Belfast Community Garden Open day by FriendsofField brought together communities, Queen’s University Belfast researchers and Belfast City Council to collaborate on climate. The activities catalysed conversations around sustainable food and natural ways of carbon capture. 

USPRUGE demo site in Belfast is promoting Natural Based Solutions through local communities FriendsofField FoBBG, carbon capture experiments by Queen’s University Belfast, murals painted by artist, willows weaved for raised beds and tree giveaway by Belfast City Council

Gardener’s Corner BBC Radio Show – Secret Garden in Belfast

Our stakeholders Friends of the Field talk about the Wild Botanic Community Garden on BBC Radio Show. As part of the UPSURGE project, an agroecology community garden is being created in the heart of Belfast on the lower Botanic Embankment of the Lagan River. It is a site with an industrial past as tested by Queen’s to revive the derelict land and a site heavily used during emergency to grow food by working with nature. During COVID-19, the dog walkers from the neighbourhood came together to build, protect the greenspace and passionate about implementing the innovative community garden. In its initial phase, the locally sourced willow is used to make raised beds and the donated crab apples and wild pears are planted on the fence line. The plans are in place with Belfast City Council for a polytunnel to form a community space, compostable toilets, solar panels to stay off the grid, and rainwater harvesting as the site is flood-prone.

BBC: Gardener’s Corner Radio show is available for a limited time. Unfortunately, due to licensing, we are unable to share the recording