Origins
From a Facebook questionnaire carried out in June 2021, it was clear there was group of people in the village who wished to be part of a Calow Community Gardening Project to help promote gardening for to the community.
Responses include ideas for projects around the village of Calow such as:
- improving existing planters
- working to find a space to involve local children in gardening
- providing better community spaces for socialising
- helping people get the most out of their garden
- encouraging fruit and vegetable growing
- planting a community orchard
- arranging a Wassail (apple festival) in autumn / winter
- plant and vegetable shows
- organising workshops and talks
Their reasons for wanting to be involved include:
- getting to know more people in their community
- making local spaces more beautiful
- being involved with something local
- having a focussed outdoor activity when sport is out of the question.
Calow Gardening Community Group is a membership group and is part of EMiB (East Midlands in Bloom) & the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) support for small gardening groups. The RHS supports through discounted insurance, access to speakers, advice and guidance and offers a free visit for up to 55 people to one of their gardens each year. This is a potential springboard to entering Calow in RHS Britain in Bloom / It's Your Neighbourhood.
For this support there is a membership charge running from February to end January each year.
Initially there were be a number of projects:
- Up to 1000+ perennial bulbs around the village verges and green spaces
- Workshop for families on creating bug hotels
- Planting a community orchard
- Offering a Wassail & apple pressing as events
Working with Calow Parish Council we have requested two small, under-developed sites in the village to be transferred or rented from NEDDC which could be community tended. One of which could form the site of the orchard. Eastwood Park is also owned by the Parish Council and there is encouragement to use the space there more effectively.