Sirhowy Hill Woodlands

Community Gardens & Tree Nursery sessions
2027-04-01 10:00 - 14:00, 2027-04-03 10:00 - 12:00, 2027-04-06 10:00 - 14:00, 2027-04-08 10:00 - 14:00, 2027-04-10 10:00 - 12:00, 2027-04-13 10:00 - 14:00, 2027-04-15 10:00 - 14:00, 2027-04-17 10:00 - 12:00 (Europe/London) and 22 more dates | Sirhowy Hill Woodlands – South, Sirhowy Hill Woodlands, Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, NP22 4QF
Come and join us to help with our community gardens and tree nurseries every Wednesday and Saturday 10 am till 12 pm. Volunteers receive free produce and growing your own food is an excellent skill as well as great for your physical and mental wellbeing. No skills needed, just pop along to one of our sessions and meet the team and have go.
With a food poverty grant from BGBC, we purchased 20 ton of compost/soil improver, but before we could spread it we had to clear the site of scrub willow and rush, then to fence it and “a la Charles Dowding” the no dig guru, we carboarded the whole site. Our volunteers spread the 20 ton of material and we put woodchip on the paths.
In our first year, we planted lettuce, chard, peas, mangetout, onions, radishes, broad beans, runner beans, beetroot, potatoes, carrots and parsnips increasing the fertility of the soil with well-rotted manure and composted woodchip and plant material. Every year since, we have continued to improve the soil while following the ‘no dig’ method. We use our community garden as an educational resource for local school children, where they can learn to sow, grow and harvest. We also do cooking sessions for the children so they can eat what they have grown and see the ‘plant to plate’ cycle.
We’ve created a tree nursery starting in 2021, planted heritage orchards, and mixed native fruit and nut trees through our woodland to strengthen biodiversity and build climate resilience. There are a selection of fruit trees, apples -cookers and eaters, plums, damsons, gages, pears and cobnuts funded by Groundwork Wales and the Local Nature Partnership, and with ongoing training in Orchard management, we hope to have a productive fruit area in years to come.
