By Amélie Lardoux
"When you plant a tiny clematis yourself, see it growing on a daily basis when you pass by and then blossoming.... you get a sense of reward, pride and fulfillment which is very powerful.
I have been living in W12 since 2013 and came across the Green Project Shepherds Bush at the corner of Sawley road and Bloemfontein road in October 2020. It is a community space open to all 24h, where you can enjoy the flowers, help to plant trees, shrubs, flowers and fruits, building insects hotels, bird feeders, raking the fallen leaves, weeding, turning the compost....
Every Saturday at 1pm there is a gardening session open to all when we garden all together, learn from each other and most important of all experiment with nature and see how it reacts and evolves.
Since I started, I can see the effect on people, as neighbours passing-by are always happy to see a wonderful garden instead of a dumping ground!
I can see the effect on the soil, which is now rich and full of worms where it was hard and stony before.... I can see many birds coming to feed at the bird feeding stations, insects on the flowers.... helping biodiversity starts with planting one flower at a time! I am a big advocate of increasing biodiversity and making our neighbourhood greener. Even in our very urban and concrete-lad environment we can do little things to help the planet
We live in a very diverse community and we have so many continent and culture represented
among the volunteers and people dropping in. It is really heart-warming to see how we can all come together to do our little bit. An added bonus is that when your hands are full of soil, your mind starts wandering and you leave your problems and stress behind..... so next time you pass by on your way to get your daily pint of milk.... do stop by and join in!
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