Capital Growth: Annual members survey 2024-25

London is home to a wealth of growing spaces that provide refuge for both people and urban wildlife. Across Capital Growth’s network of more than 2,000 sites, these spaces appear in unexpected places: floating gardens on canal barges, permaculture forest gardens on disused car parks, and dudhi bottle gourds trailing above commuters on TfL platforms.

This report summarises the responses of 121 people representing food growing projects across the capital. This survey of network members was undertaken during Summer 2025 and the questions cover details on the members’ food growing site, their challenges, Capital Growth’s support, and views on what the future focus of the network could be.

Themes of the survey findings include how, despite funding and capacity challenges, food growing projects are doing amazing work to improve biodiversity, accessibility and inclusion. Working with and for their communities, they are collectively welcoming 24,897 individuals into their sites. 

What next for the network in 2026?

Member gardens feel that the top three areas for Capital Growth to prioritise are:

• Creating resources for gardens to create climate resilience/ nature friendly spaces
• Supporting the Right to Grow campaign
• Inputting the London Plan and other key mayoral strategies

Read on to discover the amazing work going on behind the garden wall.