Community Gardener

Job Purpose

At the end of 2024 our main base, the Story Garden, will relocate to a permanent new
home and we are developing a legacy plan to ensure that the work we have developed in Somers
Town will continue to grow. A key part of this is local greening and your role will be part of
further developing and installing green spaces in the local area, working with residents and
volunteers to green and grow together and support and coordinate the Story Garden to decant
into the local area. 

Around 2028 we will be invited to re-develop part of the Story Garden site back into a
community garden. This role will support smaller greening projects to continue over this time
and to help develop a collective vision for the final Somers Town growing space. This role will
be part of the Somers Town team and will work together with our Head of Gardens and Community
Engagement Manager to build a strong vision for greening in the area and build a resilient
network of engaged local people who will continue to develop, maintain and connect around these
local green spaces.

As our community gardener, you’ll have excellent gardening skills that will include
food growing, amenity horticulture and wildlife gardening. With support, you’ll design and
install local green spaces and will run practical gardening sessions in and around Somers Town
and the Story Garden. You’ll create opportunities for local people to get involved in practical
gardening sessions on local estates and in the public realm throughout the area. You will
recruit and coordinate volunteers for gardening projects across Somers Town, at the Story
Garden and linking with the build of our new permanent home. 

We are looking for a proactive and creative person who enjoys the challenges and change
inherent in the community garden sector. You’ll need to be flexible and responsive, a good
listener and will work as part of a team of people to help deliver local greening. Building a strong volunteer base in the area is key to the success of this project, and
your role will create additional capacity for us to recruit and manage volunteers that will
help us deliver coherent and resilient local greening.

The work will be varied, and tasks in any given week could include helping set up
/develop /coordinate new growing spaces on estates, supporting with designing and visioning
workshops, maintaining existing gardens, supporting local growers, recruiting and working with
volunteers and making sure sessions are fun and accessible to all. 

Main duties and responsibilities

Community gardening

• Support local residents with greening their own spaces across common areas in
  estates eg courtyards and green spaces, and develop site appropriate materials to support
  eg seed packs, house plants, containers etc
• Work with others in the team, volunteers and freelancers, to build and install new
  green spaces
• Develop planting plans and schemes for ornamental and wildlife planting
• Work with other members of the garden team, residents and volunteers to maintain
  local greening projects
• Help organise training and skill sharing opportunities for residents and
  volunteers 
• Maintain wider awareness of local greening developments taking place to ensure that
  local people can continue to be involved and benefit from green space once the Story Garden
  has moved on.
• Coordinate and manage freelancers as needed for the installation and/or maintenance
  of new spaces 

Volunteer coordination

• Recruit, coordinate and manage volunteers for different projects, helping to build
  capacity for local greening, including CSR volunteers, local residents, and volunteers for
  formal roles in development (eg a cohort of garden apprentices for growing season 2024) and
  for existing projects eg Twilight Gardening
• Support our current cohort Green Mentors and help recruit more as the project
  develops

Project administration

• Take responsibility for elements of project coordination and planning, monitoring,
  budgeting
• Capturing data from sessions in the form of attendees and photography 
• Report writing to share progress, milestones and future plans
• Other tasks as needed as the role develops and our needs and focus change over
  time.

Skills, Experience and Values

Essential 

• Experience with creating small community green spaces, eg food growing, ornamental
  and wildlife 
• Excellent practical organic horticultural skills eg seasonal tasks, pest control,
  general maintenance
• Good knowledge of plants and their needs, and appropriate planting conditions to
  produce simple planting designs and plans
• At least two years experience of working with people in a community garden
  setting
• Experience working with different types of volunteers, and an understanding of the
  volunteer experience in different contexts
• Strong interpersonal skills with a good understanding of communicating and engaging
  with people across ages and backgrounds in a variety of contexts
• Project planning and coordination, delivering work to deadlines as needed
• Confidence supervising freelancers and sub contractors
• Good IT skill including confidence using G-suite and Canva or equivalent (for
  promotional materials)
• Managing budgets and tracking expenditure
• Good written communication, contributing to reports and promotional
  material
• Experience of monitoring and evaluation of the work being delivered
• Strong health and safety practices incl: writing RAMS, explaining correct tool use,
  leading inductions 
• Organised and responsive – able to balance, prioritise and manage a diverse
  workload and scenarios
• Awareness of, and commitment to diversity, inclusion, intersectionality and
  barriers to participation 

Desirable 

• Flexible and adaptable to the changing conditions inherent to community
  gardening
• Experience of bringing people’s ideas to life – helping develop their vision and
  managing expectations 
• Practical skills eg carpentry, DIY and garden design
• A second language – particularly Bengali or Somali is desired but not
  essential

Values

• Commitment to diversity, sustainability and an awareness of the impact of climate
  change on urban gardening
• A love of working outdoors, for the natural environment and urban
  gardening
• A desire to share a respect and appreciation of nature with others and inspire them
  to see the natural world as an integral part of everyday life 

Please send your CV, cover letter and equal opportunities monitoring form (found on website) to [email protected]