The Developing Diversity Project
Diversity Garden is much loved and much used but at nearly 10 years old, the garden was crying out for a spruce up – damaged raised beds, slippy decking and landscaping ‘redesigned’ by foxes!
Now with support from The Elephant & Castle Community Fund we are undertaking a year long project with local people to give the garden the facelift it badly needs. The Developing Diversity project will improve the vegetable and flower beds, fix the pond and pergolas and allow us to run gardening groups for all ages.
To kick off the work residents ran an autumn gardening day to get the space cleared away for winter. Then a team from the Southwark Construction Skills Centre tackled the foxes’ flowerbed and will continue to undertake the construction side of the planned work. The Centre runs apprenticeship schemes with a focus on those who live and work in Southwark.
The project forms part of our Green Hub which supports people in SE1 to develop and maintain their own open spaces. For updates on the Developing Diversity project, and ways you can get involved, keep an eye on our News and Events page and social media feeds.
Diversity Garden
The Diversity Garden replaces a garden which was lost during the redevelopment of the site. During 2012, local residents helped to kick start the growth and ‘rebirth’ of the space, planting native hedgerows, 4 new fruit trees and an ‘edible’ hedge composed of rosemary, bay, gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, raspberries and other assorted herbs. All within easy picking distance of the kitchens in the residents’ homes next to the garden.
The garden also features a wildlife pond and a raised gold fish pond. We have also installed an underground rainwater harvesting tank and composting area for green garden waste and vegetable peelings. The beds are a combination of individual plots which residents living in the adjacent housing blocks use to grow vegetables. Communal vegetable beds which are under crop rotation enable all residents to harvest.
Diversity Garden, 51-53 King James St, London, SE1 0RU