Community project to get people gardening together this spring

Grow Zones is being supported by Shrinking the Footprint, the Church of England’s national environmental campaign, and has been endorsed by BBC Gardening expert Alys Fowler.

Under the project, local teams will share skills, tools and produce to eliminate food miles.

A resource kit has been developed to help a facilitator and team get organised and growing without any expert knowledge.

“At last, an easy to use guide on how to get a community group up and running," said Fowler.

"This is a brilliant resource for anyone who wants to gather some like-minded people together to get gardening. Now all you have to do is get out there and garden.”

David Shreeve, the Church of England’s national environment adviser, said: “Churches and faith groups are ideally placed to establish Grow Zones.

"Many younger families have the enthusiasm whilst older people often have the gardens which they would welcome some help with and so here's an excellent way to bring congregations together.

"Grow Zones not only provide practical opportunities, but can produce a very real sense of community with all ages sharing in a 'real-life good life'.”

Grow Zones was set up by EarthAbbey, a Christian project which aims to help people live more in tune with the earth, and is being supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Local Food scheme.

It has been successfully piloted in Bristol Diocese by local priest the Rev Chris Sunderland.

He said: “The Grow Zones Kit has been developed to help teams get organised and growing without necessarily having any expert knowledge.

"At the beginning the project was a way to get people growing their own food but it has proved to be an amazing friendship and community forming project too.

"It seems easier for people to make friends over shared work.”