9ft in Common - Alleyways: Growing Potential

Our Alley Growing Potential Open Call received 9 fantastic expressions of interest. 

Since this is a piece of action research within our Belfast 2024 project we selected 3 which, combined, give a diverse spread of location, sunlight, ground conditions and gating, in order to test a range of growing conditions and situations and have the results be applicable to the widest range of people in the city and beyond. 

It’s important to the whole Manifesto for the Alley’s project team to be transparent about our selection criteria and process. We considered the following points for the tough job selecting:

• A mix of gated and ungated alleys
• Geographical spread in the city 
• Surface area (tarmac vs a more permeable surface/soil) 
• Aspect and orientations (East/West, North/South) 
• Mix of established activity and areas where groups are just getting started

Let’s introduce the Growing Potenial Alleys

What happens next?

In the selected alleys things will kick off with an initial gathering in early March for everyone involved to meet each other, meet Jo from Laurelbank Farm, visit each other’s spaces and start the planning process for the year. 

….and everyone else, fear not! A Manifesto for the Alleys is not just about doing, it’s also about sharing and there are still many ways to be involved. 

There will be many opportunities for learning from the Alley Growing Potential groups over the year and Jo will be releasing practical how-to video guides each month for all aspiring-alley-gardeners.

For more community growing advice and support, you can also join the Reclaim the Commons Network to be (reach out to [email protected] for more info). 

We will have a range of creative projects, commissions and gatherings to mark the seasons in alleys. Is there anything in particular you would like to see happen in your alley?

If you have an alley with potential (and they all have great potential) then we’d love to hear from you.