Community greenhouse and garden

THE NEW DARTMOUTH COMMUNITY GREENHOUSE  – A NEW LANDMARK FOR DARTMOUTH

Dartmouth Green Partnerships has raised funds for the Dartmouth Community Greenhouse, designed by Hartley Botanic Ltd, which has taken its place as attractive feature of Dartmouth Community Garden on the river front, and a community asset.

           

The new design for the Dartmouth Community Greenhouse was agreed in 2021 by the trustees of Dartmouth Green Partnerships and greenhouse designer, Hartley Botanic Ltd. It was erected in September 2022. We had been fundraising for the project for several years and though we raised a considerable amount, it was not enough to build the bespoke pyramid design originally devised. We realised that completing the funding would be even more difficult due to the demands of the pandemic on likely sources, and so our trustees discussed alternative possibilities with Hartley Botanic using the funds that we have already raised. They offered us their Victorian Grand Manor design.

Major funding in two £20,000 tranches came from the Postcode Local Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, was obtained in 2017 and 2019, the rest of the £100,00 costs coming from generous donors.

 

The new greenhouse and community garden area is used to grow-on seasonal floral displays for the town which are prepared by volunteers under the guidance of DGP – such as the hanging baskets done by the Brownies and plants to fill the 60 troughs along the riverside. We aim for it to become a Centre for Horticultural Excellence, and to demonstrate the value of gardening for health and wellbeing. The existing demonstration potager and beds in the community garden show what can be grown in Dartmouth’s special microclimate and provides food crops and cut flowers.

You can donate to us by contacting us: details and more information see ‘Contact us’.

 

Dartmouth Community Garden Background

The site is that of the old council depot.  The land in front of it is used by DGP  including raised beds for our demonstration potager and cut flower beds, the olive bed, the poppy bed. Mayflower 400 Rose Bed and the herb boat. The borders feature Mediterranean plants which grow in Dartmouth’s special microclimate.

 

The old greenhouse had to be demolished in early 2013 as the site was needed for a car park. For the past 10 years it had been used by Dartmouth in Bloom. We used a temporary greenhouse of scaffolding and plastic sheeting to raise lots of plants in 2013, and to store plants over the winter.

We planted up the town’s hanging baskets with help from local  Brownies, and stored them in the greenhouse prior to placing them around the town.

The storms of 2013 and the cost of scaffolding meant that the temporary greenhouse  had to be taken down. Since 2014 we have managed to plant baskets and troughs by storing plants in a nearby nursery.

Now this site is part of a new car park. The new community greenhouse is on the adjacent site which was the old depot.

 

 

Historical note

 

The Dartmouth Greenhouse was built in 1905 on the riverfront as part of the original layout of Royal Avenue Gardens, shortly after the area known as the ‘Newground’ was reclaimed and turfed. It can be seen on the old postcard above, along the front to the right of the moored paddle steamer.

The development of the grounds continued with flower beds, tree planting and gas-illuminations. In 1911 the present cast iron bandstand was built, considered at the time to be the finest in the South West. When first built the greenhouse had ‘fancy glass’ to the front. The centre portion was used as a conservatory for exotic plants and was open to the public. At the north end was what was erected as a potting shed and tool house, also housing the stokehole for the coke boiler. This is in what is now part of the Council depot.

The Greenhouse was originally used to grow the plants for the Gardens and flowers for the Council offices etc. The seed order for 1915 was 14 shillings! This use of the greenhouse (plus the other more recent greenhouse, now demolished) continued until just a few years ago.