A pop-up garden made almost entirely of reused materials has been created in the Maindee area of Newport.
Volunteer-run charity, Maindee Unlimited, has teamed up with Newport Makerspace to design and create a pop-up reuse garden to be located in the car park on Chepstow Road. This small-scale park innovation scheme has drawn inspiration from communities around the world transforming unloved areas into new green spaces known as ‘pocket parks’.
As part of a project to explore the potential of reusing materials, the garden is made up almost entirely of reused materials such as old pallets, tumble dryers, and leftover paint all locally sourced from around Newport.
Project lead, Ruth Essex who has been working with Maindee Unlimited said: “Maindee is an area of Newport seriously lacking in green space and we are looking at every opportunity to create more greenery and gardens. Maindee pop-up reuse garden is intended as a demonstration project to show how we can be more creative in our cities and by using simple cost effective methods turn small corners and leftover space into valuable gardens for the community. As well as making better use of urban space, we have tried to be efficient with materials and have built it as much as possible out of reused materials and waste.”
Residents can enjoy the pop-up garden space whilst learning about reusable methods to replicate in their own gardens. As a test pop-up, the garden will stay in the car park for a month initially, with the hope to extend further.
Adrian Dixon from Newport Makerspace said: “Newport Makerspace exists both to serve the local community and to encourage reuse, so we were delighted to be asked to upcycle scrap materials into a pop-up garden for Maindee. We have been very busy in the Newport Makerspace workshops, above Wastesavers’ Reuse Centre shop on Chepstow Road. The seats and planters are made almost exclusively from excellent scrap donated by local people and businesses. We are eager to see the garden in use and in bloom.”
The team of volunteers at Greening Maindee assisted with planting, which includes drought-resistant plants to endure dry and hot weather. This comes as part of a wider plan to improve Maindee’s resistance to extreme weather events, with emerging new design work being undertaken for Maindee District Centre looking at the inclusion of sustainable urban drainage and rain gardens.
The planters have been created out of old pallets and leftover wood from the Triangle project on Chepstow Road. Having been specially designed, they are self-watering with built-in water tanks, and can be relocated and reused; whether by local businesses, homeowners, or organisations.
