TJ and Woodhorn provide free soil for community garden

TJ partnered with the Woodhorn Group to provide and deliver topsoil to a community garden project in Portsmouth free of charge recently.

The Woodhorn Group donated four tonnes of topsoil which TJ Transport picked up and delivered to Wilder Eastney Community Garden in Portsmouth, using one of their grab lorries at no cost.

Wilder Eastney is part of the Wilder Portsmouth initiative, which encourages locals to get involved in helping to create and maintain areas where wildlife can thrive and the local community can enjoy the green spaces. 

Wilder Portsmouth is a partnership project between the Southern Co-op and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. The focus of this jointly-funded initiative is to encourage people to take action to create and enhance more wildlife-friendly areas and small outdoor spaces across the city of Portsmouth that are supported by the community.

The Wilder Eastney Community Garden is a one-acre plot of land near Canoe Lake, which is owned by the council. Wilder Eastney have a group on Facebook where green fingered volunteers come together to plan activities focussed on improving and maintaining the garden and encouraging involvement and usage.

The group coordinator Jackie Collins said:

“The pandemic has shown us that green spaces are vital to our wellbeing so let’s make the most of them! We want to make this space a focal point for the community in Eastney. By boosting the variety of flowers and nature here we believe we can increase the diversity of community usage too.”

The group held a planting session on 26 September, which was what the donated topsoil was used for. The soil enabled the group to create a number of raised beds in the garden where a range of plants were sowed. The session also saw the creation of bird and bat boxes in a bid to encourage wildlife to the park.

This project, which is vital to enabling wildlife to thrive in city locations, will also see volunteers planting herbs, fruiting bushes, trees and creating a sensory garden. 

Jackie contacted TJ to ask for help after someone who had used TJ’s services in the past recommended she get in touch. TJ was happy to help and in turn contacted the Woodhorn Group, who were also keen to be involved. TJ collected the topsoil from Woodhorn’s Chichester base and delivered it to the community garden prior to the event, on a date of their choosing.

TJ Sales Coordinator Abbie Spratt and Transport Coordinator Dion Hinton coordinated the donation, which was carefully planned to ensure the collection and delivery went smoothly and suited the group’s schedule.

Claire, another Wilder Eastney member, said:

“We would like to say a huge thank you to Woodhorn for their generous donation of soil and to TJ for all their help in arranging its delivery to our site. We held our first event with the Wilder Eastney Community Garden group on Sunday 26 September and the soil was used to fill a couple of large raised bed planters built on the day. The event was a great success and we couldn’t have completed the planters without your fantastic donation – so thank you again!”

TJ Transport offers a range of haulage and aggregate supply and delivery services as well as muckaway. 

Find out more about the services we offer and other CSR projects we have contributed to.