7 May 2024. As part of our upcoming project report on local environmental action, we share a preview of the quotes gathered as part of our qualitative research. In March 2024, we sat down with project participants from various minority backgrounds to hear why they are taking part, what is their experience of community gardening, and how projects like this can help us adopt healthier and more sustainable diets.
This Seed Corn Research Project was funded by Natural England to support our research on the health and environmental impacts of migrant engagement in community gardening.
WBI: Why did you decide to get involved in this project?
A: “We need to know how to get involved with plant-growing to improve our planet.” “As you know, smoke and pollution is around us everywhere. So we need to expand the green area to keep our planet safe and to keep our health safe.”
B: “In the future I’d like to have my own garden. So when I heard about this project, I decided to join as this would be a good practice.”
C: “I like plants, I like green and the green environment and back home, I used to grow flowers. It’s nice to be able to do this again, in a new country.”
D: “I wanted to learn more, and to get some time to learn more techniques and skills and teach others what I know about gardening from my country. So it’s an exchange of ideas and knowledge.” “Also to conserve the environment, because gardening makes it more beautiful.”
WBI: What draws you to gardening?
C: “The fresh air and being surrounded by green. It helps with wellbeing. It helps you relax.”
A: “Sometimes you want to plant your own plants, you know. You want to see it while it’s growing. Maybe you have your favourite flower, or maybe crops that are particular to your culture or background. Maybe you are in a country, where these are not used very much or found very easily. So you need to grow them. Gardening can add more diversity.”
B: “It also gives us access to organic vegetables.”
D: “I love gardening, it gives me exposure to the environment and the outside world. I get the chance to discover new plants, which I didn’t know before. For me, it’s also another form of socialising. We come here, all from different communities and we share our experience and knowledge together in this space.”
WBI: How do you think gardening can help us eat more sustainably?
A: “Buying organic food is expensive, but gardening makes eating more sustainably easier because you are making use of the available resources and green space.” “Local crops and produce can help reduce our diet’s carbon footprint, as these foods don’t need to be transported from far away to reach us.”
D: “Locally grown fruit and veg is more natural because it doesn’t contain chemicals. Eating this would have a positive effect on the environment. What we grow here by gardening, we can take to people outside and sometimes we give fruits and vegetables for free. So, gardening contributes to society, by promoting healthier diets.”
B: “You can grow organic vegetables, rather than buy them from the shop.”
*Names are anonymised.
