Penglais Community Garden circles back to the Students Union

Over ten years since Penglais Community Garden was started, it has returned to the Students Union so that new generations of young people can learn to grow food.

It was in 2012 that the Students Union obtained a grant from CAVO to support a student initiative to grow food on the grassy slope just above their building. The idea was to supply produce to a student organic food cooperative, the direct ancestor of today’s Bwyd Dyfi Hub.

The garden began well, but when the first group of students moved on there was a gap, and staff from IBERS and Geography stepped in to develop the garden as a project for the wider community. Grants were secured to install raised beds and a shed, and the University’s Human Resources department paid for a polytunnel.

Since then, more grants from the Town Council, the Dyfi Biosphere’s Tyfu Dyfi project and individuals have enabled us to upgrade the site with seating, compost bins, a pergola and rainwater collection as well as keeping us in seeds and tools. It’s now a popular spot to sit with a packed lunch or glass of beer in summer, and enjoy the flowers and birds.

Students have always been part of the garden, and it was an enthusiastic cohort doing a Master’s degree in food security that got the project through its first year. After that, postgraduates, staff and people from the town held it together for many years, running sessions on Saturdays and Wednesday afternoons and introducing many people to gardening.

As well as volunteering sessions we have run mental health sessions for staff and students, hosted art projects and run a Welsh-language gardening course. We have also supplied produce for community meals at St Paul’s Church and grown herbs for sale to the Bwyd Dyfi Hub and the Arts Centre kitchen (who also send us their waste coffee grounds).

We always wanted the garden to be for students, though, and so we are very pleased that we have built up a relationship with the student society Aberystwyth Conservation Volunteers (ACV). It was during Covid that one of their members took over a few beds to grow vegetables and then encouraged the rest of the group to get involved.

And what a lot they have done! Besides growing food very successfully on a number of raised beds, they have started wildlife gardening areas, installed planters with herbs and flowers, overhauled the composting system and even built a set of steps at the bottom.

In 2024 the garden won an award for its use of green space, and the students were a big part of that. They are also growing food at the Living History Garden behind Fferm Penglais and using the Botany glasshouses, run by the university’s Phyte Club, to raise seedlings.

Now they will be taking back most of the garden on behalf of the Students' Union and have plans to ensure its longevity so that future students will continue to benefit.

“We want to build on the work of the previous generations of volunteers who have dedicated their time to improving our community,” says Cameron Anderson of ACV.

“We will be expanding the presence and awareness of Penglais Community Garden through social media, selling produce to the public, enhancing the local biodiversity, and providing an educational and wellbeing-focused retreat for the wider community.”

People outside the university are still very welcome to be involved. Anyone who would like to volunteer or support the project in any way is welcome to contact garden-project@aber.ac.uk.