For many people arriving to seek asylum in the UK, community growing spaces can offer vital and unique opportunities to find community, improve mental and physical health and to learn and share skills. These resources have been designed to encourage and support community growing groups to...
Community Gardening has transformed community work in Northern Ireland over the past 15 years, and is capable of much more, even in uncertain funding circumstances. FCFCG is uniquely placed to gather evidence about what works and what is needed.
We have had a staff member in Northern Ireland since 2011, and since then we have worked with many of the new and established community growing projects in Northern Ireland. We are involved in several ongoing projects:
- Our Growing Resilience programme aims to increase social capital and resilience in the community growing sector.
- The Outdoor Wellbeing Network for Northern Ireland helps to develop and promote green care in Northern Ireland.
- The Growing Together programme helps unlocked income, land and skills for community growing groups to help them become more financially self-sustaining and less dependent on grant funding
During the past five years we have:
- Focused on capacity-building by advising allotment and community garden groups, organising training and facilitating visits to established sites.
-
Convened the biannual Northern Ireland Allotment and Community Garden Forum, bringing together a range of stakeholders from Northern Ireland and the South - councils and local authorities, government agencies, NGOs and allotment and community garden representatives - to meet, share ideas, get to know each other and find out what's going on around the country
-
Stimulated cooperation between statutory agencies and the community sector, for example through the workplace allotments at Parliament buildings
See below for a map view or list of local community growing sites, as well as local news, events and case studies. There are lots of useful information resources available for Northern Ireland community growers on our Resources page.
You can also get useful information via the FCFCG Northern Ireland Facebook page: 
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
| City / County | |
|---|---|
| Albert Drive Allotments | Belfast |
| Peas Park | Belfast |
| Duneane Allotment Garden (DAG) | Toome |
| Drumnaph Community Nature Reserve | Maghera |
| 1st Class College & Open Air Therapy Centre | Limavady |
| The Brickie | Belfast |
| Walled Garden | Dungannon |
| BT37 Garden | Newtownabbey |
| Seppy's Wood | Armagh |
| Loughview Farm | Belfast |
| Strathroy Community Garden | Omagh |
| The Well Garden | Carrickfergus |
Get Involved
If you want to know more about our work in Northern Ireland or want information as a community grower yourself, you can contact:
Northern Ireland Development Coordinator - Patricia Wallace patricia@farmgarden.org.uk
Growing Resilience Project Officer - Miriam Turley miriam@farmgarden.org.uk or tel: 07725699442
We work with Community Gardens Ireland (CG Ireland), a voluntary organisation that was created in 2011 as an online support network. Visit their website.
Latest news
The School Farm Awards 2018, held on Monday 2 July, celebrated and recognised the achievements of school farms, their schools and students from across the country. The Education Alliance partners were delighted to again to hold the Awards at the Royal Agricultural University, following a highly...
Upcoming events
No current events for this region/project
Useful Case Studies
The Northern Ireland team working with the Belfast Food Network recently made a fruitful connection between a social and therapeutic horticulture project and a local café, strengthening local supply chain connections, and bringing lovely fresh veg...
Our member groups provide the inspiration for these videos, created as part of our Tyfu Pobl programme in Wales but of interest to viewers across the UK, which shows our members in action and illustrate how our support has helped in their development...
