sponsored emotions and coping with feelings. Forest Research examined 12 cities by M&G Investments. Around 50 projects There are also plans to use the garden to or urban areas in the UK and found have been offered practical support from the help the young people connect with the that even where tree cover was community outreach team, along with up to wider community, which ‘would be a real good, there was a lack of diversity, £500 to transform unloved spaces and achievement for Salford’, according to the which risks greater loss of tree cover create new community connections. hub manager. from disease and also offers limited In just one example, an RHS advisor will The RHS outreach programme has a wildlife benefit. The report includes a work with Route29 – a project co-ordinated particular focus in Salford, as part of a guide to urban forestry it advises by Salford Youth Service that supports commitment to the community surrounding local authorities should follow. young people in care or ‘on the edges of’ the new RHS Garden Bridgewater, due to https://academic.oup.com/forestry/ care – to create a relaxing new garden to open in July. The garden also includes a article/93/1/107/5610079 boost mental wellbeing. horticultural therapy programme with The young people plan to fill the unloved participants referred by local GPs to help space outside the project hub with low- improve both physical and mental health. To Grants for community maintenance, sensory, wildlife-friendly and see the full list of supported projects, visit connections edible plants, to create a space for mindful, rhs.org.uk/ggbwithcommunities Barchester’s Charitable Foundation is seeking to fund projects in 2020 that support community connections or reconnections. Grants are available in England, Scotland and Help protect juniper trees Wales for projects that support older Phytophthora austrocedri is a fungus-like the phloem (inner bark), from the roots up people, adults with a disability or organism that is currently killing our rare the trunk, often with resin oozing out. with mental health conditions. native juniper trees. Once infected, a tree More than 100 sites in northern England The trust favours applications can be killed within one or two years, and Scotland are affected, and as juniper that help improve peoples’ mobility, depending on environmental conditions supports specialised insects, fungi and independence and quality of life. and the general health of the affected tree. lichens, and birds such as goldcrest, the Grants range from £100 up to Symptoms include bronze leaf impact of its spread could be significant. £5,000, with the average grant in discoloration on individual branches or the You can report this disease via tree alert: 2018 being approx. £850. whole crown, leading to complete loss of www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and- www.bhcfoundation.org.uk foliage; as well as orange-brown lesions in resources/tree-alert/

Grass Roots • Spring 2020 5 How Bloom grows At the RHS we are always working to better understand the many community groups growing with and alongside us – ultimately so that we can better support you. Here’s some of what we’ve learned.

In 2019, the RHS commissioned various attracting tourists and boosting emphasise the important environmental strands of independent research into the economy. benefits of Bloom – such as creating Bloom. We’ll use the results of this research ✿ Share your knowledge – engage and habitat and food for wildlife, reducing to inform our future work and hopefully inspire the community, through teaching waste and tackling litter – when reaching help you have a bigger impact. Here’s others your skills, hosting public events, or out to prospective volunteers and partners. some of what we’ve learned. giving presentations. For example, if you don’t already, could you invite the wider community to join Challenges groups face Connecting to public concerns litter-picks to help address the plastic waste While all communities are different, there One part of our research investigated the issue; or host food growing events to share are some common themes in the different factors that inspire people to get fresh produce and sustainable living skills difficulties groups experience. Many say involved in Bloom. It is worth reflecting on with prospective volunteers? Be sure to also they struggle with landowner support and your own motivations and those of your ask residents and partners about their own ‘red tape’ to get projects off the ground; fellow volunteers, as well as what your motivations in taking part and ideas they recruiting enough volunteers; fundraising community cares about when considering might have to tackle problems in the and unpredictable weather – unfortunately how to appeal to a wider audience. community. something we’re likely to see more of. Many volunteers told us they are More than 750 people participated in our In the year ahead, we will be exploring, motivated by a desire to bring the research in some way. If you didn’t have identifying and sharing solutions to some community together; to support a chance to take part, we would still love of the most common problems groups face, biodiversity and wildlife; to protect green to hear from you – what challenges do you and we’re always keen to hear more of spaces for future generations; and to face within your activities and in engaging your own examples. There are also some improve their own and others’ wellbeing. your wider community in Bloom, and how existing resources that might help on our The current up-swell in concern for the have you overcome them? Let us know at website. www.rhs.org.uk/get-involved/ planet has made it loud and clear that [email protected]. communitygardening/resources/ people, and young people in particular, care deeply about the environment. In Far left Community Engagement areas where Bloom is not well supported, Greening Great Britain community A specific concern for many groups was a the members of the public we surveyed groups get hands-on support from lack of support or engagement from the had a strong interest in caring for the RHS Outreach Advisors. wider community. We wanted to find out environment, but they hadn’t considered Below why some groups have extensive Bloom as a way of making a positive People have made it clear they care about the environment – community support while others can difference. This presents an opportunity let them know how your Bloom struggle to engage people to the extent for individual groups, and all of us, to activities are making a difference. that they would like. We wanted to hear from groups that have found reliable ways to engage plenty of volunteers and partners, as well as how Bloom is perceived in places where there is less community engagement. Here are a few key tips from Bloom groups who have had great success at engaging their wider community: ✿ Be ‘visible’ – wear branded clothing or hi-vis jackets; use a diverse mix of communication channels, including digital and social media; and hold stalls at events to showcase your work and attract volunteers. ✿ Make connections – reach out and build relationships with key stakeholders, such as councils, businesses, and schools to secure wide-ranging support. Highlight the mutual

benefits of working together, such as RHS / JULIE HOWDEN

rhs.org.uk/get-involved 6 Grow a Secret Butterfly Garden Help butterflies and moths in the new Wild About Gardens campaign and create a place forcontemplation and discovery for your community.

The Wild About Gardens campaign Help British run by the RHS and The Wildlife Trusts butterflies such is collaborating with film producers as the small StudioCanal this year to coincide with tortoiseshell thrive the release of the film adaptation of The Secret Garden (see below) to celebrate the healing power of gardens. Community groups, schools and individuals are urged to grow a Secret Garden for Butterflies, creating a new ‘butterfly border’ or, for those with less space, a ‘butterfly box’. The new gardens will offer nectar-rich planting for adult butterflies and larval food plants for their young, while also creating a contemplative space to observe nature. Helen Bostock, RHS Senior Horticultural Advisor says: ‘The best thing we gardeners can do is think about the whole life cycle, so we are creating feeding grounds for caterpillars, butterflies and everything else that depends on them. This doesn’t mean sacrificing your whole garden, but perhaps allowing an area that could support a new generation of butterflies, but which may also feed hungry baby birds.’ RHS / MARK BOLTON

Planning your butterfly border Your butterfly garden or butterfly box ✿ Top tips from RHS Senior If opting for a new butterfly border, seek Horticultural Advisor Helen Bostock a sunny site at least 3m by 1m ✿ Your garden could offer a tranquil Choose a range of nectar-rich plants space for people to relax while taking for adults and larval food plants for in one of our most beautiful and caterpillars ✿ mesmerising native insects. If planting a ‘box’ or container, aim for Start by making a rough design. one which is at least 20cm x 50cm x Position benches and other seating so 20cm and either plant a range of nectar visitors to the garden can experience plants, or allow a single type of larval butterflies up close. Arrange your food plant to fill your container to entice perennials in traditional long beds, in egg-laying females (if they don’t find perhaps either side of a gravel enough food for their young they won’t pathway, or get creative with island lay there) ✿ or raised beds, dedicating a bed to If planting boxes, see if you’ve space each season. for at least two – one providing food for adults and one for their young, following the above advice.

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Protecting butterflies in the capital Ham Lands, a 200-acre open space on a bend of the River Thames on the western edge of London, has a rich and varied history dating back to Neolithic Main image times. Once a gravel pit, it’s now Friends of Ham Lands is working a treasured green oasis – for both to protect and the community and for wildlife. improve butterfly It’s now so biodiverse, under the habitat. care of Friends of Ham Lands Below (FoHL), that it’s been declared a A comma spotted at Ham Lands, one Site of Metropolitan Importance of the 86 species for Nature Conservation and a of butterfly and designated Local Nature Reserve. moth recorded The flora and fauna count totals SHARON MEHTA at the site. more than 1,100 species. FoHL is working alongside Plants for moths and butterflies Plants for caterpillars Ham and Petersham in Bloom ✿ Spring: primroses (Primula vulgaris), ✿ Lady’s smock (Cardamine pratensis): volunteers, Richmond Council and sweet william (Dianthus barbatus), good for wetter soil and attracts local conservationists to protect bugle (Ajuga reptans), forget-me-not orange tip butterfly the some 86 species of butterflies (Myosotis sylvatica) ✿ Bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus): and moths recorded on the site. ✿ Summer: cornflower (Centaurea common blue Those spotted, include the comma cyanus), French marigold (Tagetes ✿ Common sorrel (Rumex acetosa): (pictured below), whose caterpillars patula), greater knapweed (Centaurea small copper enjoy hops and nettles, both in scabiosa), scabious (Scabiosa) and ✿ Fescue grass: meadow brown good supply at the site, and the purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), ✿ Yorkshire fog grass (Holcus lanatus): Biodiversity Action Plan priority hemp agrimony (Eupatorium marbled white, speckled wood, and species, the white-letter hairstreak. cannabinum), bramble (Rubus small skipper On the advice of experts, the fruticosus), and many herbs, including ✿ Holly (Ilex aquifolium): holly blue group has begun clearing scrub wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare), ✿ Ivy (Hedera helix): holly blue and invasive plants to create thyme (Thymus vulgaris), lavender ✿ Nasturtium, (Tropaeolum majus): sheltered glades – ideal (Lavandula) and large white, small white, and butterfly habitat. sage (Salvia officinalis) green-veined white Volunteers are invited to join in ✿ Autumn: flowering ivies (Hedera helix), ✿ Stinging nettles host comma, peacock, working days to create a new asters (Aster and Symphyotrichum), ice red admiral and small tortoiseshell butterfly haven, and learn more plant (Hylotelephium spectabile). caterpillars, but need large swaths. about these fascinating creatures at the same time.

Activity ideas community feel connected to the final ✿ Could you encourage residents, schools garden and enjoy in the satisfaction of or shop owners to create a butterfly box? creating a habitat for wildlife, helping to Perhaps you could run a competition for survey it for butterflies in the summer. the most creative upcycled container, or ✿ Add your pledge for a butterfly border or a could you encourage young people to butterfly box to our online map and help incorporate recycled butterfly themed inspire others to join in! Plus share your artwork into their designs, with the boxes plans online with #WildAboutButterflies to be displayed in prominent locations? or via [email protected]. ✿ If you are planning a butterfly border Please note, if you are sending us – perhaps you could invite groups and images, be sure that everyone in them schools to contribute a plant, or take has consented to them being used in care of a seedling that you supply to this way, and please don’t share any bring back to plant with the others which include children.

when it is ready? This might help the www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk SHARON MEHTA

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What’s in your wild garden?

Monitoring wild visitors to your gardens and green space is a great way to engage the community, measure your impact and to contribute to national records. Danni Chalmers, nature reserve officer with Cumbria Wildlife Trust, shares her top tips.

Gardening for wildlife is important not only by your local Wildlife Trust, and they are for local species, but for wildlife nationally, always encouraged to hear from people too – creating steppingstones across a monitoring wildlife in their patch. Often it’s mosaic of different land types can help these residential areas in towns, cities and species to spread, connect and ultimately villages that the national data centres don’t thrive. Here’s just a few examples you may survey, representing a missing piece in the well have contributed to: jigsaw of British wildlife knowledge. ✿ Hedgehogs’ territories are expanding Working together in green spaces and in urban areas as people work together to community gardens to monitor wildlife can create safe green spaces and hedgehog make the undertaking a lot more fun, and ‘doors’ between gardens also, hopefully, more accurate, as more RHS / CHRIS BULL ✿ Butterflies and bees have experienced eyes can get better results. You can work localised population booms as a result of together to plan the year’s observations, communities creating ‘pollinator corridors’ and identify anyone in your group that may the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, then and pollen-rich gardens have specific skills or interest. If you involve expand in future years to cover more ✿ More diverse bird populations are young families too, then you have eyes at species and in more depth. residing alongside communities due to an all levels – children are particularly good at Taking note of different species you see, increase in feeding stations. finding caterpillars and butterfly eggs. as well as how these change throughout By encouraging wildlife into your gardens the year and year-on-year, will help and green spaces, not only can you enjoy Getting started you understand and manage the space watching your visitors, plants can also It is a good idea to be realistic and better for wildlife. For example, when be pollinated and you can record your progressive with what you undertake, does frogspawn appear; redwings arrive; observations to contribute to national perhaps starting small in your first year. You different trees flower; or the first spring research centres. These centres can be could first take part in some of the more migrants, such as swallows, appear? It can found in nearly every county, often hosted well-known national recording events like also be rewarding to keep a record of your wild visitors before and after any specific efforts have been put in place to attract and support them, remembering to do so at the same times of year, if possible. The easiest way to contribute to wider efforts with your recording is to add your data to some of the many monitoring schemes or events already up and running – the Big Butterfly Count, National Insect Week, Moth Night, to name but a few. It’s now easy to contribute your information to existing data sets, most of them now have user friendly web-based data forms which are simple to use and also show you local results pretty instantaneously too. By contributing data to a national schemes or Local Environmental Record Centres, you could also help to verify national trends, problems and solutions. RHS / JULIAN WEIGALL

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DANNI’S TOP TIPS ✿ Do you have a pond? Counting amphibians at night by torchlight is the best way to see who lives there. ✿ You can be safe in the knowledge that correct ID isn’t everything. Any of the data centres that receive your information will look at the whole picture, if it is an unlikely sighting for the area or for the time of year, it will Far left be verified before it is published. School pupils identify insects ✿ In spring, make a rough map of at the garden your garden and record any nest of Bloom group, boxes in use, or nests you see being Burncross Action made, check your map next year Team in Sheffield to see if they are being used again and if it’s by the same birds, if it’s left and below Monitoring wildlife possible to identify them. is a great activity for all ages. ✿ Consistency is key – for national events, such as the Big Garden Birdwatch, there are forms to download to make things easier for you. When recording for yourselves, it’s a good idea to set out a form first that everyone in the group can use, with fields such as: date, location, Taking it further species, number of animals, male or If you want to delve deeper into female, name of recorder, etc. your area’s wildlife, you could invite your local naturalist group ✿ Make a footprint trap – most of or Wildlife Trust to work alongside the mammal inhabitants will come you. If you need something more into your garden at night when you’re not about to see them, so official, for say a report or funding consider putting out a large tray with bid, you could contract an ecologist damp sand on, with a little plate of to produce a report for your area. wet dog or cat food in the middle The Chartered Institute of Ecology before you go to bed. If you have and Environmental Management any visiting nocturnal mammals is a good starting place. you will hopefully find tell-tale There are also lots of ways footprints (and an empty plate) in to build your own skills too, the morning. Do this a few times especially if you have discovered a year as mammals will be looking a passion for a particular species for food at different times, but not

– the Field Studies Council has RHS / HELEN YATES over consecutive nights so as not to courses in everything from botany attract less wanted visitors. to butterflies. The Wildlife Trust also has surveys/garden/living-with-mammals/ ✿ You can watch butterflies and some great resources you can download to ✿ National Moth Night – autumn event moths to see where they spend the help you observe your visiting wildlife with run by the Butterfly Conservation Trust. most time, looking carefully to see if all ages. www.wildlifewatch.org.uk www.mothnight.info these are nectar plants, or egg-laying ✿ Woodland Trust’s Natures Calendar sites (larval food plants) that have National monitoring schemes – track the impact of climate change attracted them. Use this information ✿ BTO’s Garden BirdWatch – monitor a few on wildlife where you live https:// to help grow their colonies in future. bird species throughout the year. www.bto. naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/ org/our-science/projects/gbw ✿ Hold biannual meetings within ✿ The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, each There are also several apps and online tools your community to invite data January www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/ that can be used to monitor your visitors sharing with other groups and residents, so you can then ✿ Living with Mammals survey – run by while contributing to national records. co-ordinate your planting. The Prince’s Trust for Endangered Species iSpot, iNaturalist, iRecord and BirdNet in March. https://ptes.org/get-involved/ (birdnet.cornell.edu) are all good options.

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Seed saving – RHS advice Seed saving can be a great way to propagate your plants for free, to help protect rare and important plants, and makes for a perfect activity for groups and volunteers.

Food production once depended on the long grass, growing the seed on in modules anemone (Anemone nemorosa), calendula manual collection of seed, a practice to plant back out as young plants. and ranunculus. largely since replaced by industrial-scale ✿ Edible berries are often not suitable processes. Despite this, it remains Top seed-saving tips for propagating from seed as they won’t important for the preservation of rare crop ✿ Seed harvesting season runs from come true, but can be used to demonstrate cultivars and is central to global plant late summer to late autumn – with seed germination. conservation. It’s also an ideal way to learn generally set about two months after ✿ Only collect seeds from healthy plants. and share knowledge about how plants flowering. While timings vary between grow and reproduce. plants, opting for earlier-flowering cultivars Seed saving and re-sowing can mean often means better results. another flowering year for hardy annuals, ✿ If you gently hold the flowerhead and such as cornflowers and marigolds, while the seeds fall away, or if you hear the a new wildflower meadow could be seedhead rattle, this is a sign they are ready sown with seed collected from a suitable to set seed. donor site (make sure to check with local ✿ Some seed is collected when well- conservationists if taking seed from another developed but immature and green, to site). Collecting seed is also a great way to avoid problems with dormancy that delay boost existing wildflowers in a meadow or germination – such as the native wood RHS / PAUL DEBOIS RHS / PAUL

Seed swaps If you are looking for particularly rare vegetable cultivars, keep an eye out for seed-swap events in your area. You could also consider hosting your own event or taking your seeds to share. Those interested in conserving rare vegetable cultivars could consider becoming a volunteer Seed Guardian with the Heritage Seed Library. Visit gardenorganic.org.uk/seed-guardians

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✿ Avoid propagating seeds from a hybrid plant cultivar. ✿ Herbs are ideal plants for seed collecting. Seed saving for trees Coriander, dill, parsley, basil, and chives can The Tree Council’s Seed Saving all be grown from saved seed. Basil is easily Season, held each autumn, cross-pollinated, so if growing two cultivars encourages community groups together only let one of them flower and to get together to save seed seed. from their local native trees for ✿ Most seed germinates best if sown as replanting. Evidence suggests soon as it ripens, but some require cold or that trees that thrive in certain other treatments. areas will be well adapted to the ✿ Double flowers tend not to seed, while conditions and should be others could be sterile or lack a suitable suitable for propagating. pollinator. Others (e.g. holly) carry male Visit treecouncil.org.uk and female flowers on separate plants; only females will bear seeds.

Types of seedheads: Seed comes in many different packages following flowering, and some, such as those that are hairy or sticky, may need processing before sowing. Forms include: berries (such as holly); capsules (e.g. poppy); cones (e.g. pine); exploding seedheads (e.g. Euphorbia lathyris); nuts (e.g. hazel); pods (e.g. sweet peas) and winged seed (e.g. acer, sycamore).

Collecting seed DEBOIS RHS / PAUL 1. Collect ripe seed on a dry day, as soon as the seedheads (e.g. capsules or pods) ripen. This is often indicated by a change from green to brown, black or red, but must be Activity ideas for all ages show variety in shape, colour, size and before they open and shed their contents. Go on a group ‘seed safari’ towards the style (taken from flowers, vegetables, 2. Pick the seedheads, either singly or end of summer to observe what is etc). You could also use dried foods such on stalks, and lay them out in trays lined preparing to set seed in your garden or as rice, beans, fennel seeds, peas and with paper, or in paper bags to dry on a green space. Look out for tree seeds, popcorn. You might need magnifiers to greenhouse bench or warm windowsill. drying seedheads and vegetables that look at tiny seeds, like poppy, up close. 3. If they don’t open when dry, gently have ‘bolted’. Young people can be ✿ Soak broad bean seeds in water for a crush pods and capsules to release seed. guided to collect seeds into labelled few hours and let your learners peel off 4. Release seeds from moist fruits and paper bags, or to use sticky strips in a the coat to discover what’s inside. berries by crushing, washing and straining grassland or meadow (a strip of ✿ To show germination in action, sow before leaving to dry on paper towels. double-sided tape on card) to collect some quick-growing seeds in a tray, on Nuts should be collected around the time as many seeds as possible. They may damp kitchen paper, a few days before they would naturally fall either by hand- also find seeds collect to their trousers you need them. Use peas and runner picking, or by placing a sheet at the base or shoes, making for a useful lesson in beans to show the difference between of the tree and shaking the branches. how certain plants spread. hypogeal and epigeal germination After extracting the seed, clean off any respectively, where the former surrounding material (chaff) attached to Learning activity — what are seed remains underground during them, as this material could rot and chaff seeds? (suitable for ages 5–7) germination and the latter is lifted can harbour moulds, pests and diseases. ✿ Gather a set of objects, including above the soil by its developing shoot. different seeds and non-living things ✿ Compare dried seed with germinating Storing seeds such as small stones, twigs and plastic, seed, to visualise clearly what happens Some seeds, such as hellebore are best for young people to sort through, with the correct growing conditions. sown immediately as they acquire identifying the seeds. This can show ✿ Discuss what the seeds needed to dormancy when dried. Many tree seeds, that new life can come from something grow (water, warmth, light). including nuts, acorns and beech mast also that may look ‘dead’. ✿ Demonstrate planting a seed, clearly shouldn’t be stored. Search ‘seed storage’ ✿ Examine a range of dry seeds to explaining each step of the process.

RHS / PAUL DEBOIS RHS / PAUL on RHS website for more details.

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Growing for food banks Food growing can entice newcomers to gardening and bring in volunteers, but it can also be a way to share the rewards of your work.

Food banks have historically been reluctant to accept and offer fresh food donations, lacking safe storage spaces, staff capacity and the reliability to make it worthwhile. However, some innovative community gardeners are forging new links, helping to offer fresh, local food to the increasing number of people reliant on them. And with demand for UK food banks now at the highest rate in history, the need has never been greater. Food banks are generally able to offer regular, nutritionally balanced parcels to clients, but increasingly services are now striving to provide more than this – from fresh food options to social events. One fruitful partnership sprung up in 2019 in Gateshead, with community gardeners and a church group teaming- up as part of a 2019 RHS Greening Great Britain project to supply a local food bank. Children also learned to grow and cook with herbs from the garden as part of a ‘holiday hunger’ initiative. RHS / MARK PINDER

Supporting others in Penrith

Penrith in Bloom — winner of the 2019 People don’t necessarily want others extra food for others. RHS Growing Communities award — is to know they take the food, so they We provide food year-round but we a key part of local food bank efforts, as might come at end of day in the dark – couldn’t do it on our own, so we also rely co-ordinator, Joan Robinson explains. it’s a small population here so a lot of on supermarkets. But it’s not our purpose The Salvation Army is the hub centre people know each other. By the next day to grow on that scale – we want to show for the distribution of food parcels, and everything is gone. people how to grow for themselves. our raised beds outside the Salvation People can have an individual plot We find supermarkets are much more Army church help demonstrate what in our polytunnel for £5 a year, but we flexible than they used to be – there’s can be grown on a ‘table top’: you don’t ask that they give 10 percent of their more awareness and so much was need a lot of land to grow food. produce away, either through us or getting chucked out. You need to get We leave surplus veg from the through someone they know. friendly with the store manager. All the polytunnel and raised beds and other We know of at least two families big names donate here now – M&S, food donations on a high wall every that live off the donations. There is one Morrisons, Aldi and Sainsbury’s. day, including bread, and people just mother of four with mental health issues In winter we hold a soup and sandwich help themselves. We can’t wash the veg reliant on the donations. She has since drop-in using cake and bread supplied for food parcels as this is considered joined our group and now is an advocate from a local shop and veg from the a process and you need a licence in deprived areas for ‘growing your own’, supermarkets that would have gone and insurance for that, though when she holds workshops and street parties to to waste. We host it on the day that people collect the parcels they are also get people involved. She’s also set up a the parcels are given out to encourage encouraged to take some veg. box on her estate where people can drop people to stay for a bit.

Grass Roots • Spring 2020 13

More than food parcels Tanya Yilmz from national food bank their ‘pure’ form, rather than food that connections to address the causes of and hunger charity, The Trussell Trust, has been pre-prepared or handled in poverty within their community. This may offers some tips on connecting with a some way. Another consideration would be something community groups such food bank service in your area. be around allergies. as yours can help with. As food banks are Many food banks in our network offer Food banks are truly grateful for any connected in the community, there may fresh food, such as fruit, vegetables, eggs donation they receive whether this is be opportunities to run shared events and bread, but at the moment not every from a collection at a supermarket, that help to bring groups that perhaps food bank can handle perishable food church or school but also from local ordinarily wouldn’t meet closer together. safely. The majority of food bank centres community allotment groups. Fresh Our new Fight Hunger Create Change are based in churches in a ‘pop up’ way produce that can be stored at room partnership with Asda and FareShare for a few hours, not built-for-purpose temperature, such as potatoes, carrots will also support more food banks to buildings – and the safety of people and onions, are particularly useful items safely offer fresh food alongside the referred has to be our first priority. that food banks are likely able to accept standard parcel, helping with things like The number of emergency food parcels in addition to other fruit and vegetables. refrigeration and transporting food. handed out at each individual food bank We also recognise that ending hunger You could contact your local food bank within our network varies widely so it’s is about more than food. We support about working together by using the best to speak directly with your local and encourage our food banks to provide Trussell Trust’s online map (trusseltrust. food bank to understand what items compassionate, practical support to org/get-help/find-a-food-bank). are most in need throughout the year. people in crisis to help better address They can then specify any other specific the underlying causes of poverty. From You may want to connect with your local requirements that might need to be running holiday clubs to budgeting and food bank as part of Grow Social (p3 for considered. Food banks would be more cooking courses, many of food banks more), or make it part of your Big Soup likely to accept donations of items in in our network also work to build local Share! (p14 for more). RHS / MARK PINDER Gateshead foodbank benefited from a Greening Great Britain project.

rhs.org.uk/get-involved 14 Super ways with soup Claire Frost from the RHS Campaign for School Gardening tells how a simple food-based event has grown into an impactful way to share the many benefits of community growing.

In October 2019, more than 2,900 groups Pupils enjoying the and schools took part in the third annual Big Soup Share RHS Big Soup Share, stirring up soup- at St Gregory’s tactular events using home-grown produce. Catholic Science College in Harrow. If you aren’t familiar with the Big Soup Share, it’s a chance to celebrate the work you do in the garden by harvesting your crops, then turning it into a delicious soup to share with others. And it has certainly been popular! Our feedback survey showed that 100 percent of last year’s participants would like to hold a similar event in future, and 68 percent now felt they made stronger links with their community by taking part. While the central premise is simple, we saw a huge variety in the ways that schools and groups adapted the event to suit their needs. Reasons for joining in included; finding new volunteers to help with gardening, supporting others in need, MCGREGOR RHS / LUKE encouraging others to grow their own food, and raising money for gardening activities. Soup was shared at all sorts of locations, including Parkruns, homeless shelters and food banks. It wasn’t just the locations that were varied though; some groups even Essington in Bloom is also cooked outdoors over open fires! planning to help the school build a polytunnel to increase the Just a few examples of how number of vegetables pupils you joined in… can grow. And if that wasn’t Bishops Cannings Primary School invited enough, the money raised from residents to donate surplus vegetables the event was put towards RHS / LUKE MCGREGOR RHS / LUKE that they had grown to the school’s soup delivering a trolley-load of food supplies. They decorated the school hall to the local food bank! with autumnal colours for their event, and Essington in Bloom co-ordinator, James Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) qualification, had to find extra chairs and tables for all Slim said: ‘They particularly enjoyed raising £90 for gardening equipment and the people who turned up! They said: ‘The learning about growing different types of seeds in the process! Soup Share is now truly embedded in our vegetables but the part they were most school curriculum and in the parish calendar excited about was harvesting the veg and Take part in 2020 – we are proud to be part of it.’ turning it into delicious soup! It gave the If you joined the Big Soup Share in 2019, In the face of the climate emergency, children an immense sense of achievement you should have received a packet of carrot there’s a clear rise in the number of people to be able to see and taste the end result of and coriander seeds, which may help you interested in growing their own food, and the work put into the allotment garden.’ on your way to creating next autumn’s some groups have been thinking about Rosstulla School – a school for children soup. If you’ve not already sown them ways to make their events more sustainable with special educational needs, based in indoors, carrots should now be able to too. Essington in Bloom served up butternut Northern Ireland – said taking part in the be sown outside; coriander can be sown squash and sage soup (among other event helped to raise the young people’s in summer. flavours!) in compostable soup pots. The self-esteem. Students shared their To join in for 2020, you can register your pots were then reused for planting this homemade vegetable soup, wheaten bread, interest, and download some of our soup-er year’s vegetables with St John’s Academy’s chocolate and carrot cake with fellow pupils resources and recipes at schoolgardening. after-school gardening club, Mini Diggers. and staff, as part of their Certificate of rhs.org.uk/bigsoupshare

Grass Roots • Spring 2020 15 Growing resilience Science teacher Dr Meryl Batchelder from Corbridge Middle School in Northumberland is a TeachSDG Ambassador and a UN-accredited Climate Change Teacher, as well as a 2019 RHS School Gardening Champion of the Year finalist. Here she shares what she has learned about gardening for the planet.

A few years ago, when Ofsted were visiting, agriculture and farming are already being plant-based diet we can reduce our own one of the inspectors was watching pupils observed around the planet. In the UK, greenhouse gas emissions. working in our school garden and was farmers and gardeners had a very dry Adaptation to the warming world will overheard calling it ‘a picture of bucolic summer last year which reduced crop yields, require a change in habits and new skills. charm’. I’m not sure these would be the and we are looking at more intense rainfall By growing their own fruit and vegetables, exact words I would have used, but I’ve in winter and longer dry spells in summer. children learn where food comes from, seen how, as they get their hands dirty in Internationally, droughts and flooding can how to select varieties to grow, germinate that time-old way, gardening connects impact on food security – we saw a lack of seeds, nurture seedlings, harvest crops children with nature. lettuces and courgettes in the supermarkets and manage a garden. Self-sufficiency As the years have passed, I have become last year following heat waves in Europe. may be difficult for any individual but, by even more passionate about school School gardening could also mitigate coming together to share produce, seeds, gardening. My pupils’ engagement with some of the emissions that lead to global equipment, labour and skills, our lives could the natural world has grown too, they are heating – those beans and strawberries become something more wondrous all happier in the fresh air and they delight in grow fabulously in our garden. Although together. This social transformation will picking their own crops. But there is another we don’t plan to compete with agricultural take effort, an open mindset, generosity motivator that has begun to loom large, growers, our garden helps students and a sense of adventure, but there are the threatening black cloud of climate understand the issue of food miles. many successful schemes that can act as change. Human activity is causing global In autumn we can grow squash, spinach, road maps, including some run by the RHS. heating and destabilising natural systems; kale and broccoli, which have an advantage In my humble option, school gardening the resulting extreme weather events are over crops that would ripen during the is the very best form of education: tangible already happening around us. summer holidays when we are not there. and tactile, sustainable and satisfying. It The changing weather patterns have By composting the old growth, we lock up helps to build resilient kids today and for made me realise that school gardening carbon and eventually feed it back into the the future. goes far beyond Friday afternoon fun. soil, in turn feeding future crops. Finally, Visit schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk Having the skills to grow their own could by encouraging pupils to embrace a more for more tips and resources. make a real difference to my pupils in the future and may be critical to ensuring their long-term food security – or at the very least, knowledge to be passed on to the next generation. Pupils can become more resilient and learn to respond to challenges and, as a society, we can gain resilience by being less reliant on food imports. When I teach the science of climate change in classroom lessons I focus on the causes, effects, mitigation strategies and possible adaptation measures to thrive and live sustainably on our changing planet. We can do the same in our community gardens. I tell them the main causes of climate change are burning fossil fuels for energy, which releases carbon dioxide and, increasingly, intensive animal farming that produces methane. These two gases enhance the amount of heat retained in our atmosphere. What we eat has a big impact – beans from Kenya or strawberries Dr Meryl Batchelder from Spain have a large carbon footprint shares her enthusiasm for the environment compared with those that are home-grown. with her pupils.

The effects of climate change on DEBOIS RHS / PAUL

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