Nene Nursery update

14 /05/ 25 – Pia Larsson – Project Officer (Access and Participation)

Our community plant nursery, Nene Nursery, has now been up and running for about 18 months and it’s wonderful to see how beneficial the space is for different groups and individuals and how we’re evolving and developing what we can offer all the time . Here’s an update on the social prescribing programmes and public events we’ve been holding over the last few months.

We loved running another 5 week ‘Grow With Us’ Green Social Prescribing programme each Monday afternoon throughout March 2025 and enjoyed craft, gardening and lots of Nature-based and Horticultural ideas and activities with our lovely participants . The atmosphere was informal, relaxed and social. It was sometimes a little chilly to sit outside so we then set up in the much warmer Poly tunnel.

Together with our volunteers and visiting groups, we have been sowing 1000s of seeds for plants that will be planted out across the Park, shared at Peterborough Celebrates Festival and for our own programmes and events at the Nursery. These include sweet peas, cosmos, dahlias, tomatoes, chillies and lots of herbs.

We also welcomed visitors to a Daal & Daffodil event, where people helped to chop the spices and vegetables for the super-tasty, low cost and easy to prepare lentil/pea stew, and created some beautiful paper daffodils and left with a few pots each of gorgeous daffodils. The Nursery looked amazing as it was decorated with crafts created with our Grow With Us, Dementia & Frailty and SEND work experience groups.

Another lovely event was a Letter-writing Workshop that we co-hosted with another charity; From Me To You – supporting people living with cancer by sharing hand-written letters. There was the opportunity to dress up as a post box as well as craft and planting activities.