National Gardening Week 2026
- maryjane414
- Apr 23
- 3 min read
National Gardening Week, which is run by the Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s biggest celebration of gardening. Launched in 2012, this special event, which this year runs from 27th April to 3rd May, is all about sharing a passion for plants and supporting everyone to get growing both outdoors and in. GCDA has always fostered a connection with growing, especially when it comes to food, and these days employs a team of four gardeners across a wide range of different community venues.
Our gardening gang is led by Growing Coordinator Kevin Godby, who originally started out (like many GCDA staff) as a volunteer 12 years ago.
He has since gone on to carve out a niche helping the community explore different ways of greening up the local environment and growing food.
"National Gardening Week is fantastic,” says Kevin, "as it helps make gardening accessible to everybody. Whilst growing food is important, gardening is also about promoting good mental health, physical activity and working alongside others. People who don’t have gardens themselves can get stuck in and learn stuff just by doing it and it’s a great way of fostering informal cultural exchange too.”
GCDA’s latest community venture is The Catford House, (check out the three photos of the garden above), a pub in Lewisham, where Kevin and his team have been busy leading on the landscaping and planting of the pub garden.
Thanks to a grant from the Veolia Environmental Trust, staff have dug over the soil and put in a range of herbs and fruit trees which will, in time, be used in the kitchen. In addition, cuttings taken from the plants will help other gardening projects get off the ground.
“My colleague Karina has got a great eye for landscaping,” shares Kevin, “and she’s been key in creating the garden at The Catford House. We’ve got gooseberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and something called Amelanchier which produces fruit that taste like blueberries. Then we have herbs like peppermint which has pretty flowers, as well as chocolate mint, Moroccan mint, marjoram, rosemary and thyme. The garden is going to be a lovely relaxing place to sit and enjoy summer evenings. It also helps promote biodiversity just a stone’s throw from the busy South Circular.”
Whilst The Catford House is GCDA’s latest project, Woolwich Common Community Centre in Greenwich has been on its books for a long time. There, Kevin and his team have been helping improve the overall look and feel of the estate, clearing up litter and working with volunteer residents to create flower beds and growing areas. Many of the residents don’t have a garden of their own, so they’re invested in making their public areas as welcoming as possible.
Other places to have benefitted from the support of GCDA’s gardening team are Spiral Gardens in Plumstead, Barnfield Estate (where you’ll find cherries, pears, apples and grapes growing happily) and Eglinton School in Woolwich. “It’s about building relationships,” says Kevin. “Many of the kids at Eglinton have no experience of having a garden and it’s really rewarding seeing them engage. Barnfield has a good network of volunteers already, but GCDA has a flower bed there which is great.”
Whilst Kevin loves establishing growing areas, he’s equally enthusiastic about showing local people what’s already available to them and the foraging walks he runs throughout the summer for GCDA Learning have proved very popular. “There are an awful lot of street trees, garden plants and edible weeds out there. You’d be surprised! The wider your food intake the better it is for your gut bio, and it’s exciting to find out what’s sprouted up by chance in your neighbourhood.”
The mental and physical benefits of gardening are well known, and GCDA’s latest horticultural recruit Kate will be making this her focus. Her role? Delivering structured workshops for people referred by the Charlton Athletic Community Trust Live Well programme. It seems a fitting addition to GCDA’s range of gardening and growing activities, and we look forward to hearing from Kate further down the line about the impact of this programme. In the meantime, check out what National Gardening Week has to offer you by clicking here.
For details of GCDA Learning’s FREE foraging walks please click here. If you’re interested in becoming involved in our gardening projects, please contact kevin@gcda.org.uk
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