Building on our two award winning projects, the bird, bee and butterfly garden at Ham library and the allotments at Grey Court school, this project aimed to create more “Good Gardens” - residential gardens that are environmentally kind as well as attractive to look at - in our community over the course of one year.

We promoted the ideas and expertise on wildlife friendly and resource saving practices in a changing climate through a series of events (workshops and guided walks) and our existing communications channels (newsletters, website, social media, the Ham & Petersham Magazine, etc).

The project ran from July 2021 to June 2022. 

Click on the hyperlinks to read summaries of the events in this project: 

Improving your garden for wellbeing and wildlife. Talk by Alison Marsden. - 28th June 2022

Growing good. A walk and talk on sustainable food and flower growing with Ham House gardeners Vanessa Park and Janette Slack-Smith. - 29 April 2022

Adapting gardens to climate change. A guided tour of Ham House Gardens with Head Gardener Rosie Fyles. - 4 March 2022

Attracting garden birds. A talk by bird enthusiast John Gard. - 11 November 2021

How to get the best out of water in your garden - A walking tour of residential ponds and water harvesting systems. - 17 October 2021

Green grafting for a greener environment - An informative tour of the Wates Estate’s gardens with local garden designer Thérèse Rebeiz. - 25 September 2021

Good Gardens launch party - 6 July 2021 

Resources

We have put together some excellent resources from books and websites to podcasts and videos to help you turn your own garden into a "good garden". Click here to view them.  

Thanks

Artwork kindly provided by local artist Beatriz Olivares Vela. Follow Bea on Instagram @bea.wims. 

Good Gardens for Everyone is funded by Richmond upon Thames' Local Area Fund.