Community Food Growing – Toolkit 3

Operation Farm was set up in 2009 and since that time has been involved in a range of food related community activities at different locations around Tameside in Greater Manchester. We have planted and looked after orchards, run a community allotment plot delivering growing sessions there and at other sites, put on lots of events and coordinated community fruit harvesting, cooking, preserving and juicing sessions with local people. 

Over the past few years our food growing activities have focussed on sustainable approaches, sharing climate and biodiversity friendly techniques in sessions. We also produced two zines to share ideas and information with local groups & small scale growers.  

This guide follows the launch of the Good Food Plan by the Tameside Food Partnership comprising members of public, voluntary and private sectors. The plan works towards making quality, healthy, affordable food accessible to everyone in the borough; improve peoples’ diets and ensure food is produced and sourced locally and responsibly. The plan includes a commitment to support community food growing in Tameside to support access to healthy food and develop food related skills.

Who is this for 

This guide is for individuals or community groups in Tameside (and beyond!) who are interested in setting up a community food growing space. As most of the food growing projects are small scale i.e. gardens or allotments, this guide is most relevant to these. Specific types of food growing projects including school gardens, community supported agriculture and community orchards are covered briefly at the end of the guide with links to further information. 

How to use this guide

The guide covers the key stages in getting a community growing site up and running, incorporating recommendations to support community involvement. Not all steps will be relevant to all groups but you can check you have each stage covered. There are already many helpful resources on community growing so we’ve summarised key points adding links to further information. This guide includes tips based on our own experience as well as that from our work with other groups and references other community food guidance listed at the back.

Published May 2025. This toolkit is one of a series of three authored by Operation Farm, others cover Community Growing and Community Apple Pressing activities.