City gardens marks award with short film

Martineau Gardens wins Bees’ Needs Award.

Community Garden Martineau Gardens, Edgbaston, is to receive a Bees’ Needs Champions Award at an online awards ceremony on 18th November. Along with 32 other green spaces across the country, the charity is receiving the national award, run by Defra, in recognition for its efforts in demonstrating pollinator friendly habitats and food sources to the public.

Martineau Gardens has made a short film about how they have created and maintained the pollinator friendly garden in a densely urban location just two miles from Birmingham city centre. The film includes information about how early flowering plants like snowdrops are an important food source for pollinators, organic gardening advice and shows how, through its educational work with schools, its beekeeping courses and events like the honey show, it promotes the importance of ‘Bees’ Needs’ to the wider public.

Gill Milburn, Martineau Gardens’ CEO said: “As a food-growing community garden, one of the things we aim to share with volunteers and visitors is the importance of pollinators in the foodchain. Insect pollinators are important for the environment and biodiversity – and vital to crop production.”

Whilst public access to Martineau Gardens is limited due to Covid-19, the three minute film can be enjoyed at home.