community food growing
Building on the success of two years of weekly volunteer sessions, we have decided to pause regular volunteering this season in order to focus on strengthening the organisation and developing longer-term partnerships and strategies for the growth of Earth Tenders.
In place of weekly sessions, we have launched our Community Plots pilot. We will return to weekly volunteer sessions in 2027.
This pause allows us to deepen our work in sustainable food systems and community-led growing. This season, our lead grower will focus on supplying fresh produce to the Peckham Pantry community food shop and the community kitchen project at Kingswood House. Surplus harvest will support our wider programming, including workshops with local schools, youth groups and community organisations at the garden. As well as forming the foundation for our the return of the BPOC Growers programme in July and October.
If you would like to visit the garden with a community, youth, or school group, please get in touch.
community plots pilot
This season we are experimenting. We’ve dedicated five growing beds to the community plots pilot. This is a practice of collective growing, care and land stewardship, designed to support a deeper sense of shared ownership of the garden among both regular volunteers and newcomers.
Since March 2026, the group has taken shared responsibility for planning and tending plots. The pilot will run until early winter with ongoing check-ins through collective reflection sessions, feedback forms and communal workdays. Together, we are exploring what becomes possible when responsibility, knowledge and abundance are held in common. We hope to share reflections more publicly in the future and potentially develop a blueprint for public growing spaces.
Participants for the pilot were selected from over 60 applicants, narrowed down to a group of 24. The cohort currently includes 15 active members who self-organise with light-touch support from us for gardening resources and knowledge exchange. Organising roles are rotated within the group, including coordinator, water lead, compost lead and monthly knowledge holder.
The selection for the participants prioritised expanding access to green space for the global majority, people without access to growing space and a balance of skill levels. Most participants are beginner growers.
Beyond food growing, we also continue to seek funding to support community members in hosting nature connection and creative workshops with us, open and free to the wider community.
