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Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature
Enter your photos this October - and win prizes!Grow in harmony with nature
Welcome! Whether you are new to gardening or more experienced, we're here to support and inspire you to grow more food – vegetables, herbs, fruit – in a wildlife-friendly way. Do tell us what you’re hoping to do! You can pledge to create a Coronation Garden for Food and Nature here, and opt in to a variety of supportive newsletters if you would like regular advice and help.
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned gardener, an individual, a group, a school or a business, we’d love you to get involved. Please explore our website. Check out the Getting Started section for all the helpful hints and tips to get you growing, and if you want to know what to do with your produce, you can discover monthly seasonal recipes from the WI here.
Find out how important your outside space is - no matter how large or small, urban or rural, every garden matters! Read the latest report from Garden Organic here.
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(c) Alice Whitehead/Garden Organic
(c) Lucie Wilson/Hampshire WI
Arit Anderson (c) Julian Winslow
"Even the smallest of outdoor spaces can be used to grow wildflowers alongside salads and herbs – it’s all about getting creative and thinking outside the box. I love seeing imaginative growing ideas on balconies and window ledges and I hope that people everywhere will get behind this project, using outdoor areas of all shapes and sizes."
Arit Anderson, garden writer, designer and presenter
The five features of a Coronation Garden for food and nature
We've identified five key steps to creating a garden that's great for you and for wildlife. If you’d like to take part, here are the things you need to do:
1. Grow healthy food to eat – this could range from herbs and salads, through to vegetables and fruit trees depending on the space you have.
2. Plant pollinator-friendly blooms – butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies all need sources of nectar and pollen to thrive. As they travel from flower to flower, they also pollinate them, enabling plants to set seed or bear fruit.
3. Create a water feature - it could be as simple as a submerged dish or as involved as digging a pond, lining it and oxygenating it using native plants such as hornwort.
4. Leave a patch of long grass or pile of logs - this low maintenance step is the perfect way to create shelter for wildlife, including natural predators such as hedgehogs and frogs.
5. Go chemical and peat free – avoid using pesticides, weedkillers and peat!
Coronation Gardens in progress
Join our green-fingered community taking action for nature by growing sustainable food today! Need some inspiration? Check out these stories from real people around the UK!