Eco & Environment, Wimborne | Posted on January 18th, 2022 | return to news
EXCLUSIVE: Plans progressing for a Wimborne Community Garden
by Marilyn Barber | newseditor@dorsetview.co.uk
First published in Viewpoint January 2022 issue
If approved by Dorset Council, Wimborne could soon have a community garden on land behind the Walford Mill car park.
Spearheading the project on behalf of Wimborne Food Bank is Jane Benson who explained how she became involved.
“I’m a volunteer at the Blandford Food Bank, and I thought it would be really good if, in addition to canned and food in packets, we could provide some fresh vegetables. However, when I wasn’t able to find a site for a garden in Blandford, my friend Sandi Cooke suggested Wimborne.
“I’ve been working on this for over a year now but feel I am within sniffing distance of the starting line. I am waiting for the council to complete the necessary formalities but their solicitors have approved it so I really do think it will actually happen. I sincerely hope so and am doing everything I can think of to make the idea a reality.”
Wimborne Food Bank is under the same umbrella as the Blandford one – Faithworks Wessex.
There is clearly support for the project; before Jane started looking for a site she went on to a local Facebook page to ask if anyone was interested in a Wimborne community garden and within 48 hours she had received over 80 positive responses.
Jane explained that the purpose of the community garden was to provide a place for social connection as well as for people to have a chance to learn new skills in horticulture and share knowledge with each other. It would be a space for mutual growth and benefit and also to provide a community space where no individual has their ‘own plot’, rather the garden is worked on as a community.
She said: “We want to reach the whole community in its broadest sense, encompassing young children, students, families, adults of all ages including people with additional needs and especially people who currently use the Wimborne Food Bank.”
The plan is that 25 per cent of all that is grown would be given to Wimborne Food Bank.
The first stage of the project would be to create a core group to decide on the layout of the garden. A landscape gardener would create a plan and the ground would be rotavated. It is hoped that local students who are studying technology would help with the construction.
The plan is for raised beds, pathways wide enough for wheelchair users and a lockable garden shed.Permission has already been granted from the Environmental Agency for the setting up of a solar powered pump to get water from the adjacent River Allen.
The middle stage would be to get in touch with local schools to offer them use of the garden and to invite a cancer survivors group to become involved. Broad beans, courgettes, runner beans, tomatoes, strawberries, marigolds and sunflowers would be planted.
The final stage would be to erect a poly-tunnel to be used for plants as well as an indoor space to be developed into a teaching area. In addition the use of seed to plate kitchen facilities would allow the cooking of produce grown in the garden to take place to allow the garden community to eat together.
Stapehill-based firm Brothers Farm is to change the labels on their jam next year to state that for every jar sold, £1 will be given to support the Wimborne Community Garden.
Jane said there is a community garden in Dorchester, and when she contacted them they advised her to only develop a third of the land at first, as they can always extend it.
Jane concluded: “At this point of the project it is very much driven by me but as soon as I’m given the ‘green light’ then it will be getting a core group together and it will become a collaboration for the community and driven by the community. I think it has huge potential for so many in so many ways – so here’s to an exciting 2022.”
If you would like to become involved in the project, text or WhatsApp Jane on 07769 614417.
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