Weaste Committee think that 6.5 acres is a huge hands-on project, so we have a lot of empathy for RHS Garden Bridgewater’s team. Well documented by the BBC the 154 acres of land have been turned into the latest of their show case gardens. After a lot of delays, the North West with its own particular style of wet, and of course, the pandemic, Carol Klein opened the gardens on 18 May 2021. Evidently it was the biggest hands-on horticultural project undertaken in Europe. It has taken 4 years to hard and soft landscape. Work was completed by RHS employees, contractors from around these parts (and others) and local volunteers. It is still developing and growing as the seasons change.
[This is a picture of one of our little projects – the Community Orchard – see below.]
People are what make these things happen. The initial idea by those behind the RHS and then those locally too. The Peel Group own a great deal of land around the Bridgewater Canal . This is next to the site and they are helping to make access from tow-paths easier. It was an eye-watering cost, of in excess of £33 million with 50% having to be raised to complete the gardens. That is a lot of donations, grants and fund-raising plus voluntary support from local groups and individuals. Salford City Council are fully on-board. Why? This provides a beautiful garden and expertise to around 7.8 million people who live within an hour of the gates.
Tale of Two Cities
People from the city of Salford, and the city of Greater Manchester, have been hands-on throughout. Volunteers were able to go to the gardens during the pandemic. Keen gardeners, and those who wanted something to do whilst other volunteering opportunities disappeared, were able to help clear the site. Later in the project they planted the newly created beds.
Of particular interest to us at Weaste Allotments is the Kitchen Garden. This has four parts to it. Designed by Harris Bugg Studio the layout is inspired by tow local features. First, the network of underground waterways in nearby Worsley and second, the local 19th century field network. There are also some very tall tower structures reminiscent of colliery workings. They have created a layered woodland space to increase biodiversity and reduce soil erosion. Different crops including trees are grown in one space to benefit all plants. Sounds like a very big allotment plot to us!!
Gold Standard
In addition to the local community, there were RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold medal winners on site. They had designed garden and community space. Capturing the spirit of the North West and Manchester a number of the spaces are dedicated to local community group involvement. There are Community Wellbeing and Community Grow areas within the Weston Walled Garden. If anyone from Salford gets the growing bug we hope they will consider an allotment with us and become part of the Weaste Allotment community.
It is a new venue for courses on gardening for the North West. There will also be opportunities to go and learn more about gardening in the Peel Learning Garden at RHS Bridgewater. for local children. An RHS trial garden, an orchard, is being used to assess performance of fruit trees in the northern climate. Perhaps they’d like to visit our Community Orchard and hear how we are hands-on with pruning and growing?
Getting there
Care has been taken with the planting, which includes over a quarter of a million plants. Weaste love their ‘Looking Good Now’ feature. All of those plants and trees will help with bio-diversity in the Salford area. Despite the expected wet weather, there is an exotic Paradise Garden. During one walk along the canal during construction it was noted that there were several new ‘lakes’ on the site. Some of these were intentional, but one was covering what has now become the car park! It will be interesting to see how the RHS team deals with the down pours.
Locals can take up a free visit to the RHS, which is available on Tuesdays (booking required at time of writing). The RHS has been involved with the creation of RHS Greenway to make going there as traffic-free as possible. A walking and cycling route on the north of the Bridgewater Canal is open. Of course, this is part of the huge hands-on project of Salford City Council to provide over 6 km of up-graded or easier access walking and cycling routes. Total cost of that project over £3 million. Also, you get an admission discount for not using the car. Buses can be pre-booked from the Victoria or Piccadilly (Manchester) which are about 25 minutes away.
We have our own much smaller hands-on horticultural projects to review at committee in a couple of months, then we will share our plans with all then. The aim is to make the allotments more accessible to more Salford residents with different needs. It will require more fund-raising, but the aim is to increase benefit to more of the local community.