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Nature’s Haven

This garden promotes a proactive approach to preventative healthcare by showcasing plants that all have anti-inflammatory properties. Inspired by their personal experience of managing health conditions with an anti-inflammatory diet, the designers here have incorporated superfoods that can be easily grown in the garden or even on a windowsill, including avocado, Zanthoxylum simulans (Sichuan pepper) and fungi. A water feature, alongside sensory plants with a variety of textures and fragrances, creates a calming and restorative environment reflective of Nature’s Haven’s own community healing garden, where visitors engage in a range of therapeutic horticultural programmes. 

Beaufort Secret Garden Club

All plants are beautiful, gardens can be playful spaces, and growing your own does not have to mean sacrificing good design. This is the ethos behind Guerilla Garden, imagined and created by members of the Secret Garden Club at Beaufort Primary School, Surrey. Vegetables on the plot, including yellow courgettes and rainbow chard, are as attractive as the Cosmos and Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon) blooms that buzz with bees between the edibles. Everything in the plot is eco-conscious: tomatoes tumble from a reclaimed 1m-tall chimney, while seeds, first planted in disused milk cartons, are grown in compost created from leftover snack-time fruit. 

Steve Mann

Split into two halves, the allotment’s rear end at first appears like a traditional plot, but on closer inspection raises awareness of bowel cancer. Brimming with leafy veg such as spinach, known to support good gut health, the plot’s plant labels also display common symptoms of the disease. A beehive and pop-up dome, complete with cutting-edge agroponic growing system – where plants are grown in a specialised aggregate rather than soil – lies on the second half of the space as a reflection of what the future might hold for our pollinators as our climate continues to warm. Drought-tolerant planting offers a feast for bees and other wildlife. 

Arthritis Action

For many people living with arthritis, allotments become a sanctuary and place in which they can put the pain they experience to one side. Here, the allotment is divided into two halves: the first side of the plot depicts a small space teeming with traditional fruit and vegetables. Beds are raised to help reduce joint strain, and a grandmother clock, transformed into a bug hotel, adds a point of focus. The second half of the space is built for relaxation and filled with sensory, useful herbs and ideas on how to soothe aching muscles and joints. 

Chase Bridge Primary School 

The ClassBloom is a productive plot created by staff and children from Chase Bridge Primary School in southwest London. The space features pallet collar raised beds filled with a mix of flowers, fruit and veg. School life is playfully referenced with features including a planted desk and bunting made from old gingham summer dresses, while a dwarf apple tree is reminiscent of the classic gift for the teacher. A worm composter, made by the children from discarded recycling containers, also features, alongside the results of their plant related experiments.