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RHS Community Garden Design

  • Jun 6
  • 4 min read

Updated: Jun 20

We have some exciting news! Our Community Garden is officially heading to the RHS Badminton Flower Show this year in July!



This is a massive milestone for our community garden to be selected to create a small community garden growing space. We can’t wait to bring our vision of a resilient, sustainable, permaculture inspired community garden to life.


This isn't just a garden; it’s a celebration of what happens when people come together with a shared goal and mission. If you are local and want to get involved and help out....DM us and let us know.


📅 Save the dates for the show and hope to see you there: July 8–12!


Why are we creating this garden at the RHS Badminton show? What is the purpose?


Modern landscapes and gardens need to do more than look beautiful - they need to care for the earth and the community simultaneously. 🌍


Our garden focuses on nature-based systems, places for the community to connect, learn and socialise, access to high-yield, edible perennial planting that feeds both people and wildlife, pollinator friendly planting, rain management, wildlife habitats and supporting local businesses and community groups.


It’s a blueprint for a resilient future.

We are dedicated to fostering community cohesion, local resilience, and a greener future, with a simple yet powerful mission, rooted in three core principles of permaculture:🔸️People Care🔸️Earth Care🔸️Fair Share


  • Earth Care – Nurturing local biodiversity, championing organic gardening and growing with a sustainable mindset.

  • People Care – Varying spaces to grow food, enhance wellbeing, socialize, share skills, and to connect with nature.

  • Fair Share – Connecting to local schools to inspire the next generation, sharing with local food banks and collaborating with local businesses and community groups.

The Collaborative Process:

A garden at a show event doesn't appear overnight, and it certainly isn't built in isolation!

From sourcing and sorting materials, reviewing the layout and dimensions to nurturing the plants, we are working hard behind the scenes to get everything ready for July.


We are open to volunteers from within the community joining in and helping out, whether that be during the build, helping with planting or during the show week to be the friendly chatty face of the garden.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, email us and get in touch - hobbscommunitygarden@gmail.com

 


Sustainability:

Re-use, recycle and getting creative! As part of the permaculture principles of sustainability, we strongly believe in giving materials a second life. In the world we live in, there is such easy access to shops and instant delivery, and with that come so much unnecessary waste each day.

 

It has taken some time to gather and source many of the materials we’re using, but we are proud to say that the majority of our garden is all recycled, second hand and donated materials – this includes the paving, the timber, the pots, the furniture, the baskets, the rope, the rocks and logs, seed jars, plant labels and much more!

 

This Community garden design aims to stand for something larger than a temporary installation, to highlight a more sustainable mindset and the fun challenges that can arise when you work with recycled materials.


The Planting:

Our planting is inspired by several designers and horticulturists, such as Stephen Barstow and his work on edimentals - plants that are both edible and highly ornamental. We're interested to incorporate varying plants for wach different section of our garden. Plants which are great for people and also for pollinators, which showcases a permaculture mindset and challenges the traditional boundary between the formal flower garden and the hidden vegetable patch.

 

Along with the typical vegetables you might expect in a food garden, with the perennial approach, instead of starting from scratch every spring, these permanent assets stay in the ground year after year, and for a community space, they are absolute game-changers.

 

  • Resilience & Soil Care: Because we don't dig them up, they protect the soil structure, build rich mycorrhizal fungal networks, and withstand volatile weather far better than delicate annuals.

  • Low Input, High Yield: They require significantly less water and energy once established, offering an abundant harvest with minimal maintenance.

  • Seamless Design: Perennial vegetables can be architectural, structural or perennial climbing greens, which means the garden can feed a neighbourhood while also offering an attractive space to spend time, socialise and support local biodiversity.




Many of our interesting and unique plants have been purchased from Incredible Vegetables, these images above are from their growing site in Devon and they are a large influence on our garden. Incredible Vegetables is an experimental vegetable growing project and a research space dedicated to useful perennial edibles and future food crops and a perennial vegetable nursery set up and managed by Mandy Barber and Julien Skinner. The polyculture space includes a biodiverse mixture of perennials, self sowing annuals and plants for pollinators.  Visit their website to read more - https://incrediblevegetables.co.uk/


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📧 If you want to sign up as a volunteer or simply to get in touch, email us - hobbscommunitygarden@gmail.com.

 

Join us on socials:

 

✨ Hope to see you there!

From Bridgette and Pamela

 




 
 
 
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