Community Garden Week 2022

This week is Community Garden Week 2022, a week to celebrate the amazing community and school gardens across the UK and the work that goes into them.

Community gardens and school gardens come in all shapes, sizes and styles but one of the main things they all do is bring people together using the power of nature to inspire and bring a smile to people’s faces. During the pandemic, gardens and outdoor spaces were vital in maintaining people’s mental wellbeing.

Anyone can get involved in community gardening; check out the Royal Horticultural Society website to search for a community garden or group near you.

TJ is a keen supporter of community projects such as these, and last year we partnered with the Woodhorn Group to provide and deliver topsoil to a community garden project in Portsmouth free of charge.

The Woodhorn Group donated four tonnes of topsoil which TJ Transport picked up and delivered to Wilder Eastney Community Garden in Portsmouth, using one of their grab lorries at no cost.

Wilder Eastney is part of the Wilder Portsmouth initiative, which encourages locals to get involved in helping to create and maintain areas where wildlife can thrive and the local community can enjoy the green spaces. 

Wilder Portsmouth is a partnership project between the Southern Co-op and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. The focus of this jointly-funded initiative is to encourage people to take action to create and enhance more wildlife-friendly areas and small outdoor spaces across the city of Portsmouth that are supported by the community.

The Wilder Eastney Community Garden is a one-acre plot of land near Canoe Lake, which is owned by the council. Wilder Eastney have a group on Facebook where green fingered volunteers come together to plan activities focussed on improving and maintaining the garden and encouraging involvement and usage.

The donated topsoil was used for a planting session that took place last September. The soil enabled the group to create a number of raised beds in the garden where a range of plants were sowed. The session also saw the creation of bird and bat boxes in a bid to encourage wildlife to the park.

This project, which is vital to enabling wildlife to thrive in city locations, will also see volunteers planting herbs, fruiting bushes, trees and creating a sensory garden. 

Wilder Eastney group coordinator Jackie Collins contacted TJ to ask for help after someone who had used TJ’s services in the past recommended she get in touch. TJ was happy to help and in turn contacted the Woodhorn Group, who were also keen to be involved. TJ collected the topsoil from Woodhorn’s Chichester base and delivered it to the community garden prior to the event, on a date of their choosing.

Wilder Eastney group member Claire said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Woodhorn for their generous donation of soil and to TJ for all their help in arranging its delivery to our site. The event was a great success and we couldn’t have completed the planters without your fantastic donation – so thank you again!”

Find out more about the services we offer and other CSR projects we have contributed to.