Following last year’s success in the Pan area of Newport, and having won funding through the Big Lottery Local Food Grants Scheme, Medina Housing is extending its Growing Spaces project to 150 new households over the next two years.

The project involves installing a raised vegetable bed filled with soil/compost in the resident’s own garden or in the communal garden area of flats. Participants also receive plants and seeds, and information and training on how to look after them.

People who took part last year said:

• 100% enjoyed being part of the project
• 92% said the project had saved them money
• 50% said the project had changed their eating habits
• 83% said the project had encouraged them to spend more time in the garden
• 58% reported that the project had encouraged them to consider healthy eating
• 33% said that the project had enabled them to meet new people.

This year the project has had an overwhelming response from residents in Pan, Newport and the Oakfield and Elmfield areas of Ryde. The Growing Ideas team is currently working through the list of over 100 applications for raised beds, helped by an enthusiastic task force of volunteers from the Foyer project in Ryde.

The project has proved so popular that applications have now closed for this year.  For details of Growing Spaces drop-in sessions and Garden Shows please click here: Medina Housing