Lewisham is Good to Grow

Local food gardens open to the public this April

Local residents in Lewisham will be able to visit flourishing gardens and discover the benefits of food growing as part of London’s Good the Grow week, this 18-26 April.

Coordinated by food charity Sustain, the London-wide festival sees over 50 community gardens across the capital open their gates and welcome the public for a series of free event and activities.

The capital’s community food gardens are havens for people and wildlife, providing an uplifting way for local people to connect with nature, learn how to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs and get more involved in their local community.

In Lewisham alone, there are 44 community gardens and 10 of them are taking part in Good to Grow week.

Kicking off the week is the Soil Festival at Wild Cat Wilderness in Catford on Sat 18 April with fun for all the family. Learn how to be a soil hero to protect and enrich this precious resource. The topic with be brought to life through arts and crafts activities including magic potion making, creating clay faces on trees and singing sessions.

Spotlight on Lewisham grower Rosemin Najumudin

Rosemin Najumudin is the chair of Grow Lewisham, a group that tends the land on three main sites, which include a showcase community allotment with a new orchard and forest garden, a herb garden led by a Caribbean member and urban garden led mostly by younger adults built on a disused car park. She says,

"My love of growing food started with my parents, who arrived in the UK as refugees from Uganda and threw themselves into cultivating their own plot - composting, experimenting, wasting nothing. Decades later, I'm still doing exactly that, and trying to inspire a new generation to do the same. At Grow Lewisham we're showing families and young people that food growing is for everyone, whatever your background, whatever you grew up eating. The more we experiment, the more we discover: African and South Asian vegetables that can grow right here in London; community orchards that are basically providing free food; and learning to eat the whole plant, like beetroot leaves. Food growing connects generations, cultures and communities and that's exactly what we're here to do."

Join one of Grow Lewisham’s Sunday sessions during Good to Grow week to get a taste for gardening.

Rachel Dring, Capital Growth Coordinator at Sustain says:

"Good to Grow week is a delightful way to celebrate the start of the growing season. It invites people to slow down, connect with the land and enjoy the quietly transformative power of growing your own food. We're thrilled to see so many great events in Lewisham this year and hope that it will inspire more locals to venture out and discover the special people and places that are creating a greener, kinder, more resilient city"

To get the most out of the Good to Grow week, Sustain’s Capital Growth map  and calendar of events shows what’s happening where, offering a wide-ranging list of gardens in each London borough for local people and families to visit and enjoy.

Visit our map to discover gardens in your area https://www.capitalgrowth.org/spaces/lewisham/

A Taste of some of the Gardens open this Spring we have arranged An Open Garden Day on Sunday 19th April. A chance to see more gardens in bloom during this spring weekend as part of the Good To Grow Week.

Garden	Address	Time	Activities
Grow Lewisham The Plot roseminnajmudin@gmail.com	1 South View Road, Downham BR1 5RD Free parking	1-4pm	Seed sowing for herbs and vegetables. Food shared around communal table.
Wild Cat Wilderness wcw@rgtb.org.uk	Gate next to 523Riverview Park, Catford SE6 4PL Free Parking	11-3	Come and explore the wonderful community space and make seed bombs - all welcome
Crofton Park Railway Garden steve.mulford1@gmail.com	Marnock Rd, SE$ 2PH (opposite CO-OP)	11am	Activities for all ages and families
One Tree Hill Allotments whiteik@talk21.com	88 Honor Oak Park, Honor Oak SE23 3NP	14.00	Guided tour around the site, about 45 mins, please note due to site geography, there are steep paths will need to be climbed.

If you need help exploring the lewisham gardens check out the Good Food Lewisham Map where all the community gardens are listed.

If you want help finding or being added please email goodfood@lewishamlocal.com

Be great for you to be connected to our wonderful growing community.