Boost for Peterborough community garden as improvements given green light

An application was made for a number of significant improvements at the Olive Branch Community Garden in Olive Road, Dogsthorpe in September.

This has now been approved and will see a new polytunnel, volunteer hub, storyteller’s cabin added alongside a new compost toilet, BBQ shelter a new container unit to store all of the relevant tools.

The garden, which was created from a disused allotment in 2008, supports young people and adults with physical disabilities and long-term health conditions. It also offers support to families who are experiencing poverty, those not in employment and/or do not own a car.

The garden offers free experiences to people of all walks of life to come together and share in ways they otherwise could not, including the homeless, refugees and others who might struggle to access volunteering opportunities.

The new improvements will further increase accessibility. The new volunteer hub has been designed at the request of those who are in wheelchairs and/or are vulnerable to cold, wet and/or hot weather. Previously, it has been a challenge to host meetings during cold, wet or really hot days. The new compost toilet facility will also be made fully accessible, to allow more people to be able to use the garden.

The path leading to the garden will also be re-tarmaced to make sure that is it even to make it easier for people who are less mobile to get to the garden.

Community is right at the heart of the improvements as well. The storyteller’s cabin, which will be a timber garden building, will be used to host a library of materials to promote literacy, as a repsonse to low adult literacy rates in the city, as well as to educate about nature, food growing, the environment and biodiversity.

It is also hoped that the new polytunnel will increase the diversity of the visitors.

The application states: “The Olive Branch Community Garden would like to engage a diverse range of people using the garden.

“It has been identified that having a polytunnel that creates the right environment for more exotic types of plants, those from people’s home countries, will attract a more diverse range of visitors.

“The polytunnel will mean that we become self-sustaining in the plants that we grow from seed on site, rather than buying seedlings/plants in from external suppliers and be able to offer local people with cuttings and plants.

“We aim to respond to local food poverty, therefore having a large polytunnel will ensure that we have the right environment to propagate and care for seedlings, as well as grow plants that prefer a warmer environment (e.g. tomatoes).

“Having a polytunnel of this scale will mean that we can demonstrate the growing journey and different growing techniques to local people and schoolchildren.”

The project relies solely on funding but hopes to have three full-time staff in the next six months and in three to five years time, have four full-time and two temporary members of staff.

Last summer, volunteers ran a fundraising campaign that raised over £17,000 to support future development.

To find out more, visit olivebranchcommunitygarden.org.uk/.

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