LET’S Cultivate

in West London! By Sara Ward

If you walk around our local area, enjoying the fresh air and green spaces, chances are that the hardy plants and spring flowers about to bloom have been planted by local social enterprise and charity, Cultivate London.

With the aim of improving the natural environment, and helping communities engage in their green spaces, recent projects have included planting wildflower meadows on both Turnham Green and the South Acton industrial estate, whilst skaters (and BMXers) enjoy the planting at Acton Skate Park.

“The introduction of wildflowers, trees and recycled timber benches within the industrial estate has increased the amount of people stopping and relaxing in the local area and stopped it from being a dark and intimidating space.” Local resident.

As well as creating pocket gardens for all to enjoy, they run not one but two Community Gardens, DIG in Hanwell and the Salopian Garden in Isleworth, where individuals, families, larger groups and schools can come and get their hands dirty.

“This was a really fun way for the students to get involved in the community. It was great to see all the students busy planting and sowing seeds. It will be fantastic for the students to see the fruits of their labour once the plants have grown.” Inclusive Learning Tutor, West London College.

Their big aim is helping to ‘green’ London; whether that is working with local councils to develop and maintain public & amenity spaces, with housing developers to make the best use of their ‘meanwhile’ spaces, or with schools and other commercial organisations to bring as much sustainable green space to their urban environment as possible. They are certainly achieving that and more. Last year saw Cultivate London recognised as the prestigious winners of The RHS London in Bloom Award receiving ‘Outstanding’ in the category ‘It’s your neighbourhood’.

As well as investing into the community and the environment, at the heart of Cultivate London, woven into all that they do, is providing training and work for those with less opportunity than others. Their landscaping services provide a great environment for apprentices to learn, while raising funds to support the other programmes.

With lots of experience under their belts, the team at Cultivate London are now available to support local residents to get their gardens and outdoor spaces ready for the new season. When you appoint Cultivate London, you invest into all the other projects, making our area greener for everyone to benefit.

For more information, or to request a quote, go to cultivatelondon.org