This page gives an overview of a Corporate Volunteer Gardening Day. We have also included an example of how one of these days might look like for you.
We are now taking bookings.
Please email Matt@LeavesBreathe.co.uk to enquire about a
Corporate Volunteer Gardening Day for your organisation.
Please call 07539 535 895 if your query is urgent.
Volunteer Day Key info:
- We organise the day incl. registration, the gardening itself, and the CSR wrap up and send photos to follow up.
- We’re making a visible, significant impact during your time with us. Expect “hand-on” work!
- You’ll be led by expert, trained horticulturalists – you’ll leave with some gardening top tips.
- Our Gardening Team Leaders are also first aid trained.
- We can include the opportunity to meet (and lunch or even party!) with the communities you’re helping – we’re often told this is the most rewarding part of the day.
- In short, we look after the whole process for you as the boutique option for Corporate Volunteer Gardening.
The best way to get a feel of what we offer is to watch our testimonial video from MUJI’s day with us for Earth Day 2023.
What to expect from a Corporate Volunteer Gardening Day:
We take teams of up to 50 persons to community green spaces around London for a day of volunteering & gardening.
Before the day
• We will take care of the entire booking process with our registration forms and information about the day.
On the day
• Days last from 9.30 am to 4 pm (max), incl. 1-hour lunch break.
• Practical activities we might be doing together including pruning, digging, planting flowers, shrubs and trees, creating bug hotels and wildlife habitats, improving soils, turning compost, litter picking and sowing seeds. Expect “hands on”!
• All gardening tools and training will be provided.
• Our Gardening Leaders Team are all First Aid qualified.
• Awards ceremony at the end of your session gives us a chance to say thank you.
• Photos - both individual and team shots will be available from the day.
After the day
• We take care of your sustainability reporting with our concise written reports about our time together.
Example location :
Lucy Brown House Sheltered Housing.
Address: 27 Park St, London SE1 9EG.
10 minutes’ walk from Blackfriars or London Bridge stations. Right behind Borough market.
Capacity
We have enough room for 24 individuals to volunteer for a full day at Lucy Brown House. We always include a party with the residents after the day of gardening.
Lucy Brown House is home to 36 elderly and some vulnerable residents.
Due to recent cuts to council funding the community garden – which has so much promise – has been overlooked for years. So much so, the residents barely use this haven themselves.
We’re seeking to turn this garden into the beautiful secret sanctuary the residents deserve and improve its value to the local green environment by planting more pollinators, trees, and shrubs.
Given many of the residents can’t walk far, this is the only access to green space many of them have.
“Thank you so much for an incredible volunteering day, we all had a great time, and could see that the impact was sincerely appreciated by the residents of the sheltered housing. I particularly enjoyed the party at the end where we had a chance to chat with the residents (and have them wipe the floor with us at the pool table!).”
– Toby Palmer, Accenture Analyst Management Consultant
Example Suggested Timings (though we can be flexible)
9.45am arrival.
9.45 am-12.30 Gardening (with tea break). Hands-on led by our horticulturalists.
12.30-1.30pm Lunch break – Borough market is 4 minutes walk away. We don’t provide lunch, but you can eat it and play a game of pool at our site. Most employee volunteer teams go to Franco Manco together, 5 mins away.
1.30pm – 3.45pm Gardening afternoon session (with tea break)
3.45pm – 4pm: Tidy up and Golden Gloves awards – then finish
4-6 pm Optional but encouraged party with residents (tea and cake and whatever else you wish to eat and drink!)
Activities would include:
- Digging out weeds to create space for one plant border. – We’ve just taken on this site and have multiple groups coming in the next year to turn this wilderness into a loved community space. We’re going to define one border during this session together.
- Composts – Move the compost against the wall and start creating compost. We’ll teach how best to do this.
- Saving plants – we’ll talk about saving plants, how to remove competing growth, how to transplant them without them drying out, and then practice saving yuccas and other plants.
- Pruning back roses – to let more light in, this will include a lesson on pruning roses. Why we do it, when we do it, and how we do it.
- Creating a sensory bench – we want to create as much as dig out and sculpt. We’ll plant up the bench with herbs like lemon balm, sage, and Moroccan mint (and some salvia’s too) which will be hardy and smell lovely for those sitting on the bench. This will be the cornerstone of our project – it will mark the intention of work to come. It builds momentum for the community to celebrate.
Why are we doing it?
Environmental Benefit – increase the overall biodiversity of the site over the next 12 months, by planting for pollinators, putting in a fernery with dead wood, encouraging local residents to grow food on site.
Social Benefit – this garden will serve as both sanctuary and social spot for the residents of Lucy Brown. Having a garden, to contribute to, walk around, and simply enjoy will support the residents’ physical and mental health over the years to come.
What you’ll learn:
- Uses of different gardening tools. How to use what, when and why.
- How to save plants – from invasive species, dominant weeds, pests.
- How to divide up and transplant your plant stock – without killing your plants(!) We’ll give tips about reducing water loss.
- How to prune various plants, we’ll talk about using the plant’s growth hormones to our advantage.
- How to start composting. Why we do it, how long it takes.
- How to tackle an overgrown garden, one step at a time. If your garden has gotten out of control, come and see how we kick-off the works here.
Corporate Volunteer Gardening Day Package Prices
The number of Green Heroes who will be joining us, and the amount of time you spend with us, determines the cost:
Prices for our Green Heroes Activity Days
| Green Heroes | Half Day | Full Day |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 12 persons | £790 | £990 |
| 13 to 24 persons | £1,790 | £1,990 |
| 25 to 36 persons | £2,790 | £2,990 |
| 37 to 50 persons | £3,790 | £3,990 |
If you would like us to tailor our costs to your organisation’s needs, please let us know.
Contact Us
To make an inquiry about booking a Corporate Volunteer Gardening day, please email Matt@LeavesBreathe.co.uk
Or leave your details in the contact form.
