Pocket forests can be as small as a single car parking space — would one work in your area?

These are miniature versions of a natural woodland — you just get so much bird life, you get so much insect life, even in the first growing season

Pocket Forests: Catherine Cleary and Ashe Conrad-Jones of pocketforests.ie The Digital Hub has partnered with Pocket Forests on a new biodiversity initiative for Dublin 8. Picture: Shane O'Neill, Coalesce.

Pocket Forests is a social enterprise that helps communities to grow small native woodlands in urban areas. Founded by Dublin-based Catherine Cleary and Ashe Conrad-Jones in 2020, to date, Pocket Forests has planted 75 pocket forests, working with 40 different communities around the country.

But one of the most inspiring aspects of their success story is that neither of these social entrepreneurs comes from a horticulture/botany background. Catherine Cleary, an award-winning writer, and Ashe Conrad-Jones, co-founder of an event company, Gorilla Design, decided to take on this completely new challenge to help people make positive change.