Local allotment sites have waiting lists, but you don’t have to wait to grow delicious veg, because Planet South Bank offers a solution – community gardening; a group of local people growing food together, and sharing the produce amongst themselves and other locals.
Planet South Bank worked with St Clements Church and with Edible York to transform land at the church on Scarcroft Road, from traditional grass and (elderly) rose bushes, to fruit, veg, herbs, edible flowers and beautiful pollinators. In 2011, our first year, we grew ‘a bit of everything’ along the borders, with cabbages mingled with courgettes, coriander amongst the carrots. In the years since then, we’ve added more beds, more perennial herbs and fruit bushes, a bug hotel, water butt and lots of compost bins – plus met a lot of lovely people and had a lot of fun (and cake). The plot has become known as the Nose, because it’s a pointy shape!
Regular gardening sessions at St Clements Church: Sunday afternoons, twice a month (dates below). All are welcome – come and join us or call by for a chat over the fence. We can also arrange to meet you for gardening at other times. Leave a message here, or email us on info@planetsouthbank.org.uk.
Alison and helpers, March 2011
Our sessions are on Sundays at 2pm, lasting at least an hour, but sometimes longer if we are particularly enjoying ourselves. We provide all the equipment and occasionally snacks! Feel free to message us with any questions and share with friends.
The Sundays in 2025, 2 to 3pm or 3.30pm, (depends how keen we are, and if it’s raining!), are:
- 23rd March
- 6th and 20th April
- 4th and 18th May
- 1st, 15th and 29th June
- 13th and 27th July
- 10th and 24th August
- 7th and 21st September
- 5th and 19th October
Contact info@planetsouthbank.org.uk or just turn up.
We have gardening spades and forks, and hand tools, which are available when we have our sessions or by arrangement at other times.
This community garden is for everyone who is interested in growing (and eating) beautiful edible plants, especially all the local people who are deprived of growing space. All are welcome to come and do a little weeding, pruning or planting – or pick some of the produce, when it’s ready – or get more involved by becoming part of the group who plan each year’s planting.
Planet South Bank 
It’s so nice to see the community coming together to help out like this, I’m sure it’ll produce a fantastic garden!
Hi, Just wondered if you had a compost heap I could use for our peelings and leftover uncooked food? We have no garden at all, just a tiny back yard and live very near to st Clements which would be ideal 🙂 Altrrniveky, do you know of anywhere else?
Kind regards,
Donna
Yes we do have community compost bins – next to our Community Garden at St Clements Church, in between the junctions of Scarcroft Road and Nunthorpe Road (entrance from Nunthorpe Road).
We welcome peelings and other uncooked food – thank you!
Please don’t put any compostible or biodegradable compost bags into the bins, just empty them out into the bin and take them away to bin at home. Our compost bins don’t generate the internal heat needed to degrade any of these types of bags, so having food wrapped up in them slows the whole composting down. Thank you!
Thanks John, that’s great to know and thanks for the advice about the bags 🙂
As an alternative to compostible/biodegradable bags, you can always just wrap your peelings in a couple of sheets of newspaper to put into the compost bin. Loose sheets of newspaper compost very quickly, and in fact the occasional page or two adds useful carbon to the compost (who knew?!)