Last summer Kay Crewdson from the BBC came to film us for North West Tonight! Our project worker Emma talked about how to get involved and volunteers Linda and Tom shared what they love about the garden. You can watch the video below.

​The last few months at The Secret Garden have been filled with enthusiasm, with a brilliant bunch of volunteers getting together each week, come rain or shine, to work away at their community project! 

At the end of August, we held a garden open day funded by The Liverpool Food Growers Network where we welcomed very local neighbours and the rest of the community, to tell our story so far and share some of our garden produce. 

 ​While of half the group has been working away to maintain the food growing part of the garden, and providing us with lots of delicious harvests, the other has been non stop digging and clearing, creating the foundations for our education shelter and composting toilet! We hope the hard work put in by volunteers will make the garden accessible to more in the community. The group has visions of an indoor cooking station, storage and somewhere to shelter, as well as a pergola in the sunny spot where we can relax when the weather is good! 

Why not join us? We’re at the garden every Wednesday 10-12.30, with plenty to be done we can use all the help we get! Find us tucked away behind the houses on Queens Drive, L13 0AQ (opposite the Toby Carvery, Stoneycroft). Contact Rachel to find out more: [email protected] / 07715087655 

Both plants and community are starting to grow again in the cleared space at the secret garden!

​There have been a lot of volunteer hours put into building raised beds, shifting soil and clearing the greenhouse to prepare it for growing… and it is! Check out our peppers and chillies:

A bunch of brilliant gardeners have been filling the first raised beds with veg - sweetcorn, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, and lettuce, to name a few, and we're now harvesting! There’s no water connection on site but our plants ​have kept hydrated thanks to our very generous neighbour who has been keeping the water butts topped up while we plan for building a better water collection system along with a shelter and composting toilet. We're currently clearing a space for the shelter and need all the help we can get...

As well as getting stuck into the garden, local councillor, Alison Clarke, has been talking to neighbours who have told stories about the gardeners that used to care for this amazing space and the community that formed around it. 
Tommy was a veteran who fought in Burma during WW2. He held the biggest plot full of fruit trees and three (possibly more) huge green houses. Tommy would regularly host his fellow veterans and ​neighbours to share cups of tea and BBQs on his allotment. Some photos were shared by his wife who still lives over the road… look at the amazing onions, toms and dahlias he grew and shared with his neighbours. Some serious motivation for us gardeners and a lot to live up to! 

Would you like to be involved in transforming the Secret Garden into something that can be shared by the community again? Faiths4Change will be running a weekly garden group Wednesdays 10am – 12pm starting from the 6th July. We’ll be maintaining the garden space as well as clearing space and building a shelter for those warmer or wetter days.

Get in touch with Rachel to take part: [email protected] / 07715 087655.

After an amazing job by Myerscough College students in November to clear the worst of the brambles and other weeds in the first section of the garden, and some ground leveling by Civils, the garden has been opened up to local volunteers to start creating a community space for food growing in Knotty Ash!

Last Thursday a group of 10 volunteers spent the day cutting back more brambles and uncovering some lovely features of the garden that have been lost over the years... it's really taking shape!

If you'd like to be involved, get down to the garden Thursday 24th March 10 am (garden gate behind houses 457-459 Queens Drive L13 0AQ opposite Toby Carvery). Wear sturdy boots/shoes and your oldest clothes! 
 
Get in touch for more info [email protected] / 07715 087655.

The Secret Garden is a beautiful hidden gem; a garden allotment site tucked in behind a cul-de-sac in Knotty Ash, Liverpool. 

​Local Councillors, led by Alison Clarke, have set out  to open up this incredible space for local residents;  working with us at Faiths4Change to begin the process of engaging partners and planning the next steps. 

​The Secret Garden has significant potential to connect with and contribute to the delivery of strategic and local programmes focused on food, health & wellbeing, nature recovery and climate emergency / carbon net zero targets. 

It is envisaged that the Secret Garden will connect with Grow West Derby and The Right to Eat campaign led by Ian Byrne MP. 

Local groups and organisations from all sectors are encouraged to shape, develop, and sustain the Secret Garden.  Working together we will realise the true potential of this amazing green space. ​

Here are some of the plants we've spotted on the Secret Garden site