The importance of green spaces in Britain’s increasingly urban landscape—from city parks to community gardens and allotments—is clear. Public Health England reports that regular time in green spaces reduces stress, boosts wellbeing, and improves physical fitness, while the Natural History Museum has pointed out their role in cooling city infrastructure and cutting pollution. Functional cities depend on functional greenery, yet maintaining these vital spaces remains uncertain. Since parks and green spaces are classified as non-statutory services, local authorities keep cutting their funding and rely more and more on volunteer groups to look after them.
A leading voice pushing for change is John Little of Care Not Capital, a community interest company that offers free training for gardeners working in public spaces, so they can have more say over the areas they maintain and the people who govern them. “Green spaces aren’t sustainable unless someone looks after them,” says Little. “But in the public realm, investment often goes into infrastructure—overly designed landscapes and extravagant architecture—and rarely into ongoing care.” Investing in skilled gardeners, he argues, leads to benefits far beyond good horticultural upkeep, from boosting biodiversity and tackling climate change to improving community engagement and reducing antisocial behaviour.
Little teamed up with garden designer Susanna Grant to launch Care Not Capital last year, bringing in experts to deliver free training through a series of study days held at his highly praised garden, Hilldrop in Essex. The first course in 2025 saw 18 professional public-space gardeners develop skills in habitat creation, biodiversity surveying, and community engagement. “By training gardeners to work in more creative, ecological, and biodiverse ways, we make green spaces more engaging, more inclusive, and more valuable to their communities.”
Much of the inspiration behind Care Not Capital comes from Little’s experience as a contractor for a social housing estate in Hackney, east London, in the early 2000s. Working alongside his brother to maintain the estate’s previously neglected green areas, Little saw how having an enthusiastic, creative gardener produced unexpected results. “Initially, we just started to make the place look like someone cared,” he says, but listening to what the estate’s diverse residents actually wanted from their green space eventually led Little to sow wildflowers, create 60 new food-growing allotments, and plant specific fruit trees and shrubs valued by residents of different ethnicities, including medlars and grape vines. It led to far more interaction between residents, he tells me. “The role of a gardener can have such a huge impact on both places and people. If a space is cared for, everything improves.”
With Care Not Capital now finishing its second year of training, I spoke with four public-space gardeners who are transforming their local communities.
Accessibility
Katy Merrington, The Hepworth Wakefield
View image in fullscreen
“To have this really top-class garden free and accessible is wonderful”: Katy Merrington. Photograph: Jason Ingram
When the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield decided to turn the derelict land on its doorstep into an ornate public garden accessible to all, hiring a skilled, full-time gardener was a key priority. Katy Merrington, whose title is “cultural gardener”, was in place when the garden opened in 2019: it’s a four-season tapestry of colourful perennials crossed by winding paths and breakout spaces designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith. Leading a team of volunteers, Merrington is a regular presence in the garden, which has become a place of inspiration, respite, and social interaction.
“One of the Hepworth’s missions is to inspire positive change locally,” Merrington tells me. “So to have this reallyA top-class garden that’s free and open to everyone in the city is amazing – usually, places like this charge an entry fee, or you’d need a car to reach them.
A 2019 study from the University of Sheffield found that when people can see a gardener at work, they feel safer and more at ease using green spaces. Merrington agrees: “Your presence makes the place feel lived-in; people love watching you work. That study also showed that a poorly maintained public park can harm health – a park full of litter doesn’t lift your mood, but if it’s well looked after, the health benefits are significant.”
Biodiversity
Benny Hawksbee, Eden Nature Garden, London
‘For zone 2 London, the species list is quite cool’: Benny Hawksbee. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Gardener Benny Hawksbee takes care of the Eden Nature Garden, a small public park in Clapham, south London. He’s employed by St Paul’s church, where the garden is located, and has turned it into a refuge for both people and wildlife, from sparrowhawks to solitary mining bees. “For zone 2 London, the species list is quite impressive,” he says. “We’ve had the second recorded sightings in Britain of thread-waisted wasps from the Americas, Isodontia mexicana.”
Working in the garden regularly has let him try out different ways to support wildlife (like “adding leaf piles, bundles of stems, and standing water”) and to track the garden’s biodiversity using the citizen science apps iNaturalist and iRecord. “Gardeners are the best people for recording wildlife, because they’re in the same spot every week, caring for it and watching it closely. Over time, they could even end up collecting more data than entomologists and ecologists.”
Community
Shereen Chung-Blake, London
skip past newsletter promotion
Free newsletter | Weekly
Sign up to Inside Saturday
The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend.
Preview latest
Enter your email
Sign up
after newsletter promotion
‘The garden’s had a tangible effect on community cohesion’: Shereen Chung-Blake (right). Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
At a council estate in Camberwell, south London, resident Shereen Chung-Blake took public greening into her own hands, turning a neglected patch of public lawn into a thriving community garden and allotment. “It was just grass before, and there was a lot of antisocial behaviour,” she tells me. “The trees were used to train bully dogs, and there was fly-tipping.”
At first, Chung-Blake – who is project coordinator for the Future Gardeners course, a free horticultural training program for people facing barriers to employment – asked the council for funding for five food-growing beds, under Southwark’s Allotment Expansion Guarantee. “I knocked on doors and managed to get enough people involved to move forward.”
That was in 2023; the garden is now full of birdsong and fluttering butterflies, with a pond, a shed that captures rainwater, and a big expansion of the original allotments. As the garden’s ongoing manager, Chung-Blake volunteers her weekends and evenings there. “With a green space, you need someone to lead it and keep that forward momentum,” she says.
“But the garden’s had a real impact on bringing the community together. It honors the cultural richness of the many people living here, for whom growing food is part of their culture. When I talk to people over the wall, I constantly hear, ‘Oh, I used to grow that in my country,’ or ‘This reminds me of home.’ This place is becoming like a food forest, it’s really special.”
Climate crisis mitigation
Owen Hayman, the Green Estate, Sheffield
‘At its heart, Grey to Green is about managing flood water’: Owen Hayman (left).Photograph: Alastair Johnstone/Climate Visuals
Sheffield City Council’s Grey to Green scheme is a standout example of urban greening. It was created in response to the severe flooding in 2007, and features a mile of sustainable drainage system (SuDS) planting beds that capture rainwater runoff. This helps reduce the impact of increasingly unpredictable weather while also creating a green corridor in the city center. The scheme uses complex ecological plantings and is looked after by the Green Estate, a social enterprise dedicated to urban and environmental renewal.
Owen Hayman, the Green Estate’s horticulture innovation manager, explains: “At its core, Grey to Green is about managing floodwater, but it also brings benefits like boosting biodiversity, supporting economic regeneration, and providing a green route for walking and cycling. Gardeners understand the many roles the planting plays and help support them—but this requires time, careful observation, and knowledge.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the article title and theme written in a natural tone
General Questions
1 What does If a space is cared for everything improves actually mean
It means that when people actively look after a shared arealike a park a vacant lot or a community gardenthe benefits go far beyond just making it look pretty It reduces crime boosts mental health brings neighbors together and even improves local wildlife
2 Who are the four gardeners mentioned in the article
The article highlights four specific individuals who have taken it upon themselves to transform neglected urban spaces into thriving green areas They serve as reallife examples of how one persons effort can spark communitywide change
3 Why are these stories important for people who dont garden
Even if you never touch a shovel these stories show that small collective actions can solve big city problems like isolation heat waves and food deserts Its about community resilience not just horticulture
Benefits Impact
4 How does caring for a garden reduce crime in a neighborhood
It creates eyes on the street When people are outside tending to plants they are naturally watching the area This informal surveillance discourages vandalism and other petty crime making the space feel safer for everyone
5 What are the mental health benefits of these urban gardens
Gardening reduces cortisol Having a green space to escape to provides a sense of calm reduces anxiety and gives people a purposeespecially for retirees or those who feel isolated in the city
6 Does this help with the heat island effect in cities
Yes Concrete and asphalt absorb heat Replacing those surfaces with plants and trees cools the air through shade and evaporation A wellcaredfor garden can make a city block several degrees cooler in the summer
7 How do these gardens improve the local food supply
Many urban gardens grow fresh vegetables and herbs that are distributed to local residents This provides healthy affordable food in areas where supermarkets are scarce
Common Problems Solutions
8 What if I dont have a green thumb Can I still help
Absolutely You dont need to know how to plant These projects always need help with painting fences building compost
