Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Job description

We're Hiring a Gardener at Cultivate Colindale and the Wayward Plants Reuse Centre!

Background

Cultivate Colindale is a new 4,000 m2 green space in North London that brings together gardens, growing, creative reuse and public programmes. It is an open, social and hands-on place where people come together to build, learn and share.

At its heart is the Wayward Plants Reuse Centre, part of Wayward - an award-winning design practice working at the intersection of landscape, culture and community. Wayward Plants is a pioneering circular economy initiative that responds to two linked challenges: the growing volume of landscape waste in construction and horticulture, and unequal access to nature across London. We address both through the redistribution of plants, trees and materials to a network of nearly 2,000 community and school gardens.

For the past decade, Wayward has been the Official Reuse Partner of the RHS, delivering reuse schemes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and RHS Hampton Court Palace. We are now establishing our first permanent Reuse Centre at Cultivate Colindale and transitioning Wayward Plants into a dedicated charity.

About the role

This role supports the Head Gardener/Operations Manager with the day-to-day maintenance and care of Cultivate Colindale and the Wayward Plants Reuse Centre. It is a public-facing role. You will welcome visitors and volunteers into the space and help ensure it is safe, well cared for and inviting. You will also be responsible for opening and securing the site at agreed times, including some evenings and weekends, and you will help to deliver gardening volunteering sessions. The role is physically active and varied. Alongside gardening tasks, you will contribute to the wider running of the site as a shared community space.

We strongly encourage applications from people living in Grahame Park Estate and the surrounding Colindale area. Applications from local residents will be prioritised.

Paid hours and volunteering

This is a paid role with clearly defined working hours and responsibilities. Any volunteering outside of contracted hours is entirely optional, must be agreed in advance, and will be kept clearly separate from paid duties.

Key responsibilities

• Seasonal maintenance of meadow, gravel/rubble garden, kitchen garden and other planting including trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and annuals
• Propagation and plant production under glass
• Supporting volunteer gardening sessions
• Following systems for plant care, propagation and day-to-day site operations
• Opening and securing the site during agreed hours
• Ensuring visitor safety while carrying out duties
• Completing basic daily reports and incident logs
• Keeping indoor and outdoor spaces clean, tidy and organised
• Maintaining tools and equipment
• Supporting Reuse Centre operations, including moving plants and materials

About you

We are looking for someone who is:

• Based locally at the Grahame Park Estate or locally in Colindale (strongly preferred)
• Collaborative and comfortable working as part of a small team
• Knowledgeable about plants and has practical gardening experience
• Friendly, approachable and confident speaking with volunteers and the public
• Happy working outdoors in all seasons
• Reliable and well organised
• Emergency First Aid at Work certification or willing to complete training

Working arrangements

• Part-time (1–3 days per week, 8 hours per day including paid breaks), 6-month fixed term contract
• Potential to split role 
• Based at Cultivate Colindale
• Reports to Head Gardener
• Regular weekend and some evening work required
• May–July is a peak period and may require additional hours, agreed in advance and compensated through additional pay or time off in lieu
• Salary: London Living Wage (£14.80 an hour)

This role is subject to:

Right to work in the UK A basic DBS check (or willingness to obtain one)

Application information

Please send a CV and a short statement to jobs@wayward.co.uk explaining your interest in the role and relevant experience. The deadline for applications is midnight on Thursday 30th April. If you are based in Grahame Park Estate or the local area, please let us know in your application. Feel free to contact us via email with any questions. 

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