A network of growers helping people grow food for their communities in North London

Time To Grow! is a network of gardeners who help people turn unused  space into productive and wildlife friendly gardens to grow food for our communities.  We currently have 15 gardens across North London, and a team of 15 active coordinators. 

We are all motivated by different things:

Some of us just like the joy of being in a garden with friends. Some of us are committed to reviving a lost relationship with the land and the life that lives there. Some of us want to build resilient communities to prepare for the disruption the climate crisis will cause as it gets worse. Some of us want to contribute to a new economy built on mutual aid, care and solidarity, where we don’t depend on exploitative systems, and good quality, organic and regenerative food is available to all. Some of us are all of these things!

We give our food to the Gleaners Cafe, who use it to prepare delicious meals at solidarity prices and the Holy Trinity Food Share, a community food scheme.

Approximately 450,000 children in London face hunger during the school holidays. 3.2 million adults across the UK reported not eating for a whole day because they couldn't afford food.

At the same time, we have seen an average of 70% decline in wildlife in the last 50 years, and a 64% decline in insects in the last 20. We have lost 40% of our crop nutrient density in the last century. 

While almost ⅓ of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from agriculture, ⅕  from transporting it. 99% of London’s food comes from outside the city.

Our food system is broken.

Waltham Forest alone has 2009 hectares of private gardens. We could grow 66 million kgs of food a year, almost 50% of our fruit and veg needs. Imagine!

Plus we would sequester thousands of tons of carbon in soil, feel much happier, eat more healthily, learn much more about ecosystems, recycle more of our food waste into compost, meet more people and have a good time doing it.