Blue Peter Gardener Chris Collins at Daventry College

Students at Northampton College’s Daventry campus have sown their first foxglove seeds in a new gardening project that the college says will lead to bee stations, bug hotels, and bird and bat boxes built by students for the local community.

The project started with a visit from former Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins, now Head of Organic Horticulture at the charity Garden Organic. He spent the session with the campus’s Inclusion and Progression students. The college is working on the project with Viridian Nutrition, the supplement company based in Daventry, and Garden Organic is supporting it.

What happened on the day

According to the college, Chris began with a talk on his career, which has taken in the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Blue Peter Garden. He told the students about living alongside chimpanzees in Africa, making tiny gardens in Japan and looking after the grounds of Westminster Abbey.

He then showed them how to prepare a seed bed. Each student planted foxglove seeds of their own, and the session finished with a design challenge: draw your dream garden.

Chris said:

“Gardening is constantly teaching us lessons about working with nature. To properly notice and be in contact with the seasons is an absolute privilege and I love nothing better than walking down a street at this time of year and spotting the leaves on the trees changing colour.

“Connecting with the natural world gives me so much pleasure and coming to Northampton College is a great opportunity to demonstrate how gardening can support wellbeing, encourage creativity and open up opportunities in horticulture and the growing green economy.”

What comes next

The college describes the visit as the first step. The wider project will look at how students can design and build garden features that help wildlife: bee stations, bug hotels, and bird and bat boxes. The college says the aim is to raise biodiversity and environmental awareness in the area, and to show students the jobs that gardening can lead to.

Jason Lancaster, principal of Northampton College, said:

“Welcoming Chris to our Daventry campus is a chance for students to learn new skills and explore their creativity while developing a greater understanding of the natural environment. Working alongside inspiring professionals and local employers such as Viridian Nutrition helps bring learning to life, and students can really build their confidence by contributing to projects that benefit the wider community.”

For Viridian Nutrition, the project is the start of its partnership with the Daventry campus. Clare London, the company’s HR director, said:

“We’re delighted to be involved in the community project, which marks the beginning of our partnership with Northampton College’s Daventry campus and the Garden Organic charity as we support the development of students’ gardening skills and look at ways to attract wildlife and insects into green spaces. As an ethical company, which focusses on using sustainability ingredients in our supplements, it’s important to inspire young people and show the practical benefits of being outdoors, nature and growing organically from the ground up.”

What it means for you

The college has not yet said where the bee stations, bug hotels and boxes will go, or when they will be built. We will report that when it does. The college says it has around 8,000 students. Its courses, including those at the Daventry campus, are listed on the Northampton College website.