In AUGUST 2026 INCREDIBLE EDIBLE TODMORDEN SHOWCASED THEIR ‘YOU CAN GROW ANYWHERE’ GARDEN AT THE BRAND NEW SEEDS-OF-HOPE FESTIVAL.
This article was written by Chris Bax and was first shared on the Incredible Edible Todmorden website.
WE DID IT!
“You Can Grow Anywhere” happened, and it was brilliant, and I needed to write down the whole story before it faded into “Do you remember that garden we did?” in everyone’s heads.
Here’s how it went, start to finish, and the people who made it happen.
For anyone who missed it, “You Can Grow Anywhere” was our entry for Seeds of Hope—a brand new festival celebrating Calderdale’s green spaces and community spirit, held at Shibden Hall this summer to mark 100 years of Shibden Park. Ten community groups from across Calderdale, including us, were commissioned to create micro show gardens that formed a garden exhibit in the park, alongside a whole programme of activities, talks, tours and workshops.
THE IDEA
We were thinking about growing vegetables in the Calder Valley and how to inspire people to do it. We thought of the reasons people don’t do it, the barriers and the worries and wondered how we could help. We needed a starting point, and Rose came up with “You can grow anywhere,” and once she said it, it just made sense — that you don’t need much space, or much money, or much know-how, to grow your own food. You just need to start. That became the whole heart of the garden.
From there we put together a full proposal, worked out a budget, and wrote a justification for it — all the grant application stuff that isn’t very exciting to write about but has to happen before anything else can. And we won the funding, which was a relief and also, if I’m honest, a bit terrifying, because now we actually had to build the thing.
GETTING GOING
We had our first proper meeting as a group, and artist Aimee Grundell came on board. She suggested we put a UFO in the garden. I know!!! But we went with it, and it ended up being one of the best bits.
We worked out the planting scheme and did some initial designs, and I painted us a proper picture of what the garden would look like, which made it feel real for the first time.
Then the actual growing started, in a polytunnel at Bridgeholm Cricket Club — a massive thank you to Keith for lending us that space, because without it we’d have had nowhere to start hundreds of plants off.
At the same time we started collecting containers to grow things in. Everything and anything — yoghurt pots, old boots, tin baby baths, old pans, you name it. Poppy even planted up a doll’s house.
WHAT WAS ACTUALLY IN IT?
The garden ended up split into three areas, each showing a different way to grow when you haven’t got much space.
There were the vertical growing ideas — “Growing Up, Not Out” — the whole point of it was showing how much you can grow when you stop thinking about floor space and start thinking about wall space.
Then there was the container area — “One Person’s Rubbish, Everyone’s Harvest” — which was probably everyone’s favourite bit to look at. Old boots growing mint, colanders full of herbs, olive tins of lettuces, wine crates, and an old bath full of courgettes.
Nearly everything in it had a story attached, because nearly everything in it had been donated by someone local and beautifully painted by our volunteers.
And then the small-space growing area — “Every Inch Productive” — which was more about growing techniques like companion planting and succession planting and that “cut and come again” way of harvesting that keeps a tiny space producing food for months rather than weeks.
Put together, the three areas told one simple story: it genuinely doesn’t matter what you’ve got to work with; there’s a way to grow something in it.
THE LONG MIDDLE BIT
This is the part that doesn’t make for exciting photos but is basically where the whole project lives — months of planting, tending and watering.
Just watering, every day, week after week, we clocked up 140 hours of watering alone, which still makes me tired just thinking about it.
In total, across the whole project, volunteers put in over 470 hours. That’s not a typo. Four hundred and seventy hours of people’s actual lives, given up to make this happen. That’s nearly 12 weeks of full-time work.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, we got the glitterball UFO built, and kids painted containers with us at Todmorden Country Fair, which was a lovely day.
Catherine and Fran organised four painting sessions, three hours each, where we turned a load of old waste containers into proper, gorgeous planters.
Those evenings were honestly some of the best of the whole thing — good company, tea, a bit of chaos, everyone getting stuck in together.
SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT, WE GOT THE GLITTERBALL UFO BUILT.
BUILDING IT
While all the growing was happening, the structure of the garden itself was being built by Chris and Jackie, Robin and John.
Everything was stored and put together in Antony’s garden for months, which is a huge ask of anyone, and I’m properly grateful to him for the space and for putting up with the mess we made of it.
THE RUSH
As the show got closer, there was a proper scramble to get everything looking its best.
We were moving around 600 plants in total, two van loads, and of course the weather picked that exact week to turn into a heatwave, which made everything ten times harder.
On the 10th of August we got the garden elements over to Shibden Park, and then over the 10th, 11th and 12th, the build happened properly — Aimee, Kev, Carly, Rose, Robin, Helen, John and Ady all in there together, turning months of planning into an actual garden.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
From the 13th to the 16th of August 2026 the garden was open, and IET volunteers led by Ady kept it going and looked after it the whole time it was on show as well as chatting to hundreds of visitors.
And then, the icing on the cake — we won the People’s Choice Award for our garden.
After everything that went into it, having visitors themselves choose it as their favourite meant an enormous amount to everyone who’d had a hand in it.
We also used the show as a chance to launch our new website and signage plans for our IET beds in Tod, so the garden ended up doing double duty — a lovely thing to look at, and with a proper legacy to inspire and educate people.
Our new website in particular was a huge undertaking but well worth the effort, with every one of our growing areas now listed along with an interactive and expanding list of what’s growing in each space, when to harvest it, and how to grow it yourself.
We trialled new signage formats at Seeds of Hope too, with QR codes linking through to pages on our website, and we’ll be taking what we learned and applying this to all our growing areas across Tod in time.
AFTER THE SHOW
The garden didn’t just get packed away and forgotten once Shibden Park was over. (Thanks to Rose and Steve, who helped bring everything home). We’ve since replanted it around Todmorden in our IET beds, so all those plants are still growing on and doing their job, just in new homes around the town. And the UFO — well, it won’t sit in storage for long, so we’re on the hunt for a proper spot for it in town very soon. Watch this space.
THE BIT THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS
I could just leave it there as a list of things that happened, but that’s not really the story. The story is 470-odd hours of people’s time.
It’s Keith handing over a polytunnel without a second thought. It’s Aimee somehow talking us into a UFO and being completely right. It’s Catherine and Fran’s painting evenings. It’s Chris and Jackie, Robin and John building the whole structure. It’s Antony living with our mess in his garden for months. It’s Kev, Carly, Rose, Helen, John, Ady and many others turning up and getting stuck in for days in the heat.
There are too many people to name individually when it comes to planting, potting on, painting, building and everything. Every single person who dropped off a yoghurt pot or an old boot or turned up to water when it needed doing helped to make this happen.
That’s what Incredible Edible actually is, when you strip it all back. We come together to grow, not just vegetables, not just an award-winning garden, but friendships, community and ourselves.
So, you can grow anywhere. Space isn’t really the barrier. Money isn’t really the barrier. You just need an idea worth having and people willing to turn up. We always knew that. Our garden shouted it out loud!
Thank you to everyone who gave their time, their materials, their gardens, their free time and their patience to make this happen. This amazing creation genuinely wouldn’t have existed without you.
You are all wonderful.
So, you can grow anywhere. Space isn’t really the barrier. Money isn’t really the barrier. You just need an idea worth having and people willing to turn up.
