Growing Street Talk runs workshops to give people skills and inspiration to change where they live.
A gardening project helping residents in Splott and Grangetown to come together and make their streets greener, cleaner and friendlier.
Liz Court, Michele Fitzsimmons and Helena Fox set up the Growing Street Talk project last year. Since then they have organised one workshop every month in Splott and Grangetown to give people gardening skills and inspire them to keep the street cleaner and vibrant.
Liz Court said, “The evidence is that grey, litter-strewn streets can affect people’s mental wellbeing. Our vision is for Splott streets (including Tremorfa & Pengam Green) to become cleaner, greener and friendlier. The workshops are practical and fun, neighbours get to meet and know each other better. People go away with ideas and techniques to improve their front gardens and street frontages and often take home planted up pots or troughs.
“The project encourages people to make their gardens wildlife friendly, grow edible plants and use recycled materials wherever possible. It’s important that people plant what they enjoy whether it’s flowers, herbs, fruiting plants or vegetables.”
So far Liz and Michele have organised over 20 workshops, each offering specific skills and knowledge such as how to propagate plants from cuttings, a fun workshop on how to design your front garden using cardboard, plasticine and egg boxes. Other workshops explored how to grow herbs and create bee friendly window troughs and many more.
The main aim is to help people realise they have the power to make a difference to where they live. Next year the project will focus on encouraging more people to get involved, offering advice on setting up and running informal street-based gardening groups.
Residents are welcome to come to Growing Street Talk’s next event in Splott on 1st of December. People are encouraged to book in advance as this helps with planning the workshops. All proceeds from ticket sales go into a ‘community chest’ to support people and street-based growing activities in 2020.
The project is funded by National Lottery and supported by ‘Keep Splott Tidy’ and ‘Pentre Gardening club’.