Grow your own

How does it work
Contact information

You don't need a garden to grow your own food. If you live on an estate and you want to grow some food, get together with some neighbours and start a community garden, Hackney Homes wants to help you.

Hackney Homes are supporting a range of food growing initiatives across estates. Residents will be provided with advice and guidance from our team of estate gardeners.

On a number of other estates in Hackney, residents are already turning simple green spaces on their estates into beautiful herb gardens. Turkish and African residents have introduced new herbs to residents on the estate and shared recipes on how to use the herbs in everyday cooking.

Food growing brings together residents from different backgrounds and gives them the opportunity to grow food which is cheap and healthy.

How does it work?

Starting a community garden is a shared effort. That is why it is essential that its not just you. Speak to your local tenants and residents association or if you don't have one, make sure that there are at least five of you interested in starting the growing project.

Contact us (see details below) and provide your name, contact details and what you are interested in having on your estate

A member of the Estate Environment team will contact you to arrange a visit. At this visit, they will talk to you about the area that you are interested in changing, what you can/cant grow and answer any questions that you may have.

Following discussions, you will all sign an agreement which states that you will be responsible for the upkeep of the land designated for food growing.

Once this is signed, you are ready to start growing and Hackney Homes gardeners will help you along the way.

For more information, you can contact:

Cherie Joseph, Customer Liaison Officer Estate Environment Services 020 8356 1934

cherie.joseph@hackneyhomes.org.uk

Residents can also apply for a grant via the Capital Growth Scheme. Further details are available at www.capitalgrowth.org/apply