Dig The City Festival To Give Away Half A Milllion Seeds To Grow A New ‘Dig Garden’ For Central Manchester

Manchester summer garden festival ‘Dig the City’ is spreading the flower power this bank holiday, giving away 1000 free packets of seeds to create a new garden in the very heart of the Manchester. With an average of 500 seeds per packet, it’ll mean at least half a million seeds shall be given to gardeners throughout the city.

Manchester summer garden festival ‘Dig the City’ is spreading the flower power this bank holiday, giving away 1000 free packets of seeds to create a new garden in the very heart of the Manchester. With an average of 500 seeds per packet, it’ll mean at least half a million seeds shall be given to gardeners throughout the city. 

So to celebrate the return of the UK’s biggest urban gardening festival, which takes place from Friday 31 July til Thursday 6 August, Dig the City has collaborated with celebrity gardener Sarah Raven to get the city growing.

Dig the City Producer, Nelson Beaumont Laurencia, says “Dig the City is all about celebrating summer in the city, so what better way to get started than to grow your own garden party?”

“Gardeners should bring their blooms back on the first weekend of the festival and help us grow a garden right in the heart of the city. You’ll be in with a chance to win good things from the city centre’s top shops. If keen gardeners would like to bring any other flowers or plants to join our Dig Garden they would be most welcome!”

Sarah Raven said “Dig the City is a fantastic summer festival, and I love the idea of a garden filled with flowers grown by a thousand locals. We’re giving away a mixture of cornflowers, poppies, lace flowers and cosmos, so the garden will be wonderfully bright and colourful.”

These free seeds will be given away from Barclays, LK Bennett, Jigsaw, Selfridges and Molton Brown in the city centre over the bank holiday weekend. Gardeners can send their progress reports to, and check for growing tips from @digthecitymcr #diggarden. Gardeners should bring their blooms back to the Dig the City Information Point in St Ann’s Square over the festival’s first weekend – Friday – Sunday.

Dig the City is devised and delivered by CityCo, on behalf of the Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District (BID) – a consortium of more than 380 city centre retailers. Of the Dig Garden, the BID’s Chair, Jane Sharrocks, said “Dig the City is not only about gardening and growing, but encouraging locals to take time to relax and spend time in the city centre. We hope the new garden will make Manchester a lovelier place to shop and enjoy all our great city has to offer.”

More information about Grow Your Own Garden Party and where to get your seeds, can be found at: www.digthecity.co.uk/grow-garden-party/ and follow @digthecitymcr on Twitter.