Welcome!
We’re a group of eight ambitious students from the University of Birmingham with a plan. Our university is converting our old library to a green space on campus. We aim to make part of this space an edible garden: a space where students would volunteer in their free time to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers. In doing so we hope to contribute to students’ mental and physical health and to strengthen the existing sense of community on campus. The garden would feature produce from all over the world: a global garden, and would work in association with local schools to enhance plant and food education.
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Developing understanding about where food comes from
Your guide to planting and harvesting crops that suit the seasons, sold to University of Birmingham staff, students, and visitors.
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Who we're working with...
UoB Botanical Society Dedicated to all things plants, this society was made for plants scientists or hobbyists, but all are welcome. They host speakers on the latest research in the field, organise trips to research institutes and botanical gardens and of course have socials. We plan to collaborate with this existing society to promote plant education and inspire people to get interested in plants, by adding fun facts and information on panels by each plant that we grow in the garden.
Local Schools We believe that children would hugely benefit from the multi-sensory experience of visiting our garden. School trips to the garden would allow children to touch, smell and taste the produce, giving them a sense of where food comes from and how it grows - not just from supermarket shelves. Having had positive feedback from some schools close to the University, our hope is to continue getting in touch with schools and sharing our idea.
The Green Heart Project The idea of an edible garden revolves crucially around the 'Green Heart' being created on the University of Birmingham campus by 2019. The scheme involves demolishing our old library building amongst other structures and completely re-landscaping the area into a lush green hub: a space used for studying, socialising, and relaxing. The edible garden would enhance the space, developing health and community for everyone on campus.
A Global Garden
With 7615 international students (UKCISA, 2016), the University of Birmingham is a highly diverse place. We aim to celebrate this diversity by having part of the edible garden be a 'global garden' where students can grow fruit, vegetables and seeds from their home country. We hope that in doing so we will foster a sense of community and bring students even closer together. The Global Garden will celebrate diversity, encourage students to learn from other cultures and try new foods.
Gardening Benefits
Having surveyed 200 University of Birmingham students, we found that the worst perceived health problem on campus was healthy eating, with mental health issues coming a close second. We think that the edible garden is one elegant solution to these problems, as well as many others.
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6.7 million deaths worldwide are attributed
to the lack of fruit and veg consumption
World Health Organisation, 2010
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We plan to grow a range of healthy foods in the garden including fruits, vegetables and herbs. This would encourage healthy eating; in fact, we found that only around 20% of students get their '5-A-Day' or more. Price was one of the main obstacles preventing students from getting their five portions of fruit and veg a day, therefore we plan to not sell produce for profit, only the minimal price needed to sustain the garden. (See also: Not for profit - LINK). Through selling fruit items individually, rather than in large numbers, we can tackle the issue of short shelf life; another barrier to fruit and veg consumption.
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The health benefits of giving everyone in the
UK access to green spaces could shave £2.1 billion
off the NHS healthcare bill each year
Sue Holden, Chief Executive of the Woodland Trust
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This not only applies to healthy eating: research has shown that gardening benefits physical and mental health.
Gardening also enables valuable skills to be learnt.
Not for Profit
In order to be self-sustainable, the produce grown on the garden will be sold to members of the University of Birmingham community for a small price. The money made would be just enough to buy equipment to maintain the garden - but no more. Since all work would be voluntary, this means the price of the produce would be kept low, keeping them accessible to students, who said that price was the main barrier to a healthy diet on our survey.
Growth All Year
Click on a season or scroll down to see how you can get involved with gardening in all four of the seasons
Apologies! This site is still under construction. Seasonal growing tips will be with you soon.