At Notcutts, nature is right at the heart of our business and embedded in their horticultural DNA. They know that everything we do has an impact on nature and that’s why we want to protect it for generations to come. 

In the garden you will find inventive ways to bring nature into your garden, retain rain water and get glimpses of how the garden began 3 years ago, to what you see today. 

Everything in this garden can be sourced from the Notcutts catalogue, making this garden accessible to all. Notcutts have also pledged to ensure that containers are planted up in stores as part of the visual merchandising to reflect the rise of urban gardeners and help see our small spaces reflected back at us.

Gardening needs to be accessible to all. Each balcony is designed for a renter with a modest budget of £500.

The gardens have been designed by students at Manchester Metropolitan University as part of the Rise program. The Rise program at Manchester Metropolitan offer students co-curricular activities that enhance their learning experience at university across a range of themes. None of the students are studying horticulture, we have students in marketing, interior design, law, media & even architecture. 

At the end of the project students will earn up to 300 Rise points which will be credited towards their final degree.

Developers are tasked with improving the biodiversity of the land that they acquire. However, if they have acquired a car park, a few shrubs is all that is needed to make an improvement. The Urban Cloud Farm is a direct statement to developers to put their residents at the forefront and create a community of urban growers.

The garden will be planted by students from Myerscough College, who won a Gold Award in the North West In Bloom Competition. North West In Bloom is a non competitive category of the RHS Britain In Bloom Campaign and is ideal for any group taking the first steps towards community improvements.  

The aim is to demonstrate that even in small spaces developers and councils can change the way they design and manage public spaces, increasing plant diversity, stopping the use of pesticides and herbicides and encouraging people to become active participants in the green spaces that surround them in the city. By seeking to question the existing narratives around our city green spaces, our ambition is to create public spaces that are designed and brought to life by the community - offering people the opportunity to learn, connect and take some ownership of the spaces that they inhabit, alongside being able to simply enjoy nature and take a moment to enjoy a beautiful garden. 

Plant Co-operative is a not for profit urban gardening collective formed in the spring of 2021. We specialise in bringing people together through gardening to help strengthen communities and encourage wilder public spaces. We approach the city as a garden and seek to involve the community in all elements of the process.

Through a 3 year project at NOMA, a 20 acre city centre development in Manchester City Centre, Plant have developed a blueprint that challenges the common misconception that ‘community gardening’ has to be rough and ready and at odds with developers aesthetics and instead showcases the benefits that can be shared by all by taking a different approach.