Reflecting on the past and Plotting the future

In the depth of last year’s lock down the Greening Stoke team had time to sit back and reflect on the project that’s been taking place on the streets of Stoke on Trent for the last few years and if /how we should take the project forward in the future. We’ve had an edible pavement garden in the first year with tomatoes, courgettes and edible flowers. In the second year we encouraged people to grow and look for native wildflowers, to reclaim pockets of forgotten ground around the town. And the third year we opened up to the public and asked what you wanted to see. The pallet planters outside the market and the large planter outside Summer Street Centre filled with flowers being very popular. 

​Throughout the 3 years we have noticed people choosing herbs and salad veg to grow during our tin can planter workshop and having both grown veg at home came to the same conclusion that in uncertain times the sense of accomplishment you get when tucking into a plate of food freshly harvested from plants you have tended is second to none and so we put our names forward for a community allotment so we could share this feeling with as many people as possible. 

​Just before Christmas we were told that we had been offered a plot in the heart of Stoke at the Richmond St allotments a 2-minute walk from the Art Stop studio and last week we were shown around our new plot and given the keys (well code really) to this fab space. As you can see it’s a bit over grown but we are blown away with the potential this space offers and our creative minds have gone into overdrive thinking about how we can share this experience with you!