May has been a busy month for Barnes Community Gardeners and the warmer weather has meant not only are there more flowers and therefore pollinators about but also more volunteers! So we have really achieved a lot, writes Susie Pugh, BCG Co-ordinator.

The school allotments at both Lowther Primary and Barnes Primary are really flourishing and the children are learning to sow, grow and now taste the vegetables they have produced. For some children, this is the first time they have been involved in a growing project and some of the vegetables are new to them, too. Learning where food comes from and being introduced to new flavours is so important. It is wonderful, when I am trundling along on the borrowed BCA cargo bike in Barnes, to be stopped by parents and carers and asked if I’m the woman who gardens with their child! ‘He tells us all about gardening with you. He loves it!’ said the mother of an 8 year old.

We have been busy going to housing association sites, too, where we garden with residents and have developed close relationships with the community at Walnut Tree Close and Beloe Close, which are both Paragon Asra estates, and Chertsey Court and Sussex Court which are managed by Richmond Housing Partnership. Everyone deserves a garden, even if they don’t have their own private space.

Coming up in June, we are taking part in Richmond’s Great Big Green Week in partnership with Gardening Friends of RHP, with a community engagement event at Chertsey Court. The residents there now have a group of regular gardeners and have made a real impact on the environment and residents are spending more time sitting in the gardens appreciating nature and each other.

Our volunteers much enjoyed a group trip to Kew Gardens Community Open Week. It was such a pleasure!

Gardening together is a very special activity. Come and join us!