Make the most of what we’ve got- £3500

The aim is to start a tree pit adoption scheme in Forest Gate. We are lucky to have many trees across the streets of Forest Gate though currently most are used for rubbish and dog waste. I have delivered a huge amount of greening work in FG before and know I can galvanise the community with this new scheme. The aim is to recruit at least 30 households to adopt a tree pit close to them or close to somewhere they work in the local area. I will secure and install with the help of each household a mini garden around the tree pit – this will help increase natural biodiversity as well as vastly improving the look and feel of the area. As the tree pits are in communal areas it will impact for more than the 30 households involved in the project – I would suggest around 300 local residents will receive benefit from the scheme. By engaging local people to take care of just one tree pit it means the workload is manageable and I’ve seen first-hand how taking care of undesirable public spaces discourages fly tipping and general dog waste. I have a proven track record within FG of being able to deliver such a project. 

The tree pit adoption scheme aligns with cleanliness and waste and increasing nature and biodiversity. It will reduce waste by creating small gardens which would act as a deterrent for rubbish and dog waste. It will increase areas beneficial for bug life and insects improving the overall green footprint.

As I’ve mentioned I have worked on greening FG in the past and it’s something I’m passionate about. I started the Instagram account @theflowerstarter which is dedicated to the project – here you can find before and after shots of the areas I’ve worked on and helped recruit huge numbers of local residents to be involved. My greening endeavour was self-funded at first, later into my work I secured funding from the council which helped broaden the greening project – the areas are now all taken care of by locals and they’ve continued to remain as beautiful little gardens in what were otherwise neglected areas of Forest Gate. I managed to secure donations of money and supplies from local businesses and people which helped spread the funding much further than I had originally planned. 

If successful I aim to promote the tree pit adoption scheme via local groups I have connections with, community newsletters via the community garden and library, and my neighbours who came on board in my original greening campaign are connected with the local mosque and church. 

The great thing about greening is that it knows no boundaries – young or old, woman or man, any nationality can enjoy a garden that takes place of a neglected area that attracts rubbish. By starting a project that works in our public spaces it also ensures that everyone can have access and receive benefit from the scheme. 

I started the tree pit adoption scheme and kicked off on Station Rd - we created 9 tree pit gardens this day. It was really lovely with lots of neighbours coming out to help and promising to take care of their chosen tree pit.

I created some diy tree pit kits - I put together the treated wood, screws, compost, plants, bulbs and bark chip. This feels like a better way to fulfil the rest of the project though just at test stage for now. So far we’ve taken over around 17 tree pits across FGN and FGS.

We planted hundreds of spring bulbs, they’re just popping through now so we all can’t wait to see the pretty flowers against the grey pavement.