The Bristol Bike Project is based, for those of you who don’t know, in the back of Hamilton House and is accessed from City Road just after the turn off from Stokes Croft. It’s an exciting and vibrant part of  Bristol but it’s really lacking in any green space. There are no front gardens in the area and although some residents make a real effort with containers, any help the area can get in terms of greening is like a breath of fresh air.

So when Maddy Lawrence who co-ordinates the Bristol Chelsea Fringe told me about this garden being started I went along and had a look. It isn’t a food garden so you might wonder why it’s being mentioned here, but what it is makes it vital to the success of all edible projects in Bristol as it’s a garden for pollinators!

On the morning I went along the space was full of excited volunteers and lots of beautiful, native plants, many of which we see so few of in the city, and throughout the day the space was turned into a garden. Eventually there will be bird boxes and insect hotels and the space that was once unloved and grey is now a small oasis of green.

But there is a lesson here for us all. Flowers are vital for our insects and pollinators so include them in your edible projects, taking great care to ensure that they are flowers that are accessible to the insects and moths and butterflies that need that nectar, and that we need to pollinate our food. There will be more photos as the garden matures.