Blaenavon garden on Alan Titchmarsh's Gardening Club

Back in February, in chilly weather with snow on the mountains, the team from Alan Titchmarsh’s new show Gardening Club came to visit us at the Blaenavon garden we designed and planted at Forgeside Rugby Club.

The aim of the garden was to bring biodiversity and community to the side of the rugby pitch, in an industrial area of Wales, where many of the local residents have limited access to outdoor space. It won the RHS community garden for Wales, and we were brought in to design and build the space.

It’s been a really special project for us to work on, as we’ve been delighted to see how much enthusiasm the rugby club and the local community has shown for the garden. They’ve really used, maintained and loved the initial space that we made and have even expanded out beyond the original plot and increased the area that they actively garden.

Tayshan Hayden-Smith and the Gardening Club team from ITV came to film the garden, and talked to us and the members of the rugby team about our inspiration and the success of the project.

Though the garden wasn’t looking at its most lush in February, it was excellent to see it on TV, highlighting the success of community growing spaces and how you can work in a previously disused plot of land to make something beautiful, useful, and good for nature…