Background
Tucked away on Ashcroft Lane in Northwest Ipswich is Grow With Us, a community garden that proves how powerful green spaces can be when they are built around people, social inclusion, and shared purpose.
A Garden Built on People
Grow With Us is sustained by around 22 volunteers, and bring a wide mix of skills, experiences and stories. Some volunteer to give back to their community, others come seeking fresh air, purpose, or support with their mental or physical wellbeing. Everyone is welcomed, and everyone is encouraged to take part in a way that works for them, whether that’s with planting, woodwork repairs, running educational sessions, or background admin support.
How Grow With Us Works
Sessions currently run on Wednesday and Sunday mornings, with the potential for Friday afternoons if volunteer capacity allows. Volunteers grow a wide range of produce on site, including herbs, fruit and vegetables such as strawberries, apples, gooseberries, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and more. Fresh produce is shared freely with anyone attending when harvested.
Children’s groups are a huge part of the garden’s life. Schools, nurseries, home-educated children, Scouts, and Duke of Edinburgh volunteers regularly attend, learning how to plant, harvest, and care for food and wildlife. Sessions are hands-on, creative and tailored to suit different ages and abilities. Children are encouraged to touch and explore their surroundings and develop confidence with fresh produce and growing abilities.
Seasonal activities are run to bring a unique approach to gardening, from Halloween pumpkin growing competitions, to the hugely popular ‘Grow Your Own Pizza’ sessions, where children grow herbs and vegetables, prepare toppings, and cook pizzas together using the garden’s oven. It gives attendees the opportunity to think more of what they are consuming, giving them a better understanding of simple growing methods, from ground to plate.
More Than Growing Food
While food growing is central, Grow With Us is equally about social connection. At 11am, the team will sit and chat over a cup of coffee and a biscuit. Often attendees come purely for this socially inclusive touch base. Many volunteers are older or living with disabilities and may not always garden, but the social support they receive is just as important.
Growing food is only part of what happens at the garden. Nature is actively encouraged through thoughtfully created habitats, including hedgehog shelters, bug hotels and a thriving pond that has become a valued home for wildlife. The pond now supports three species of newt, with frogs appearing each spring. Children are captivated by what they discover, learning through exploration, curiosity and hands-on experience in an area where access to green space is otherwise very limited.
Impact of the Garden
One particularly powerful story is of a man who had experienced homelessness and was then housed in temporary accommodation in Whitton. Grow With Us installed bird feeders near his housing, of which he started to maintain and restock. After some social encouragement, it sparked an interest that led him to the allotment. He is now an enthusiastic and valued member of the team, sharing wildlife knowledge with children and managing his mental health in ways he never thought possible.
Many volunteers describe the garden as the highlight of their week. It’s not only a place of calm tranquillity but also offers purpose and belonging. One volunteer said, “Joining shortly after the first lockdown, I hadn’t expected the joy I would get from seeing a seed I planted grow, nor did I anticipate the sense of wellbeing and value I would feel in myself.”
Growing Ideas for the Future
Grow With Us is full of ideas, energy and ambition, but is careful to grow sustainably.
Plans include:
- Continuing and expanding ‘Grow Your Own Pizza’, supported by funding for herbs
- Developing companion planting to teach natural pest control and boost yields
- Creating square metre planters to show how food can be grown in small spaces
- Expanding a cottage garden area with bug hotels, compact planting and ponds
- Running seed-sowing challenges where children grow and track plants at home or on site
- Building a children’s play and learning area, including raised beds, a mud kitchen, exploration tables, and a weather station
Challenges & How You Can Help
Demand for Grow With Us is high, but space, funding and volunteer capacity limit how much the charity can do. There is a real risk of volunteer burnout, and the team is keen to reach higher need areas such as Whitehouse but needs more support to do so safely.
Grow With Us would love support from:
- Regular volunteers, especially those able to help with digging, woodwork and repairs
- Corporate volunteering groups who can tackle heavier tasks
- Funders and donors, to help sustain sessions and grow new projects
- Community champions, who can spread the word and share events
How CAS Have Supported
CAS has played an invaluable role in supporting Grow With Us to thrive and expand its impact. Through guidance on funding applications and grant opportunities, including the Sustainable Community Food Fund (SCFF), CAS has helped the garden secure vital resources to develop projects such as the ‘Grow Your Own Pizza’ sessions and expand herb planting across the site.
CAS has plans to support with volunteer promotion, including advice on corporate volunteering and sharing opportunities through networks, increasing local engagement to hopefully bring in skilled helpers for practical tasks, repairs, and hands-on gardening. Volunteers from Grow With Us plan to attend the Food Network and CAS training sessions which will provide the team with new ideas, inspiration, and connections with other community food projects, helping to continue offering inclusive, engaging, and life-changing experiences for loca
