Community Garden Week 2026
March 31 - April 6
About Community Garden Week 2026
What is Community Garden Week?
Community Garden Week is an annual celebration of community and school gardens across the United Kingdom, organised by Social Farms and Gardens, a UK-wide charity that supports communities to garden, farm, and grow together. The week shines a spotlight on the incredible variety of community gardens that bring people together through the power of nature.
Community gardens come in a myriad of shapes, sizes, and styles. From allotment sites and urban growing spaces to school gardens and therapeutic horticulture projects, each one has a different heart and a unique mission. What they all share, however, is the ability to bring people together, using nature to inspire, heal, and create happiness.
When is Community Garden Week?
Community Garden Week 2026 takes place from Tuesday 31 March to Monday 6 April.
| Year | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 31 March | 6 April |
| 2027 | TBC | TBC |
| 2028 | TBC | TBC |
Why Community Garden Week Matters
Community gardens deliver a remarkable range of benefits that extend far beyond simply growing food. Research consistently shows that community gardening improves both physical and mental health, builds stronger social connections, enhances local environments, and contributes to food security.
For physical health, gardening provides regular low-intensity exercise that can help reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. It encourages people to spend time outdoors, increasing exposure to natural light and fresh air. For mental wellbeing, the therapeutic benefits of working with soil and plants are well documented, with studies linking gardening to reduced stress, anxiety, and depression.
Community gardens also serve as vital social spaces, particularly for people who may be isolated or lonely. They bring together people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities, creating opportunities for socialising, learning new skills, and building a sense of belonging. For children, school gardens provide hands-on learning experiences that connect classroom education with the natural world, teaching them about food production, ecology, and environmental stewardship.
In urban areas, community gardens play an especially important role. They transform underused or neglected land into productive green spaces, improve local biodiversity, reduce urban heat island effects, and provide access to fresh, locally grown food in areas where it may otherwise be scarce.
How to Get Involved
There are many ways to celebrate Community Garden Week. If you already belong to a community garden, consider hosting an open day or event to welcome new visitors and potential volunteers. Sharing photos and stories from your garden on social media helps raise awareness of the movement and may inspire others to get involved.
If you do not have a community garden nearby, Community Garden Week is the perfect time to explore starting one. Social Farms and Gardens offers advice, resources, and support to help communities establish new growing projects. Their network of more than 3,000 members includes a wealth of experience and practical knowledge.
Schools can use the week as an opportunity to launch or promote their school garden, involving pupils in planting, growing, and harvesting activities. Local councils and housing associations can support the movement by making land available for community growing and promoting existing gardens in their area.
About Social Farms and Gardens
Social Farms and Gardens is the UK-wide charity behind Community Garden Week. Formed from the merger of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens and Care Farming UK, the charity’s vision is for people and communities to reach their full potential through nature-based activities as a part of everyday life. The organisation works through projects and partnerships to promote community gardening and social farming across the country.
#CommunityGardenWeek #CommunityGardening #GrowTogether
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