Tayshan Hayden-Smith

After turning to guerrilla gardening as a therapeutic outlet following the Grenfell Tower fire, Tayshan Hayden-Smith founded Grow to Know, a non-profit organisation that works to inspire and empower young people through horticulture. Grow to Know is all about making gardening more inclusive and green spaces accessible, showcasing the positive mental health benefits of being around nature, and using nature as a form of community action. Grow to Know also highlighted the lack of green spaces available to the most deprived residents in one of the most unequal boroughs in the UK by showing The Green Gap, a 4.2 sq m concrete cube with a crack filled with wildflowers and the smallest ever show garden, at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show. In the autumn of 2024, the organisation opened Maxilla Gardens under the Westway to help clean up the air in the area (96,000 vehicles drive across the Westway each day) and provide a sanctuary for residents in an area that was deeply affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

growtoknow.world

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