Annual Report 2025A Year of - Planting More Than Seeds

At the beginning of 2025, AAGarden was still an idea being tested in public space.

A small group gathered in Maryon Park.Some spoke little English.Some had recently arrived in the UK.Some simply wanted a quieter place to breathe.

We planted, watered, and talked — sometimes in different languages, sometimes mostly in silence.

What we noticed was simple but important: people returned.

They returned not only for gardening, but for connection.For familiarity.For the feeling that someone was keeping the space open for them.

As the months unfolded, workshops expanded to Elephant & Castle, Brent Cross, and other community settings. With each session, we began asking a new question:

How can something as gentle as this be sustained?How can warmth be documented without being reduced?How can relationship-based work speak the language of public health and funding systems?

This annual report tells the story of that shift.

2025 was not a year of rapid growth.It was a year of building structure beneath the soil — quietly developing a participation and feedback model that allows community work to be visible, accountable, and replicable.

If Year One was about planting,it was also about learning how to measure what grows.

We invite you to read this report as a record of that first season — and as the beginning of something designed to last.