GLOBAL GARDENS 2025

As we head past the solstice and slowly emerge into brighter days here are some reflections on the past year at Global Gardens...

2025: AN OVERVIEW

In 2025, we hosted:

-45 Wednesday Volunteer Garden sessions,

-47 Saturday Volunteer Garden sessions,

-8 Grow Your Own workshops,

-12 forest school sessions for local families,

-13 sessions for local schools - Allensbank Primary and Cathays High School,

-5 'Growing Together' sessions with The Birth Partner Project,

-an Apple Day

-a series of regular Carpentry club sessions,

-a Drawing club,

-regular Making and Mending club sessions,

-8 Gweithgareddau Garddio yn y Gymraeg/Gardening in Welsh sessions,

-8 Tyf/Tales sessions.

-Community days for NESTA, SDS and Welsh Government Research Team

We gave out 517 time credits and according to our records, we totalled over 1,564 hours of volunteering and harvested almost half tonne of fruits and veggies - including 68kg potatoes, 66kg apples, 44kg squash, 41 kg tomatoes and 21kg of gooseberries!

Our programme of activities will be starting up soon in January 2026 so if you do want to get involved do sign up to our e-newsletter (link at the bottom of this blog).

To find out more about what we got up to in 2026, read on!

VOLUNTEER GARDEN SESSIONS 2025

by Volunteer Coordinator John Taylor

It was a year of change at the garden…and I’m not just talking about the compost!

Welcome to Elspeth Mirabelle and congratulations to our Project Coordinator Poppy for the birth of her baby girl! We have a new member of the team. Session coordinator for Wednesday, Bethan and Session assistant for Saturday Manon both stepped back from their roles this year. Thanks both for the hard work and fun times! And a big thank you to lead volunteers Nick, Kate and Anaïs who helped us through a time of uncertainty. Huge thanks also to all our fabulous volunteers particularly our core team of Nick, Elly, Kate, Ruth, Skye, Guy, Tash, Adrian, Kerry, Charlie, Sharon and Sarah.

Sunshine, Slugs and Hoglets

It turned out to be the sunniest year on record, with some really good results for the garden. We were also lucky that with a cold winter and a dry start to the spring slug numbers were down as the slimy beasts that have devastated the garden in recent years had less favourable conditions. More green leaves for us! Last year's milder and wetter winter conditions led to the RHS receiving the highest number of questions about the oozing creatures it's had since records began in the 1970s. Speaking personally I have tried to temper my rage by understanding a bit more about the sticky soil monsters, for example just nine of the estimated 44 UK species actually eat our leaves. Maybe we could learn to live together. In the mean time we have added a new resident volunteer in the garden who we hope will be munching away on the slugs.

During the summer, we discovered 3 orphaned hedgehog babies, after investigating all options and talking to a vet we managed to get them to a local rescue centre. Shout out to the rescue team! One of the hedgehogs has since been returned and we hope is enjoying the support of the hedgehog care team as they settle into a new life. Get to work on the slugs soon though, this isn’t a hotel! Other notable garden wildlife: dragonflies over the pond in summer, the return of Boo the cat, the robin that joins us for tea and the invisible fox that leaves scat near the compost.

Fruit and Veg

So much sunshine, so much fruit. It was a wonderful year for fruit especially after the garden last year produced very little. Gooseberries were in abundance and the apple trees were laden with bounty. The apple trees have grown so much this year that I am already looking forward to the spring pruning workshop so we can get them back in shape. I think our mulching around the base of trees meant that they were able to cope with the hotter weather without needing watering. We had another great apple day and the apples press has been a little tour around various growing projects in the city. We also had a lot more different types of plums with the green gauge tree producing more fruit than usual and the cherry plum producing fruit for possibly the first time.

Despite the Mediterranean weather our tomatoes were not noticeably more fecund, but we shared so many lovely lunches with fresh -warm from the vine- tomatoes. Oh how I miss the summer! And to top the year off we had a Christmas pizza cooked in the garden cob oven with a topping of tomatoes saved from our own polytunnel this summer. Thank you Beth!

We unintentionally gained more space to the garden this year as the council cleared away brambles that were next to the forest school area, but it allowed us to have a new potato patch and we had a great harvest after clearing out assorted rubbish from the soil. Other notable harvests this year include: lots of squash and pumpkins (shout out to Ghazal for the lunch time soups!), lovely peas and lots of delicious salad.

Volunteer highlights

When I asked volunteers for any highlights or anything notable this year in the garden I was told that actually trying chard for the first time and enjoying it was a pleasant surprise, DIY with carpenter Elly was fun and more chopping and banging stuff. Growing flowers was also mentioned, as well as seed saving, and the social events which allowed people to get to know each other better.

"My main highlights were harvesting the tomatoes in summer! And getting to enjoy the literal fruits of our labour, having lunch together and eating the delicious tomatoes and chatting as a group. I also loved learning about composting and about the benefits of different plants! I have also made friends through the garden, which is wonderful as I only moved to Cardiff this year."

"Finding community and eating the produce."

"Meeting such lovely, different people and getting to have conversations with people of different age groups and backgrounds. Also, getting to make things with the produce from the Gardens - apple cake, plum tarts and mashed potatoes at one point!"

"The cucumbers! But honestly the main thing that keeps me coming back even though I have moved much further away over the year is all the people who I have become friends with, without the garden I think moving to Cardiff would not have felt nearly as comfortable. It has become my main social activity, and the group where I can find out about more places and people to visit and meet. I also love all of the events and activities especially fermentation, drawing. And making and mending."

Volunteer garden sessions aim to support community-based learning around food growing whilst also fostering community and nature connectedness. There are always a range of gardening activities on offer to suit different energy needs of volunteers. Volunteers are encouraged to take a share of the produce home with them. Thanks to support from the National Community Lottery Fund in Wales, we are delighted that our programme of volunteer garden activities will be continuing into 2026. Hurrah!

GROW YOUR OWN 2025

We continued our Grow Your Own series in 2025 with workshops in fruit tree pruning with Kai Lange, salad growing through the year with Sophie Bolton, weeds as bioindicators with Stephen Watts, crop planning and integrated pest management with Poppy Nicol, composting with John Taylor, flower growing with Bettina Davis and fermentation with Laure Bautrais.

Do sign up to our e-newsletter for news of forthcoming 2026 workshops.

FOREST SCHOOL 2025

by Johana Hartwig, Global Gardens Forest School leader

Ysgol Goedwig 2025 was a lovely year of outdoor play and learning that included woodchip wheelbarrow trips, rhubarb pancakes, stick puppet making, hazel weaving, elderflower fritters and lots of goes on the swing!

Alongside the monthly sessions for local families, we had several additional sessions running throughout the weeks in the space. This included a series of forest school sessions for Allensbank Primary School and Cathays High School via the Social Farms and Gardens Camau Gwyrdd programme aiming to support community-based climate action. Ysgol Mynydd Bychan and Y Pelican nursey continued to utilise the forest school area for forest school sessions. We also hosted a number of field trips to the garden for some groups working with young people including ACT, Sgiliau and Roath Park Primary School.

It was great to see the space still evolving with a new tile splashback made with the children using leaf print and stick mark making with local Potter Jack and a bamboo balance platform they made with Matt. The year however was not without it’s challenges, the canvas shelter designed by the children during lockdown was vandalised at the end or summer and we had to take it down. But kindly Roly the marquee maker in Brecon offered to help fix it and it is now patched up and due to be put up again this month.

One of my favourite things about this year has been seeing the children’s journey growing and identifying food in the forest school garden and surrounding space, harvesting it, cooking it and enjoying the food, the literal fruits of their labour, often eating new things or food they have refused at home. Ysgol goedwig/forest school teaches through doing. The process offers so many great lessons, including learning about local sustainability, natural cycles and the art of patience (waiting for things to ripen). Very much looking forward to welcoming everyone back and those new to the space and seeing what this year holds.

Forest School activities through the year of 2025

-January: Icebreaking and winter flower making

-February: Den building, mud cake making and swing making

-March: Stick puppets and gardening

-April: Dead hedge making and gardening

-May: Boat making

-June: Weaving a plant bed

-July: Making a balancing bridge

-August: Den building and blackberry picking

-September: Tile making

-October: Dead head flowers and autumn garlands

-November: Leaf lantern making

-December: Wreath making

Cooking on the fire @Global Gardens forest school

Here are some highlights of what we cooked this year at forest school...alongside the obligatory vegan hot chocolate, of course! You can also check out Johana's blog for some of the 2025 Forest School recipes here.

January: Jacket potatoes

February: Twizzle sticks

March: Baked apples

April: Rhubarb pancakes

May: Black bean and chard pitta

June: Elderfflower fritters

July:  Chocolate bananas

August: Blackberry parcels

September: Baked apples

October: Black bean enchilladas and sweet chestnutes

November: Rainbow chard and black bean parcels

December:Chard pearl barley broth

'GROWING TOGETHER' WITH THE BIRTH PARTNER PROJECT

In 2025, the forest school area also continued to be used as a valuable resource for the wider local community. This included a series of 5 sessions with The Birth Partner Project. These sessions, supported by the National Community Lottery Fund in Wales aim to support mother and baby health and well-being through nature connectedness. With the mamas, we made a range of herbal products (including calendula balm, herb oat packages, elderflower cordial and lavender pouches) as well as sharing food, foot baths and a range of herbal teas together. Sessions also offered a range of craft activities for the kids (with activities including flower crown making, finger weaving and braiding). We're very happy that we have funding to continue these sessions into 2026! Thanks to the Fund for Wales we also offered a summer session for the Welsh Refugee Council Playgroup Safe Play Spaces.

SEEDSAVING 2025

By Poppy Nicol, Global Gardens Project Coordinator

Brecon Black by Ella McKenzie, Chamomile by Shaheedah Khan, Cosmos and Black cherry by Maki Kita

This year we continued to expand our Global Gardens Seed Art range with beautiful new works created by Ella McKenzie, Shaheedah Khan and Maki Kita. Our seed packets are available for donation at a number of local independent spots including Cardiff MADE Gallery and Waterloo Tea on Whitchurch Road and Ethical Boutique. We also joined the Cardiff Seedy Sunday at Chapter and Big Splott Seed Swap at Railway Gardens to share seeds.

For the second year, we participated in the Outdoor Blight resistant Tomato Trials coordinated by the UK and Ireland Seed Sovereignty Programme. You can read more about the trials here. With the sunny conditions, our outdoor tomatoes thrived and were more productive than our indoor tomatoes!

Supported by the Egin Programme, we also organised an event exploring Welsh heritage dimensions of food and growing. Adam Alexander, author of The Seed Detective presented on his adventures around collecting and saving interesting locally adapted seed varieties, with a focus on varieties with a connection to South Wales. - you can read more about it here. We were grateful to receive a few varieties he has been cultivating including the Brecon Black runner bean, District Nurse Borlotti french bean, Cardiff originated Stenner runner bean and Llanover pea as well as some unusual "Babushka" red pepper variety from the Ukraine. It was a fascinating talk and inspired more seed saving activities at Global Gardens.

MAKING AND MENDING 2025

by Cat Lewis, M&M Club Coordinator

The Making and Mending Club has gone from strength to strength this year with over 80 members and 22 meet ups hosted in 2025.

The first Wednesday of the month meetings happen mostly at Global Gardens, where we now have a lovely space in the classroom with materials and tools, for communal use in repair, spinning, weaving, drawing, dyeing, flax work, printing and possibly more!

The Saturday meetings moved to my space in Riverside, Friperie. It’s an extension of the ethos of M&M, with preloved fabrics, haberdashery etc, a sewing area, print table and dye room. As there’s electricity (and warmth!) we can do some additional processes, gather around the fire and it’s brought in new participants.

In April we planted flax at St Fagan’s museum again, our fourth year there. We were given a new location, in a beautiful, cultivated farm kitchen garden. There’s evidence of flax and linen being worked on it’s original site in North Wales, so it’s been lovely to bring it back to life there. We grew approximately 30m sq of Avian variety Linen, and got a really good crop in August after about 110 days – tall, fine, with plenty of seed that’s been saved – yet to be weighed sorry! As usual at the public engagement events we did there, everyone we talked to and worked with were amazed and delighted at seeing the linen making process.

At Global Gardens we grew indigo, which suffered from excess heat and lack of water in the polytunnel, and then outside too. It did grow with lots of flower, but no useable leaves. Then we lost the flowers and so the seed, to frost! Try harder next year.. There’s a good amount of madder in the dye bed, and the golden rod has taken and spread. It needs more regular care and try another dye plant more suited.

We did have plenty of indigo to use from the Hollybush community garden, where the partial shade and more water meant a big, bushy planter full. So we managed a few indigo sessions with home grown fresh leaf, as planned for our ‘blue books’ theme for the year.

We also made cyanotypes in the garden and some bookmaking, with a research and inspiration visit to Cardiff Met Uni special book collection, kindly arranged by member Doreen Barnaville.

Into 2026, we’ll continue to meet up in both spaces. We hope to grow linen again, at the garden, St Fagan’s and in the wider community. We want to have a few specific workshop sessions, such as brush making, rope work and pigment paints, but most sessions will be open to whatever people want to bring, share, practice. The meetings remain free and open access, though we may do bookings for the workshops, with a low charge to cover material costs. It would be good to get a little grant funding again to pay tutors, space fees and material costs!

It’s an amazing community to be part of – there’s friendships, sharing, inspiration and hope held within it. Thanks to Global Gardens for having us as part of your wonderful community. There’s so much crossover between the groups and to be in the garden is such a privilege.

To find out more and get involved in the Making & Mending Club, email Cat Lewis cat<@>catlewis.com

OTHER 2025 ACTIVITIES...

CARPENTRY SESSIONS

Drawing upon feedback from volunteers last year, this year we introduced a series of carpentry sessions. In these sessions, we have focussed on a range of infrastructural improvements on the site including a shelter for our compost tumbler, wormery and hardening-off bench funded by Edible Cardiff. We were also able to replace the roofing of our greenhouse thanks to funding from Edible Cardiff.

WE ARE FIO TYF/TALES SESSIONS

In 2025, we embarked upon an exciting collaboration We are Fio, Tyf/Tales - a creative writing and gardening project for individuals from Global Majority backgrounds. The aim of this project led by Madalena Juma was to explore storytelling through culture and gardening, connect with like-minded individuals, and promote mental wellbeing through writing exercises, photography, Welsh language, and games. The journey culminated with a celebration showcasing the creative outputs of the sessions and pizza made in the wood-fired oven.

GARDENING IN WELSH

Funding from the Social Farms and Gardens Camau Gwyrdd programme enabled hosting of a series of 8 sessions supporting local people to learn Welsh whilst gardening. These sessions were facilitated by Eirlys, founder of Bwyta ein Gerddi and covered a range of topics including perennial vegetable and annual vegetable growing. Eirlys created some really useful resources building Welsh vocabulary connected to gardening and is planning to host more sessions at the garden in 2026.

MORE ART @GG

Some of the works from our Seed Art range and works created by the Making and Mending Club were also exhibited at Waterloo Tea at the Whitchurch Road, Penylan and Penarth branches.

One of the Making and Mending Members Ash received funding from Grow Wild to host a mini exhibition and craft day focussed on fungi. Another member and regular volunteer Nick Minardi has offered a series of drawing sessions in the garden.

In August, we were excited to collaborate with Dutch artist Fanja Bouts whose tapestry was on display at the Chapter arts centre in Cardiff. Fanja's work explores co-existence and care against a backdrop of planetary destruction. As part of her residency, she invited local community gardeners and local artists to come together for nourishment and conversation. Using hyper-local ingredients, including fruit and veggies from Global Gardens and other Cardiff community gardens, Fanja made a delicious creative feast - including a very surprising combination of tomato and plum salsa on focaccia and horseradish vegan mayo! Project coordinator Poppy enjoyed sampling some of the delights and meeting other community gardeners and members of the Cardiff creative community.

Thankyou!

As we wrap up 2025 and move in to the new year we would like to express a huge thanks to all our funders for their generous support in 2025. This includes: The National Lottery Community Fund in Wales Awards for All, Fund for Wales, Admiral Insurace, Lab 22, SDS, Food Cardiff, Edible Cardiff and Social Business Wales. We'd also like to thank Alex Gooch for the awesome sourdough bread supply which has brightened up lunch at our volunteer sessions and Waterloo Tea for sharing their coffee and tea grnds with us and enabling use of their branches for exhibits and events and Cardiff MADE gallery, Waterloo Tea and Ethical Boutique for hosting a spot for distribution of seeds.. We'd also like to thank Cardiff Council Local Nature Partnership and Parks Department for continued support. Finally a huge thanks to all our wonderful volunteers, session leaders, steering group members, collaborators and supporters without whom the project would not be. Here's to 2026!