Grow Community – Sopwell is a group helping local people grow their own food, celebrate and share food – and come together to build a stronger local community.

Autumn Festival 2022

We had a great time on Sunday 30th October 2022 celebrating Autumn with music, free homemade pumpkin soup (big thanks to St Albans’ Waitrose for their pumpkin donation) and bread, and lots more. Thanks and well done to everyone who took part in the competitions with some great bakes, chutneys and scarecrows, to name some of the categories.

Download more information and rules for the competitions here.

Winter Wreath Making

Our popular winter wreath making was back on Sunday 4th December. Find out more details here. Keep an eye out for this again when it comes around late November / early December.

Home made wreaths — Image credit: Kate Swindells and Grow Members

What do we do?

Grow Community – Sopwell are volunteers in Sopwell ward, St Albans, working for the benefit of Sopwell residents. We encourage and support local, sustainable food growing, help to connect communities, form friendships & boost biodiversity. You can find out what we’ve been up to over the past year by reading our Annual Report here.

Food Garden

We have established a community food garden at Berners Drive – come and see! We collect/share seeds locally for food growing, hold events, local get togethers, and more! We would love to see you . Come and pick up seedlings at our seed stall – get the newsletter or join our Facebook group

Interested in growing food?

Want to learn more, or help out? Come and join us at the Berners Drive Community Garden ‘working parties’. Suitable for absoute beginners, and experienced gardeners.

We have raised beds and low beds for growing veggies, herbs, herbal tea beds, fruit bushes, a wild area, and an area for children to play and explore, including a bug hotel.

Come to the garden!

We will be sowing, watering, weeding, digging, pruning and harvesting.

Guidance always available for people wanting to learn more. We are also learning as we grow! Just turn up at the dates/times on the poster.

Abbots Ave Planters

We wanted to cheer up the planters by the shops at Abbots Avenue. So, after getting permission, we cleared them out, tidied up the shrubs, planted extra herbs and leaves for picking and making tea, and also made a wildflower patch.

Help to water

Can you help? In the summer the planters always need water. If you are going that way please take a watering can, and give them a drink! Or just look around to see what’s growing.

Care about wildlife?

As well as the wildflower patch at the community garden in Berners Drive, we also have a small dedicated wildflower meadow and bug area in Martyr Close. Wildflower meadows encourage insects to help ‘pollinate’ and fertilise our food plants to make them successful!

We also want to encourage our natural wildlife such as bees, butterflies and other flying insects that pollinate such as wasps and hoverflies. We can’t wait to see a beautiful display of colourful wild flowers on that patch.

Community Events

We hold indoor and outdoor events for adults and children. You can help sow seeds or make wildflower seedbombs. Join our winter wreath-making workshop or online Food Garden events with local gardeners.

Birdboxes and seedcakes for birds

The Ver Valley Society partnered with us for an event making and painting loads of lovely bird boxes, which are now up around the area. Maybe you’ve seen one?

Newsletter

Join the Grow Community! It’s brilliant you’ve found us! To be the first to hear our news, or discover new events sign up to our mailing list to get the newsletter and updates.

Mailing list sign up here