Community

Question 1

List some community horticultural projects.

Answer 1

• community and school growing projects
• Britain in Bloom
• therapeutic horticulture
• social enterprises
• parks and public green spaces
• community kitchens in gardens.

Question 2

How do community project engage the community?

Answer 2

The projects are varied, from the
greening of urban areas to the use of horticulture within therapeutic settings.

Question 3

what are the values of community gardens?

Answer 3

Social cohesion (bring peeps from diff backgrounds)

promotes physical and mental health

Education: lifelong learning children -retirees.

Sense of identity: community projects in deprived areas or refugees.

Local pride

Locally grown produce - better diet and alleviates food poverty. (fresh sustainable food)

Conservation and biodiversity (unusual local species etc)

Conservation of built heritage (old buildings) - Repurposed as community center.

Local gardens help mitigate climate change. Avoidance and mitigation.

Question 4

What are some of the community programs good for a sense of local identity?

Answer 4

Providing for communities
volunteering
schools
Schemes (Britain in Bloom)
Hort therapy
Organisational structures
Making the most of vols.

Question 5

What are some of the features of community gardens?

Answer 5

Very varied
Often focused on deprived urban areas
City or Urban farms name..
Smaller projects focused on veg
Voluntary organizational structure
Funding often precarious, org structure do not guarantee of long-term security

Question 6

What is key in community projects

Answer 6

Sustainability (minimizes use of fertilizers and water)
Nearly always organic
“Where does your food come from”
Encourages healthy diets
Food for deprived communities

Question 7

Discuss school gardens

Answer 7

Education - links to science
RHS: awards to encourage involvement
Courses for teachers and others working with young students
Supply of resources: lesson plans, activities, info sheets etc.
Use of social media to show progress and inspire others.

Question 8

What is Britain in Bloom

Answer 8

Encourages community gardens
Long running competition and award based scheme.
Traditionally about bright floral displays.
More recent focus on sustainability, longer-term planting.
Support from RHS: advisors, free seed, insurance
Involvement from wider community expected.

Question 9

What is hort. therapy?

Answer 9

Use of gardening for therapeutic purposes (physical or mental)

Coordination/phys rehab

Psychological (get outside sense of well being)

Originally for rehab for soldiers from PTSD now all fields.

Provides physical rehab from illness, learning diff, addiction and promotion of social cohesion.

BREAKS HABITS and healthy environment helps

Hort Therapy beginning of a road not just to recovery but perhaps becoming a gardener and enjoying the activity. May also lead to careers.

Question 10

What does Hort Therapy improve:

Answer 10

Mentally: Memory, cognitive abilities, task initiation, skills, socialization, self confidence, self esteem,

Physically: Strengthens muscles, improves coordination balance and endurance.

Hort Therapy is good for short term and permananety affected people…in other words ANYONE.

Question 11

Who works in hort therapy

Answer 11

Practitioners professionals and vols.

Needs managerial structure that offers appropriate supervision.

Question 12

What do you need as a Hort Therapy Career?

Answer 12

Often people choose one type of disability to work with.

Practiioners and vols.

Qualifications: Nat’l assoc (e.g. british Thrive support, regulate and promote)

Organization can provide: Courses, info, advice, collegiate structure support for therapists (meet and communicate)

To do this you must be committed.

Question 13

What are social enterprises?

Answer 13

Aiming at being financially self supporting.

Overlap with community projects

Non-monetary objectives: usually social, cultural, and environmental.

Legal status - Community Interest Company

Creating meaningful employment.

Question 14

Who runs public green spaces?

Answer 14

Local gov’t. Party historic - Parks and Rec depts. (more continuity over time)

Sometimes private companies - where people pay for entry, usually.

NFP, charitable or community organization or social enterprises that run them. Each one run in a diff way and success will depend on people involved. Often known as “friends of”

Question 15

What are some public green spaces?

Answer 15

Parks
Public Gardens
Streetside
Semi-natural areas

Examples:
National Trust - Conservation
RHS - Education
PHS - community action

Question 16

How is the Nat’l Trust run

Answer 16

Globally unique
Non governmental
Essentially run as a charity

Manages huge areas of green heritage both historic gardens and wild places.

Volunteering opportunities

Question 17

Volunteer Info

Answer 17

Found in wide range of gardens and green spaces;
Private and public
A way of public gardens to save financially
Learning opportunities
Therapeutic opportunities
Social opportunities

Question 18

What can vols do?

Answer 18

semi-skilled garden tasks
build up to more skilled
Assistance with admin, financial mgmt. promotion and building political support.
Relationships with professionals crucial
importance of training
IMportance of supervision and mgmt.

Must feel valued
Diversity of tasks and peeps (age class ethnic)

Diff to get minority into as low priority but when achieved it’s a great way to build brdige and make connections with those that never normally interact.

Question 19

Vols and Bio Diversity

Answer 19

Not usually primary goal but provide some habitat.

Monitor by local experts for biod…gets more peeps involved.

SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS ARE MULTI FACETED AND SERVE NATURAL AND HUMAN DIVERSITY

Question 20

Community gardens and problems

Answer 20

Committed organizer leaves.

Scale involves less risk as more peeps involved.

Scale has more effective fundraising

Involves more people and perhaps employ some.

Clear decision channels and transparency are important to build trust.

Vols have egos…involve them to feel committed.

Question 21

How is community involved

Answer 21

Wide range from weeding to complex grant proposals.

Diff countries diff models (MG)

Decision making and mgmt structures are vitally important

Importance of supervision and training

Vols must feel valued and sense of ownership

Question 22

Food production organizations

Answer 22

Linking producers (allotments) with those in need - food banks.
FareShare:
We are BS15

Glean unharvested food from farmers fields
FoodCyclers

Urban Agric. mvt in Havana.
Resilience in food chain, improved public health, water and waste mgmt, conservation of biodiversity, reduced energy use and employment creation.

HORT THERAPY: Thrive
(Gardening for health charity)

National Trust

RHS Schools Programme
RHS Wisley
RHS Bridgewater
Pennsylvania Hort Society
Master Gardeners

Question 23

What is the key to success in community gardens?

Answer 23

Organisation is key to success. It is particularly key to fund raising, without
which very little happens. So many well-meaning people create organisations
or set up projects that then fail. They fail in the end because of lack of money
or lack of support. Good ideas will only bear fruit if there is continuity, an
assured source of funding and of people – people to not only do the physical
work, but also to administer, fund-raise, promote, organise and plan.

Question 24

How are Community initiatives constituted in the UK?

Answer 24

charities or Community Interest Companies (CICs) which are a type of limited
company with clearly defined community or social aims, and where profits are
ploughed back into the community

Question 25

What are the main terms of CIC’s and charities?

Answer 25

The terms of charities or CICs provide a
legal framework, and set out conditions for basic decision making. They also
provide mechanisms for transparent operation, particularly regarding
finances. Transparency is absolutely vital for the development of an
atmosphere of trust.

Question 26

Britain in Bloom has 3 core pillars, what are they?

Answer 26

Horticultural Excellence; Environmental
Responsibility; and Community Participation.

Question 27

What activities are currently being promoted with Britain in Bloom?

Answer 27

planting disused or neglected small areas of public space,
* creating and maintaining public community gardens
* helping create school gardens and food-growing initiatives
* habitat creation and maintenance- wildflower meadows and wildlife
habitats.

Question 28

Why has Britain in Bloom been successful?

Answer 28

it has engaged the
imagination of a great many people, and there is nothing like adding a
competitive element to something to get people active and committed.

It built up a strong national organisation, while take-over by the RHS, has ensured its continued success, and crucially its ability to change and
make an important transition to a much wider conception of community
horticulture than when it started out.

Question 29

The RHS Campaign for School Gardening

Answer 29

campaign provides resources and training courses for teachers,
offers awards and arranges competitions and encourages school visits to RHS
gardens, of which there are several in different parts of England

Question 30

Why has the Campaign for School Gardening been a success?

Answer 30

because a major, and resource-rich,
organisation has decided to act. It is however a ‘top-down’ campaign, with the
recipients (schools and teachers) being passive recipients of support.

Question 31

City Farm example

Answer 31

St. Werburghs City Farm

an inner-city project in Bristol which has thrived while many others have failed,

well-known locally and has built good relationships with its community, as well as linking with local schools for visits. There is a youth club, an apprenticeship programme, an events programme and a very nice café. The farm very clearly focuses on
helping improve lives in an area of urban deprivation

Question 32

What are the reasons St Werburghs City Farm has succeeded (according to the Director)

Answer 32

“adaptability and responsiveness to changing needs…. we’re very diverse in
what we do and in terms of engaging with the community”.

; it does not just rely
on fundraising or grants, but sells: vegetables, meat, honey, plants; hosts
green weddings and cultural events in an amphitheatre. It has never got stuck in a groove, and has continually managed to recruit people to work for it, with it or serve on its management committee.

Question 33

Example for Therapeutic Hort.

Answer 33

Trellis, a Scottish umbrella organisation

“the art of using gardening to help people take care of their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

Trellis is a success because of its scale and its ability to adapt to the
special circumstances of the country.

Question 34

What are social enterprises?

Answer 34

the ‘community interest company’. CICs aim
to generate business and make a profit, but then to re-invest that profit in the
community, or specific groups within the community or for environmental improvement.

Question 35

What is the Green Estate and how has it evolved?

Answer 35

Started in 1998, The Green Estate was founded to try to help the people
and the environment of the Manor Estate in Sheffield, which was suffering from a wide range of acute social and economic problems

became a social enterprise in 2004 by focussing on offering commercial services: landscaping – specialising in the installation of green roofs and naturalistic planting, the provision of soil for landscape projects, the sale of a
highly innovative range of seed and plant mixes

survived and become a model because it has
deep roots in its community, it has been commercially innovative and it has made a successful transition in leadership after the retirement of its
visionary founder

Question 36

How have public parks and gardens evolved?

Answer 36

Publicly owned, run by local gov’t but funds drying up.

“Friends of” ask for vols/maintenance organise community events, report concerns to local gov’t

Question 37

How to deal with transgressions in public parks

Answer 37

The test of a good park is how this kind of behaviour is managed and regulated with sensitivity, but if need be,
firm control.

Question 38

How to deal with inequality of public park access and amenities

Answer 38

a coalition of environmental charities has called for equal access to nature to be enshrined in law. This echoes proposals for a legal right to nature, which have been discussed by the United Nations.

Question 39

What does working on the edge of hort mean?

Answer 39

gardening merges into related fields: countryside and habitat management, wildlife conservation, heritage conservation, and indeed social work.

The future of our
profession will inevitably involve more collaboration with other professions, joint enterprises and professional cross-overs.

These should be seen as an opportunity to promote horticulture, gardens and plants, to build bridges and
seek common ground.

Question 40

Name FIVE types of people which horticultural therapy
can benefit, and for each one, name ONE benefit.

Answer 40

a. Addiction: Breaks the habits and provides a healthy environment.
b. Psychological: Brings people outdoors and promotes a feeling of well being, especially those with depression.

NOEL: need to be a bit more specific here, eg. ‘people with depression or other mental health conditions’
c. Physical Rehab: People with disabilities have a place to build coordination, balance and endurance by strengthening muscles.
d. Social interaction: For lonely or elderly people. A place to meet and work together.
e. Military personnel: Helps with PTSD and engages them with civilian life.

MODEL:
Military veterans – new skills, opportunity to re-engage with civilian life
Retirees – new hobby, opportunity to meet people
Mentally handicapped – skills, self-confidence and pride
Sufferers from depression – opportunity to undertake work on their own,
opportunity to engage the mind outside the self.
English as a second language learners – opportunity to learn and practice
language, participation in wider community.

Question 41

Describe how ONE of these organizations engages with community and helps develop horticulture: Britain in Bloom, National Trust or Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Answer 41

a. Britain in Bloom, now run by the RHS, provides a fun competition for anyone in Britain to build the most beautiful garden piece, hanging baskets, containers or window boxes. This lighthearted competition brings a community, group of friends, neighbors, families or co-workers together to design and create something beautiful. Participants are encouraged to grow something more sustainable and biodiverse – which teaches participants up to date horticultural practices.

MODEL:
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society:
* is involved in managing parks for the city, providing employment,
volunteer opportunities,
* helps create gardens (permanent or temporary) on vacant, often
derelict sites,
* supports the creation of community gardens where local residents can
grow their own food, and share skills
* creates a variety of volunteer opportunities for people across a wide
and diverse range of people,
* sense of common purpose and community created by people working
together from different backgrounds
a variety of educational programmes cater for gardeners from entrylevel to advanced

Question 42

What are some of the benefits of small community-oriented food growing projects? List under these headings:

Answer 42

a. HEALTH:
i. Being outdoors, using muscles and moving promotes a physical health aspect.
2. Meeting with others and working together promotes a social and What are some of the benefits of small community-oriented food growing projects? List under these headings:
i. mental benefit
ii. Growing your own organic produce offers better food choices and healthy eating practices.
b. EDUCATION:
i. Learning how to grow your own produce is a new skill. Learning the science behind horticulture is educational for school age children and learning new skills for adults is always important. Education should never end.

c. LOCAL IDENTITY:
i. Bringing neighbors together promotes a social component and encourages inclusiveness.
ii. Working together to make the garden grow instills a level of pride when others come through.
iii. The produce grown can reflect the various ethnic backgrounds of the area and may encourage the sharing of recipes, produce and friendship.
iv. Ethnic, religious and social class barriers are removed when the common goal is gardening.

MODEL:
Health – opportunities for varied physical activity, mental health benefits too
Education – learning new skills, skills transfer between growers from different
backgrounds; possibilities for adult education as well as organised school
activities
Local identity – a successful food-growing project can be a source of local
pride and become part of the ‘good reputation’ of an area, attracting positive
attention from other areas, media and city government

Question 43

List THREE factors that can mean the difference between failure and long-term success for a community garden organization. Briefly outline the issues connected with each factor.

Answer 43

a. Size: Often smaller gardens are run by few or possibly one person. When that person retires or moves, there may be nobody to take over. Gardens need to have numerous volunteers for the success of the project.
b. Fundraising and Grant Writing: In order to build the community garden project, successful fundraising is key. There is only so much that can be done with just volunteer hours. The project needs funds to put back into the project for it to be well maintained or even grow.
c. Community Involvement: It is important that the general community is behind the project which includes the local government and community leaders. Without their support the project may be restricted or denied

MODEL:
Size – larger organisations spread the load amongst workers and volunteers,
and are better able to apply for grants, negotiate with land owners etc.

Wide community engagement – projects that involve themselves in several
local communities build political support, tap as many sources for funding and
volunteers
Successful fund-raising – applications for grants usually cover set-up costs
only; ongoing costs need to be met from community events, membership
fees, sales of produce.

Question 44

Imagine that you are the manager of a heritage garden where there is a new volunteer programme. You have
been asked to help recruit volunteers and ensure that they are gainfully and safely employed. There is a further
requirement from the trust that run the garden that there should be clear social and educational benefits to volunteers, and that the garden should be managed as sustainably and with an eye to biodiversity benefits.

Brainstorm some ideas about some of the things you might do, or at the very least, to think about, in order to
fulfil this quite demanding set of goals.

Answer 44

a. Use local media, garden centers and community and senior centers to find possible volunteers.
b. Interview volunteers to make sure they understand the full needs of the program and ask if they have any physical/mental or time commitment challenges.
c. Provide a full tour of the garden and explain the needs so that volunteers walk away knowing what is manageable physically. Also determine the days they are available or explain what days you require them to see if it fits their schedule.
d. Determine what areas the volunteers would like to work and promote their desire to “own the area” but work well with others as well.
e. Provide specific tasks each day and record who has done what for future reference and to know what did/did not work well.
f. Possibly determine if one of the volunteers would like to take on the role of volunteer coordinator – maintaining the names and schedule of each person.
g. Encourage experienced gardeners to work with unskilled gardeners so they learn what is needed. By doing this both parties feel empowered and successful in learning and teaching something.
h. Provide work-shops on gardening techniques – such as rose pruning, integrated pest management or vegetable growing.
i. Provide a lunch-time break so that all volunteers can have time to chat and make friends with others.

NOEL: REMEMBER: : Health and Safety training, procedures etc, (very important!)
feedback to volunteers and monitoring of volunteer progress,

MODEL:
Make contact with local newspaper, local radio, to inform the
community about the plan, and to try to recruit volunteers.
* Someone will need to interview volunteers, to assess their knowledge of
gardening, and to try to assess how amenable they might be to working
with others, and what special skills they may have. Also to assess any
special needs, especially re. H&S, e.g. any history of back trouble.
* Who will take primary responsibility for supervising volunteers? Will
they need additional training or support?

First contact should include a health and safety briefing by the H&S
responsible person, covering general practice, as well as addressing
risks specific to the garden.
* A thorough tour of the garden needs to be done for all new volunteers,
the emphasis to be on on tasks they may be asked to help with, H&S
issues, as well as the historical and horticultural high points.
* New or less experienced volunteers to be put to work with more
experienced ones.
* All tasks to be recorded, with information on who did what, how well
completed, problems arising etc.