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March 2026

Spring opening hours


 We're looking forward to the growing season ahead and reopening the garden.

Drop in to enjoy the garden, help with gardening, or get local plants and produce.

From 11th March we will be open
WEEKLY on Wednesdays 10am-12pm
 From Saturday 4th April we will also be open

FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH 10am-12pm
(except for June which will be the second Saturday).

 Make sure to double check our Facebook page in case of any last minute changes.

The garden last season



February 2026

Visit to Cropwell Bishop Primary School


Community gardener Xanthea recently visited Cropwell Bishop Primary School for their Careers Day. Speaking to around 80 KS1 children about working as a grower and gardener. It was inspiring to see so many children engaged and excited about the possibilities of a career connected to food, nature, and community. The children all made their own garden designs and some posters for us too. The school have their own garden and gardening club, which we’ve been coordinating for the last year, so we know there are many talented young gardeners in the area.

Autumn/Winter 2025

Closing for winter


 After a busy summer and with our community gardeners away on their honeymoon, the garden is closing early for winter this year.  

It’s been a wonderful season with a plant sale, willow weaving, lots of produce despite the dry weather, bug hotel making, and visits from the Scouts.

Following a talk to Cropwell Bishop Growers and Gardeners, the group visited the garden. Having the space full with fellow local growers learning hands-on about agroecology and no-dig methods, was really energising. There are now lots of no-dig growers in the Cropwell area!

We also had a visit from the Heritage Seed Library as part of their Midlands Seed Search, and donated some seeds from the garden.

We said goodbye to our landlady Tina, and there is now another lovely new team at The Plough, do go and say hello. You can find some of the produce from the garden on their specials menu. These amazing North Georgia Candy Roaster Winter Squash (below) are being turned into a warming seasonal soup, and you can also find the last of this years huge tomatoes being served up too.

Wishing everyone a restful winter and we look forward to the coming year.
North Georgia Candy Roaster Winter Squash (seed from Real Seeds)
A whopping 808g tomato grown outdoors! The variety is Pink Dreams from Real Seeds





July 2025

Thank you 😊


What a wonderful day we had on Saturday 28th June! It was lovely to meet so many of you, chat all things environment and gardening, harvest vegetables, and get agroecologically grown plants and produce out into gardens and kitchens across Cropwell Butler and Cropwell Bishop. Almost £130 was raised, which will go towards finishing the brassica cages and purchasing seeds for winter vegetables. Thank you for your support and kind words. Our next open day with plants and produce for sale is on Saturday 19th July.


June 2025

Open Day on Saturday 28th June, 11am to 2pm


Come and see the space, ask any gardening and growing questions, some plants for sale and produce available for donation (all funds go back to the garden)

🍅Vegetable plants: a few tomatoes left, salad onions
🥬Produce: lettuce, garlic, chard, fresh herbs
🌿Mint plants: Grapefruit, Curly, Strawberry (our favourite!), English Lamb, After 8, Banana, and a special one called 'Spilsbury' which is a mint version of Lemon Verbena
🌿Other herbs: Balm (Melissa officinalis) plants - Lemon, Lime, Orange, Lemongrass, Basil (sweet), Basil (lemon), chives
🌼Flower plants: Verbena bonariensis, Sweet Rocket (white), Wild Clary sage

More plants and produce available throughout the year 😊 for more dates and events please see our Events Calendar page.


May 2025

Spring cleaning


Thanks to 9th West Bridgford Scout group for all their help once again! This time getting the garden tidied up for the growing season ahead.. the mini orchard pictured was also planted by the group.

May 2025


New garden cafe with Good Grief Dear


We've teamed up with Good Grief Dear CIC to host a new Garden Cafe starting on Wednesday 11th June 6pm-7.30pm!  The first cafe will be WILLOW WEAVING with Poppy from Wild and Wonder.

The cafe will run once a month, every second Wednesday, and is free to attend for people experiencing any kind of grief or bereavement.  Refreshments will be provided. Thanks to Nottinghamshire County Council for funding this project. Please get in touch with Good Grief Dear at goodgriefdear@gmail.com to find out more or come along (see flyer below for details).



Spring 2025

Plans for summer


We are getting ready to reopen for summer! Our opening hours will be different this year, and we will focus more on producing vegetables for the local area. Some plans include a natural dye group, evening openings,  hosting a garden cafe, and open days. We will also be giving a talk on the development of the garden and no-dig growing methods at Cropwell Bishop Growers & Gardeners in June.

See our Events Calendar for up to date information.

If you would like to get involved with the garden at any point this coming season, please get in touch: cropwellcommunitygarden@gmail.com


Winter 2024

Snow(!) and winter closure


The garden is now CLOSED for the winter season; we wish everyone a restorative and joyful winter, and a huge thank you to all those who have supported the community garden this year. Our opening hours and first planned events for 2025 will be updated in the New Year.  We look forward to continue working toward a local agroecological food system and sharing the joy of community horticulture.





Autumn 2024

Photo diary




Summer 2024

Summer harvests and PloughFest


We had a wonderful open day during PloughFest on 29th June welcoming the most visitors to the garden, ever!  Cropwell Community Garden continues to be open most FRIDAYS (until the winter season). All are welcome to come and relax (there is seating available), help water and weed, have a chat or get some growing advice from head gardener George.  Harvests are coming in now and we will have a small number of vegetable boxes available throughout the summer.
 Crop notes: This week (26/07) we have beetroot, courgette, rainbow chard alongside fresh herbs and cut flowers available. The garlic and giant onions have been harvested, and are currently curing. Due to the low light levels from heavy cloud the tomato crop is very slow to ripen, this is the case for so many of the crops we have in. The squash patch is huge and set a lot of fruit,  there will be a good squash harvest in the Autumn if the weather is fair.




March 2024

Orchard planting


Local Scouts came to help plant 5 heritage fruit trees in the garden, did you know just 5 fruit trees qualifies as an orchard? 

Our orchard consists of:

  1. Apple - Ashmead’s Kernal            
  2. Apple - Bardsey 
  3. Apple - Bramley’s Seedling
  4. Plum - Yellow Pershore
  5. Gage - Willingham

Read all about the orchard here.


2023

What’s happened so far and what’s happening next?




Work undertaken so far

  • Removed dangerous waste and contaminants
  • Filled a large skip with bonfire waste, litter, and dumped junk 
  • Cleared the site of head high brambles and nettles
  • Levelled the whole site by hand
  • Filled and removed many builders bags of green waste,
    these are taken to a local farmer’s composting site, and the compost spread on local fields
  • Made the greenhouse safe and built raised beds inside
  • Built compost bays for manageable amounts of garden waste
  • Removed huge patches of ground elder by hand
  • Repaired the gate and installed new fence posts
  • Reduced and tidied the boundary hedges
  • Removed a rotting shed and reused what we could
  • Built a number of garden beds using no dig techniques
  • Used mushroom compost and manure for growing
  • Our local tree surgeon provides woodchip for the site paths and to keep weeds down
  • Local Scouts hold sessions and help develop the garden
  • Held open days for the village with free seeds and plants
  • Set up website and Facebook page
  • Awarded grant funding for development of the garden
  • Purchase of a new shed to replace rotten one, for storage and rainwater catchment
  • Planting of mini orchard consisting of heritage fruit tree varieties 
  • Install more rainwater catchment including purchase and use of IBC
  • Communal seating so the whole village can spend regular time in the garden
  • Development of event programme and workshops throughout the year
  • Aim to open every Friday and have workshop sessions throughout the year
  • Build a produce stand for villagers to access weekly harvests more regularly
  • Purchase of community tools including gloves and garden equipment



Planned work

  • Gain planning permission to install a polytunnel and other structures
  • Plant a natural dye bed and host a natural dying learning group
  • Installation of shelter for cover when it is raining or very hot
  • Mini wetland to attract and support local frogs, newts, and dragonflies
  • Finish building beds for maximum fruit, veg and herb production
  • Set up more composting facilities including worm farms and bokashi
  • Build a ‘Little Free Library’ for community seed library and host seed swaps
  • Finish woodchip paths once infrastructure has been installed
  • Commission a local artist to paint a colourful mural on the fence
  • Purchase an apple press for community apple juicing day
  • Host annual Cropwell Abundance event with fruit swap and share

Last updated 13th January 2026










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