Growing your own food

Food support and allotment opportunities

If you are looking for food support or interested in growing your own produce, we have gathered resources to help you find what you need locally. A variety of services are available across our districts and boroughs to ensure access to healthy, tasty and affordable food.

District and borough resources

Ashfield

Feeding Ashfield (Ashfield District Council)
Allotments (Ashfield District Council)

Bassetlaw

Bassetlaw Food Insecurity Network (Bassetlaw Community and Voluntary Service)
Allotment information (Bassetlaw District Council)

Broxtowe

Cost of living support (Broxtowe Borough Council)
Allotments (Broxtowe Borough Council)

Gedling

Cost of living support (Gedling Borough Council)
Allotments (Gedling Borough Council)

Mansfield

Food support (Mansfield District Council)
Allotments (Mansfield District Council)

Newark and Sherwood

Food clubs (Newark and Sherwood District Council)
Allotments (Newark and Sherwood District Council)

Rushcliffe

Feeding Rushcliffe (Rushcliffe Borough Council)
Allotments (Rushcliffe Borough Council)

Examples of food initiatives in our county

Feel Good Gardens

Feel Good Gardens run accessible, weekly gardening sessions on growing fresh produce, how to cook the affordable healthy food that has been grown on-site and craft sessions. They recognise the multiple health and social benefits of growing, cooking and eating together, and have supported several neighbourhood community gardens to develop in some of the most deprived areas of Mansfield such as the Northfield Avenue Community Allotments (Facebook)

The Edible Campus Project

Led by the University of Nottingham, the Edible Campus Project brings together organisations across the city and county to develop food growing spaces and distribute fresh fruit and vegetables to students and local communities. This broad partnership has linked up local expertise to develop campus foraging maps and community meals to improve access to healthy, affordable food for students.

Meat free Mondays

Newark and Sherwood District Council, in partnership with Southwell Town Council, have introduced meat free Mondays. Working with local businesses and the local market in Southwell, healthy, non-meat products take centre stage once a week and residents are encouraged to try meat free recipes (Southwell Town Council).

Volunteering with a community garden

Nottinghamshire has an increasing number of community gardens and growing spaces. These span from large, well established community gardens with a wide range of activities, to groups who tend small growing spaces in housing estates. Community growing spaces are lead by local people who give their time, energy and knowledge to help support each other. The volunteering opportunities and skills needs are varied so there is something for everyone.

To find out more about volunteering at a community garden in your area, visit Notts Help Yourself or email foodenvironment@nottscc.gov.uk

Nottinghamshire Community Gardens Network

Nottinghamshire Community Gardens Network is an umbrella group that supports community gardens and food growing spaces across the county. It provides training on a variety of topics, sharing information and mutual support through monthly meetings. Hosted by Feel Good Gardens, the meetings are friendly and informal. Community food growing groups can share learning, knowledge and support each other to build vibrant and inclusive food growing in local communities. 

For more information, email feelgoodgardensnotts@gmail.com

Composting

Composting your food waste means that instead of your leftover food going to landfill, you can use it to improve your soil  to grow plants and flowers. Not only is making your own home compost good for the environment , it's good for you. Research shows that 6.7 million tonnes of food is thrown away every year, costing the average family as much as £60 a month. It’s simple to do and you don’t need a huge garden or allotment to be able to make your own compost. 

Wormeries

Vermiculture (worm farming) is the process of using worms to break down organic matter (e.g. food waste, plant products, cardboard) into nutrient rich fertiliser (worm manure and liquid). Known as 'black gold', gardeners love it because it is so rich and not much is needed to provide plants with the nutrients they need. The process particularly lends itself to the urban environment with small-scale indoor, low tech and low cost systems. With 83% of the UK living in cities, an urban worm farming movement is essential for future food security and it provides easy solutions for our kitchen waste.

Wormeries are a fantastic opportunity to teach children about the importance of biodiversity in our food systems and many schools across the county are using wormeries in their school food growing spaces. 

The Urban Worm are a Nottinghamshire organisation that provides many opportunities to build wormeries in your garden, schools, businesses large and small. Sign up to their newsletter for regular updates.