Volunteer and visit us

Come to our Open Garden, or volunteer with us, 10am – 4pm, every Tuesday, and on the third Saturday every month.  Walk in our woodland and enjoy tea and biscuits in the garden. Families welcome. Just drop in.

Tuesday 26 November – Open Garden and Volunteer Gardening – 10am – 4pm

NOTE: Our Open Garden and volunteer gardening will be taking a break during December and January.

The garden house is available to book for parties and meetings

New memberships are available for the year ending 31st August 2025

 

A two-acre oasis of greenery in Islington, north London.

Over time, a herbaceous garden, an orchard, a pond, a series of vegetable terraces, a small meadow 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 area, with the object to promote a community garden for the benefit of people living or working in the London Borough of Islington. Olden 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.  There is a fruitful orchard and a flourishing vegetable garden.

Latest Posts

Come to our community festival of music in the Garden on Sunday 29th May

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Bring your family and friends to our live musical celebration on Sunday 29 May, 2-6 pm in Olden Garden. Music includes an Irish/American string band, a swing ensemble, an English country dance band, the Central London Singers and Children-Make-Music.

We are celebrating the Chelsea Fringe Festival – the community festival of gardening.

Food and drink available

Entrance £5 (children 3-16 £1) Card/cash payment at the gate

Volunteer with us on Saturday 16th, help with spring gardening and prepare our new habitat for insects and birds

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Caroline, our gardener, will welcome your help with April tasks, dead heading, watering the pots, weeding and mulching. And we need your help to prepare the way for our new habitat for insects and birds, our new bug hotel, wildlife log pile and hedgerow.

To make space for this new habitat we first need your help to dismantle the compost bays, and clear and bag rubbish. We need lots of help. Join us for an hour or two, or longer. Coffee and biscuits will be available.

Potato planting day at Olden Garden

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Special thanks to the children who braved wind & rain to help Lynne dig channels, earth up the mounds & protect the beds from potato loving squirrels and baby foxes. In spite of terrible weather, we planted four beds – the ones that generally get dug up by foxes and so are not really any use for other crops.

With thanks for our grants from

Islington Council’s Community Chest

Awarded National Lottery Funding

Developed in 1986 by Patricia
Tawn and supported by Islington Council