“It’s a nice way of connecting with the local community”- Community garden launches new Plant Swap Pallet

Cleavley Community Forest Garden in Winton has launched a new ‘Plant Swap Pallet’ enabling Salford residents to connect through growing, swapping and sharing their own plants.

Staff members and volunteers have upcycled leftover timber from the old perimeter fence surrounding the garden to create this new engaging and green activity for visitors to participate in.

Director and horticulture educational lead at IncrEdible Education, Ian Bocock, says community members have shown a great response to the pallet since the launch last week.

Mr Bocock said: “We grow a lot of stuff and have excess so it’s a nice way of connecting with the local community.

“It’s a great way for people to come in and have a conversation whilst swapping their own plants.”

Over the past couple of weeks a wide variety of plants have been grown and swapped with community members, including peas, lettuce and sunflowers.

More ‘swapsies’ arrived today, Coriander, Pepper and Aubergine – Yesterday we had peas and a sunflower gifted too https://t.co/GAyoIGzVTN pic.twitter.com/wLSbQKxvZ5

— IncrEdible Education (@IncrEdibleEdu) April 8, 2021

Community projects and engaging with nature are playing a key role in helping people throughout the pandemic, he believes.

He said: “I can tell you that just this morning there’s been a mum and her child, they came just as I opened, and they were saying how much it means to them to be back in nature.

“The parent was saying how it’s so peaceful being here. Although you can hear traffic in the background the overriding sound is birdsong.”

The Plant Swap Pallet in Winton is also tying in with the national event ‘Plant and Share Month’, organised by Food for Life Get Togethers.

UK residents, whether experienced gardeners or complete novices, are being encouraged to share their home-grown vegetables and plants within their local communities from April 19 to May 19 to celebrate growing and connecting.

Salford residents can find the Plant Swap Pallet at the entrance to Cleavley Community Forest Garden and can share their own plant swaps on social media by using the hashtag #PlantAndShare and #FFLGetTogethers.

There are updates from IncrEdible Education at https://www.facebook.com/IncrEdibleEdu and resources for Plant and Share Month at Food for Life Get Togethers

Image credit- Ian Bocock – Plant Swap Pallet at Cleavley Forest Community Garden- permission to use from Ian Bocock