Cash up for grabs for anyone wanting to create a community garden in Milton Keynes

The National Garden Scheme will open applications for its Community Garden Grants for seven weeks from Monday September 9 to Monday October 28.

The scheme provide funding to amateur gardeners from community groups in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands to create or complete a garden or similar project, such as an allotment, that has a horticultural focus for the benefit of the local community or charitable group.

The aim should be to bring a community together by creating or developing a space that people can share, by the acquisition and sharing of gardening knowledge and skills, and by inspiring a love of gardening. In 2024, 89 community garden projects were funded with grants totalling £232,000 supporting community gardens and allotments, rehabilitation and regeneration projects, gardens designed to support mental health and wellbeing, as well as training and development for young people.

National Garden Scheme Chief Executive, George Plumptre, said: “We welcome applications for projects that foster diversity and/or support people with physical or mental disability. With all applications considered on their individual merits, there is no fixed amount, but awards are between £1,000 and £5,000.”

The scheme’s ambassador is TV presenter and gardener Danny Clarke, aka The Black Gardener. He said: “We want to see this funding going to the heart of communities, supporting projects that engage and invigorate diverse audiences, many of whom will discover for the first time the huge benefits that gardens and gardening bring to their health, wellbeing and to the surrounding environment.

"The icing on the cake will be that recipient gardens one day open for the National Garden Scheme themselves.”

Submissions close at noon on October 28 and applicants will be notified of the results by the end of March 2025. For more details and an application form visit here.

The National Garden Scheme was founded in 1927 by The Queen’s Nursing Institute to raise money for district nurses. Ever since then it has given annual donations to nursing and health charities totalling over £63 million.

Since the Community Garden Grants began, £908,100 has been donated to almost 400 community projects.