Volunteer and visit us
Come to our Open Garden, or volunteer with us, 10am – 4pm, on Tuesdays and on the third Saturday in the month. Walk in our woodland and enjoy tea and biscuits in the garden. Families welcome. Just drop in.
Open Days and Volunteer Gardening sessions:
Tuesday 5 May – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm
Tuesday 12 May – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm
Saturday 16 May – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm
Tuesday 19 May – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm
Tuesday 26 May – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm
Tuesday 2 June – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm
The garden house is available to book for parties and meetings
New memberships are available for the year ending 31st August 2026
A two-acre oasis of greenery in Islington, north London.
Over time, a herbaceous garden, an orchard, a small wildflower meadow, a wildlife pond, extensive vegetable terraces and an acre of woodland have all emerged from a railway embankment.
Under an agreement with Islington Council which owns the land, the volunteer-run Charity – Olden Community Garden – maintains the garden, with the object to promote a community garden for the benefit of people living or working in the London Borough of Islington. Olden Community Garden gives local people opportunities for education and recreation, with the aim of increasing involvement in the community and reducing isolation.
A self-sustaining garden
We use harvested water, we compost all the green waste and create wildlife habitats from woody debris. We promote biodiversity throughout the garden and woodland.

Latest Posts
Over 70 visitors came to our NGS Open Day

Encouraged by beautiful sunny weather, over 70 visitors came to our National Garden Scheme (NGS) Open Day in April. Our visitors learned about our vegetable growing, walked in the woodland and enjoyed tea and cake outdoors. We raised funds for NGS good causes and to help pay for repairs to our terracing. We also welcome donations through Local Giving to help with our ongoing terracing repairs.
We enjoyed a Kokedama workshop

Kokedama is a traditional Japanese technique. Participants learned how to wrap the plant’s roots in a ball of soil and moss to create a beautiful, living sculpture.
Making pesto from three-cornered leek

At our foraging session, volunteers dug up great quantities of three-cornered leek, an invasive species requiring much work to remove it every year. All parts of the plant, the bulb, flowers and leaves, are edible fresh or cooked. After making quantities of pesto with it, our volunteers enjoyed a three-cornered leek lunch and then took home jars of pesto.
Our grant from Metropolitan Parks and Gardens Association
We are very pleased to have been awarded a grant from MPGA (Metropolitan Parks and Gardens Association) for our new project in the ‘Forest Garden’ area of our refurbished terracing. Come and and volunteer with us in March and April to help prepare the ground and start the project.
With thanks for our grants from

Awarded National Lottery Funding

Developed in 1986 by Patricia
Tawn and supported by Islington Council







