The garden has an autumn feel to it now with leaves starting to fall and blow about however our poly-tunnel is still warm. We had another group of visitors tour the garden this week. They were the committee from the Eglinton Growers who managed to come on a wonderfully sunny evening and spent a long time with us - so long in fact that they were left in the dark! - the sun had long gone down by the time we all left due to the interest they showed.
11/08/10
INTERNATIONAL INTEREST - AUSTRIA
On 7th to 11th June, Ron was invited to go over to work with the Soil Protection department of the Austrian Government. Everywhere they have the slogan, "Our soil - on which we stand [depend]". Their education in soils is very advanced but they were most interested in the Fairlie community sustainable food system and have asked for a paper on the Fairlie model for the Soil Protection Council for the Danube Valley in the autumn. Of course, the further up the valley, the weaker the economies and so the greater the benefit for the communities of replicating our model. The picture is of Austrian farm scale production of VERMIGRAND, a wormcast enriched with both basaltic rockdust and seaweed minerals.
23/07/10
POTATO BLIGHT(URGENT!)
If you are growing potatoes, can you please check them for signs of blight - this is a very contagious disease and action should be taken immediately.
Suggested actions and pictures of affected leaves, stems and tubers can be found here and here .
The symptoms of blight are yellow leaves with brown spots, leaves with blackened bits on them, black withered leaves, plants that have fallen over. Blight starts at the leaves and travels down to the pototoes. The affected parts should be removed and placed over in the composting area - there will be a sign indicating where potato shaws should be left (this will be in place on Friday 23rd). The affected shaws will be either buried or burnt.
Most new potatoes should be ready now and you may want to lift your potatoes. Those members growing potatoes in bags/pots/sacks - used compost should be placed behind the path at the back of the garden. Note - there is a folder in the barn that contains information on potato blight plus other gardening information.
5/07/10
TALK ON HERBAL MEDICINE
On the afternoon of the 4th July Pamela Spence B.Sc. MNIMH (a Medical Herbalist and Health Writer) gave a fascinating 2 1/2hr talk on Herbal Medicine to gardeners and their friends in our small polytunnel. In spite of the noise from the wind and lashing rain (she did have to pause once!) she still managed to provide us with a fascinating insight into herbal medicine and we all left with a new insight into the subject.
She touched on how herbal medicines are still important in developing countries as the supply of modern drugs/funds could be very unreliable and the local people still need to retain the knowledge/plants to treat themselves in their absence. She also covered herbal medicines use in developed countries including the fact that treating nettle stings with dock leaves is only practiced in the UK! Herbal medicines can have fewer side-effects and can still have their place alongside modern more powerful drugs.
The highlight of the afternoon were the herbal preparations Pamela made for us on the day. We had Lemon Balm tea, the juice from Goose Grass (Sticky Willie to you and me) and also were able to sample an ointment made from Chickweed. All these were extremely simple to make as she demonstrated.
The tastes (and effects) were interesting and at times unexpected (see photo) but we were only able to obtain from her a 'small' sample of a tincture made from preserving a herb in a bottle of vodka.....
Pamela is proposing to run a 4 x session weekly workshop in the garden on a Tuesday evening starting 10th August. This is dependent on numbers - if anyone is interested please contact us via the Contact Us page. For further information on Pamela and the treatment available from her and to contact here see her web-page at www.medical-herbalist.net
Thanks to Pamela for an interesting and enlightening afternoon.
4/07/10
THEY START THEM YOUNG! - BOTHWELL COMMUNITY GARDEN OPENS
Almost two years ago a group from Bothwell came to see our garden and Neil explained to them its design and operational features. The Fairlie-style, Bothwell Community Garden is now open and is a very busy place attracting people of all ages, having fun and working to grow delicious food.
FAIRLIE'S IMPACT ACROSS SCOTLAND... AND BEYOND!
The Fairlie Garden web-site regularly attracts visitors from all over the UK and from Europe. The site receives visits from gardeners who find us when looking for information on vermi-culture etc using search engines and end up not just finding the information but (as the site tracking shows) end up exploring the whole garden-site and finding out about our village and group.
Such has been the interest in our innovative gardening system that a new company, Greenway Consulting, was started and launched at the Gardening Scotland Show last year. Through talks, seminars, workshops and site visits, Fairlie-style gardens are now planned or operational across Scotland - in Paisley, Kilmarnock, Beith, Bothwell, Roslin, Forres ... and even Plymouth.
Earlier this month, Greenway were invited to work with the Government in Austria for a week. Their schools "Our soil - on which we stand" campaign has led to a great respect for their land throughout their population. They were impressed by the intensive care we give to our soil in the Fairlie Garden and would like to see the model replicated on their communities. Greenway Consulting is now able to provide organic worm compost to those unable to have their own wormery.
Our OGF strap line is "... leading the way for sustainable communities".
Through the hard work of our Members, we are certainly doing that.
Fairlie may be a wee village, but it punches way above its weight! "
26/06/10
GARDEN OPEN DAY JULY 2010
Over 250 visitors came to visit the Fairlie Community Garden on Saturday
26th on what has become our annual Open Day . The weather was luckily not
too hot as the new large poly-tunnel gets very warm and is now producing a huge amount of produce. Experienced gardeners were also surprised by the amount of produce in the outdoor raised-beds.
Garden tours and demonstrations of wormeries and hot-box composting
were included and there was a welcome cup of tea/coffee and biscuits provided by
the Fairlie Church Kirk Cafe and homebaking provided by members of the garden.
Ron Gilchrist from Greenway Consulting was on-hand to provide advice on sustainable food
production and also provide worm compost to those unable to have a wormery.
The Fairlie Gala Committee provided a licensed bar for 'thirsty' visitors and the Youth Club provided a Tuck Shop for the children. Michelle's Fast Foods (Fairlie) provided a selection of hot and cold snacks.
For the children present there was a chance to reuse, reduce and recycle by
making very creative and imaginative things out of junk.
(This was run by Anne Gregory from the Eco committee at the church).
A small group of children led by Nancy MacQueen went on a bug safari around the garden in search of worms, spiders, woodlice, aphids and a birds nest.
There was also a children's colouring competition for two age categories : 8 and over and under 8.
Ellen Gordon spent the day working magic with her face paints and a lot of children had very colourful faces. Carmen Hall brought her owl 'Magic' and tortoise which proved popular.
For the adults present there was a chance to buy plants/cuttings/seeds as well as flowers from the Ayrshire Hospice stall. There was Fairtrade jewellery made by Touchstone West Kilbride, artwork by local artist Joan Davidson, produce/goods from Fairlie Fairtrade, second hand gardening books and Kate Dahlstrom from the Largs & District Bee Keepers gave tastings and information on Honey production. Postcards and pictures of Old Fairlie were on display. Visitors had a chance to win a raffle prize, with all prizes being donated
by members of the garden.
Frances from the Fairlie library was on hand to provide information on the activities available for children during the school summer holidays and encourage new members to the library.
The committee would like to thank all those who attended and also thank the members who worked hard before and during the day to prepare the garden for the visitors.
23/05/10
TRANSITION HELENSBURGH - VISIT TO GARDEN
Members of Transition Helensburgh visited the garden on a beautifully hot Sunday afternoon (note the headgear!). They even brought their working gloves with them and laid some bark on our paths for us. We like those kind of visitors! - they have been invited back...
13/05/10
BARRHEAD & DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY - VISIT TO GARDEN
On a fine Wednesday evening (for once during a visit!) 19 members of Barrhead & District Horticultural Society visited the garden. They were shown our raised-bed designs and also our old and new poly-tunnels. Hot-box composting and wormeries were covered in the tour and they left with new ideas for their gardens. We would like to thank them for their generous donation to our funds.
29/04/10
VISITORS FROM NAC LEARNING DISABILITY SERVICES
Marianne Kilgour and Karen Good from North Ayrshire Council Learning Disability Services are shown with Ann Robinson - our secretary (centre of picture). They visited the garden to see our raised-beds and were investigating how to install some raised-beds at their centres for use by their clients.
VISITORS FROM COMMUNITY WOODLAND ASSOCIATION TRAINING DAY
The morning session was held in luxurious Michael Lynch Centre for Enterprise, Ardrossan, but the greatest interest was in the visit to our Garden. The Training Day was oversubscribed with 23 attendees and already there is a waiting list for the next one. CWA showed their appreciation by presenting us with £100 of tree / shrub saplings.
31/03/10
GARDEN VISITORS
Chris and Maarten from 'Moffat Can' came to visit the garden to see our raised-beds for possible replication in Moffat. They were shown around by Ron, Neil and Nancy. (Ron took the picture so does not appear...). Like ourselves, the Moffat community face the challenge of building a GYO garden on contaminated land. They found it useful to see how our raised bed mini allotment system works - with the sand barrier under each bed, this is essentially large scale container gardening. An extensive study of the new polytunnels was deemed necesssary during one of the torrential showers however there were sufficient lulls to allow them to see the raised-beds. They then went on to visit the Bothwell Gardeners.
11/02/10
GARDEN DEVELOPMENT
Work at the garden is progressing well - the new polytunnel (85' x 26') has been erected and the front and back doors will be installed week commencing 8th February. The floor has been prepared with soil, membrane and stone chips and 61 small raised beds (6' x 2') have been erected. The beds have been filled with soil and compost and are ready for members to start using. The beds have been numbered and allocated and the details will be emailed to members and posted in the barn.
The Supplier has erected 46 mini raised beds (8' x 4') with a further 14 beds still to be installed. A good proportion of the new beds have been filled in the approved manner, with a soil compost top layer. The beds have been allocated and details will be emailed to members and posted in the barn.
Approval has been received to proceed with the refurbishment of the existing polytunnel to the level of the new polytunnel and to install some wormeries.
The development at the garden could not have proceeded without funding from the Climate Challenge Fund and LEADER Ayrshire. Furthermore, progress to date has only been possible with the help from members.
A GLITTERING (FOR A LITTLE WHILE!) PRIZE
The Organic Growers of Fairlie recently received a delivery of £350 worth of hand-tools courtesy of Garden Answers magazine. The magazine is currently running a competition for articles on community gardens and the garden was lucky enough to have an article published in the March 2010 issue. (available from February 9th) The picture shows the delighted gardeners unpacking the tools ready to start filling the new raised-beds. (the tools were not quite so shiny at the end of the day and will be well used!)
5/01/10
PHASE 3 CONTINUES
The Phase 3 build continues with our second poly-tunnel almost complete and filled with raised-beds. See the Second Poly-tunnel build page for step by step photographs. New raised-beds outside the tunnel are also being filled with soil.
2/12/09
PHASE 3 BUILD STARTED
The first 18 raised beds for Phase 3 are now in the process of being built.
GARDEN VISITS
03/11/09 Graham Bell, the CEO, and Jim Mullan, Commercial Manager, of Kibbleworks, Paisley, visited the Garden to see if they could use our model as a training tool for their clients..
NEWS FROM OTHER GARDENS
11/11/09 Grow Bute Visit- There is already a community market garden next to Rothesay. Now a group has formed to develop a Fairlie-style mini allotment garden.
07/11/09 Darwin Vermiculturists of Forres- There are 9 "pods" in their Community Garden. Each pod now has an insulated wormery so that they will have a good supply of lovely mineral- enriched wormcast for next season.
5/11/09
BONFIRE AND FIREWORKS
On Saturday 7th November, the Fairlie Gala Committee will be staging a bonfire and firework display located at the Garden. The Garden will be open from 18:00 onwards, the bonfire will be lit at 19:00 and the firework display will start at 19:30. There will be mulled wine, tea, coffee, cold drinks and sweets available.
There will be no entrance fee however donations will be gratefully accepted.
4/11/09
PHASE 3 GARDEN WORK
The new Polytunnel supply and build contract has been awarded on a three-quote best value basis and availability/post-construction support to Polytunnels Scotland, Ken Sommerville from the Perth area. Ron and Malcolm were present during the on-site consultation on size, location,build, quality etc.. Everyone was happy with the advice we received.
The location of the new 84ft. long tunnel meant that the normal raised-bed expansion area would be displaced to the sunny south side of the new polystructure and the newly strimmed area beside the original polytunnel and shed. This area has a lot of concrete platforms close to the surface.
The committee looked at all the different type of beds/costs/flexibility and the available growing space they offered as well as the soil-quality for growers. This was done within the budget constraints to match the current and anticipated demand on new beds. We also went to visit other allotments to compare durability/ease of repair and replacement. It was apparent that the original beds although very durable were too small at only 3ft. wide and 48sq. ft. of growing space. Also the original concept of members having a 3-bed plot to expand and rotate crops has devolved into individual beds or a mix of one or two from members/new applications. There has been plenty of good discussion with members on site and new applicants on these matters.
As a result the flexible choice for best value over a 5 year or longer period was to offer members two beds 8ft x 4ft (64sq ft.growing space )instead of the original type, i.e. 60 beds total. This gives the advantage of separating crops, increased growing space, and flexibilityof choice and location. Because the build is from recycled scaffoldwood it gives a low or`zero` carbon footprint. The recycled scaffold wood that will be used is all clean wood and the beds will be set up as before with impermeable membrane as a buffer from the original ground. Similarly in the polytunnels, there will be a series of 6ft by 2ft beds for growers to use. We had examples of the new type of bed delivered for members to look at and also give comments.
All quotes for new beds including using new preserved wood were looked at by our Sponsors CCF and Leader and also by the committee. The supply and build was awarded on a best value to Glasgow Wood Recycling and work is due to start soon on both projects. They deal with a lot of allotment groups and it is seen as a good new partnership which can also supply barrel planters and tubs for the garden. A chemical portaloo has been purchased for the site at present pending futher evaluation of`compost toilets.
Tree-planting and nursery growing is on-going at the site. The main Knotweed problem has been isolated in one unused area of the site and control treatment is also on-going. A foot of topsoil has been added to the new polytunnel/raised-bed area at the back of site. Funding support continues to come in from various sources and will be put to good use.
FUTURE GARDEN DATES
03/11/09 Graham Bell, the CEO of the Kibble Training organisation in Paisley, and Jim Mullen, his Enterprise Manager are visiting the Garden.
07/11/09 12 composting wormstock starter cultures are being delivered to a new section, the Darwin Vermiculturists of Forres who will operate within their Community Garden up there in Moray.
07/11/09 Fireworks and bonfire on the beach opposite the garden entrance organised by the Fairlie Gala Committee.
10/11/09 Rosslyn Miles, our Community Woodland Association officer, is coming back to the Garden to offer advice on the best tree planting scheme and programme for the Garden. Her suggestions will be circulated to all for comment/adoption.
11/11/09 Members of Grow Bute, a new community garden initiative in Rothesay, will visit the Garden. This is the second visit from this group.
27/11/09 Copenhagen Climate Conference countdown: The film "Age of Stupid" will be shown at 7pm. in the Parish Church. Poster advertising the film-show/meeting is here .
29/10/09
FAIRLIE GARDEN REPLICATION
Funding applications have now been submitted for gardens in Millport and Wemyss Bay. A new club, Grow Bute, is currently developing its design for a site in Rothesay.
27/10/09
GLASGOW SHETTLESTON COMMUNITY GROUP
Seamus Connolly of the Glasgow City Council Greenspace Team brought members of their Shettleston Community Group down to see our Garden.The area they have available to them is only the area of our Phase 1 beds but they see the Fairlie model giving access to all ability and age groups as being ideal for their purposes.
23/10/09
GLASGOW CALEDONIAN UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE
For some time the university has expressed an interest in carrying out research into our innovative Sustainable Food Production [SFP] process. Bill Gow from our offshoot Bothwell Growers assisted Ron Gilchrist on the day of the ShowCase. They were both kept fully engaged with attendees throughout the day. Some of these contacts have since requested further information.
16/10/09
FORRES TRANSITION TOWN COMMUNITY GARDEN
Forres won the Euro Village in Bloom Gold Medal this year. They are a Transition Town and are now starting their community garden on a huge site. Ron & Marion were up last weekend giving a Wormcast Production training course. The plots up there are circular "pods" - each operated by 3 families. This photo shows one pod packed with winter veg. Very impressive! It will be great if we can set up a Fairlie/Forres link.
COMMUNITY WOODLAND ASSOCIATION
OGF are now members of the CWA [ www.communitywoods.org ]. Our local officer is Rosslyn Mills who is an Auchincruive graduate. She visited our Garden and congratulated us on the quality of our produce. She has offered to help us with our tree planting programme and when we are putting the trees into the ground to show us the "tree dance".
FAIRLIE PARISH CHURCH THANKSGIVING SERVICE
We have had a wonderful ye ar in the Garden - new beds, new members and new growth everywhere. It was nice that we had the opportunity to show our appreciation. We had a spectacular basket of produce in front of the altar and a bigger display at the entrance to the Parish Church for the annual Thanksgiving Service. Afterwards the delicious and nutritious produce went to the Church of Scotland South Beach Retirement Home, Ardrossan. It was greatly appreciated by the residents.
10/9/09
JOINT AWARENESS EVENT 10/11/09
The OGF will be holding a joint 'awareness day' with the Fairlie FairTrade Initiative on Saturday October 10th from 11:00am-4.00pm in the Fairlie Parish Church rooms. The Fairlie Fairtrade Initiative will have a display with their new FairTrade catalogue produce and a display with their 'old produce' - all of which will be for sale. Tea/coffee/biscuits will be for sale all day and soup/bread and oatcakes with cheese will be for sale for lunch.There will also be a raffle. If any OGF members can help out with produce for the soup, make soup, help out on the day or set-up the previous evening would they please contact Ann Robinson.
CCF GATHERING STIRLING 2/9/09
Richard Lochhead MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, took quite some time to examine our display. On the day, he was particularly interested in its replication as the Fairlie-style Bothwell community garden project, the CCF funding award for which he had just announced. Other visitors to the display included Mike Small of the Fife Diet, Neil Anderson of the Newbridge Community Trust and, nearer home, Jonas Cromwell from the Neilston Development Trust.
2/9/09
LARGS FLOWER SHOW - FAIRLIE ORGANIC GARDEN EXHIBIT
Our exhibit at the Largs Flower Show was organised for us by Ann Robinson and Agnes & Alastair Ward. Well done to them on showing our produce and spreading the message on what can be done on a brown-field site!
THE ORGANIC GROWERS OF BOTHWELL
Their plans to build a Fairlie-style community garden on a derelict football pich were granted a full CCF award today. Congratulations Bothwell!
NEW FUNDING FOR THE ORGANIC GROWERS OF FAIRLIE
We have just received confirmation that the Organic Growers of Fairlie will be one of six North Ayrshire groups to receive funding from Ayrshire LEADER to assist in their projects. We will be receiving £12,048 to create additional raised beds, poly tunnels and paths.
CUMBRAE COMMUNITY GARDEN
Members of the gardening group from Millport visited the Garden on 13/8/09 and you can see their comments in the Visitors Book. They have already completed the design of their garden to be situated behind the Garrison building and are engaged in the funding exercise. It will be great to network with our neighbours across the water.
25/8/09
CARTS GREENSPACE VISIT
Twenty eight visitors from CARTS GREENSPACE visited the garden on 25/8/09 and managed to arrive just after one shower and then left just before the next shower. They were given a tour of the garden and poly-tunnel and several are off to build wormeries and hot-box composters. Our visitors book is now filled with comments such as 'wonderful' and 'inspirational'. (this was before the tea and biscuits!)
16/8/09
FAIRLIE GARDEN OPEN DAY
The Fairlie Organic Garden open day was held on Saturday 15th. August. After the torrential rain of the previous day and overnight, it stopped 30 minutes before the start much to everyone's relief. The paths were slightly muddy but this was no deterrent to an estimated 100 visitors who came to see the garden and were given garden tours and demonstrations on wormeries and hot-box composting. There was a display of hand-made furniture from Fairlie Furniture Works and a visiting owl and tortoise. Fair Trade produce from around the world together with Fair Trade jewellery was on sale. Fin's farmshop provided food to sample. A ranger from Kelburn Country Centre and a display of novel methods to re-use/recycle materials provided a lot of interest. An exhibition of old Fairlie pictures and postcards held people in long discussions of how Fairlie had changed over the years. Those who did come were eventually able to sit in the sunshine and enjoy the Kirk Cafe home baking, teas and coffees and Michelle's Fast Foods in the village Main Street provided hot rolls delivered to order, which were greatly enjoyed.
Click here or on the picture for a slide show of photographs taken during the open day.
22/7/09
LARGS GARDENERS VISIT
After a day of torrential rain the sun came out for 2 hours just when the Largs Gardeners came to visit the garden. They were shown around the garden and learned all about wormeries and hot-box composting. Afterwards they wandered around the garden and commented on the variety and vigour of the vegetables being grown. Shortly after they left the rain came on again so we must invite them to our open day if they can 'fix' the weather again!
19/7/09
GARDEN PRODUCE
Our village librarian has definitely been studying the gardening books in Fairlie library! (click on image for a larger picture)
14/7/09
GARDEN OPEN DAY
28/6/09
LARGS FLOWER SHOW
Largs Flower Show will be held on Friday and Saturday the 28th.& 29th. August in the Dunn Memorial Hall, Largs. See the Largs Horticultural Society web site for details.
TRANSITION TOWN GATHERING
The Western Regional Transition Town Gathering is to be held in West Kilbride on Saturday 11th. July. For further information download this poster and to register a place for this free event see this link .After the event the delegates have been invited to visit the Fairlie Garden.
2/6/09
ROYAL VISIT TO OUR GARDENING SCOTLAND 2009 EXHIBIT
A team from the Organic Gardeners of Fairlie built a small replica of the Fairlie Community Garden at the Gardening Scotland 2009 Show at Ingliston which was held on 29th-31st May at Ingliston. The exhibit included three raised-beds filled with vegetables grown in Fairlie, working hot-box composting boxes and and two wormeries. The writhing collection of worms was a great hit with most of the children but some of their mothers were not so sure.... Throughout the three days of the show there was a constant stream of gardeners interested in our processes with some probing questions. Many gardeners left with plans to build composters and wormeries including some husbands being told that they were "starting to build tomorrow".
The highlight of the weekend was a visit to the exhibit from H.R.H Princess Anne who spent some time with Ron Gilchrist learning about hot-box composting, wormeries and the techniques of waste recycling and building gardens on brown-field sites. There were also visits from the Scottish Minister of the Environment Roseanna Cunningham and Beechgrove Garden hosts Jim McColl and Carol Baxter. The team from Fairlie did a lot of talking!
The additional member of the team was a magnificant European Eagle Owl named Taz kindly loaned by World of Wings in Cumbernauld who were on an adjacent stand. (Taz may be useful if we ever have a rabbit problem?)
Additional views of the exhibit and the Royal visit can be seen in these video and slide-shows .
19/5/09
ROTARY CLUB OF HUNTERSTON DONATION
The Organic Gardeners of Fairlie are pleased to acknowledge the donation of £240 from the Rotary Club of Hunterston to purchase propagation tables. They will be used to equip our poly-tunnel to produce plants even earlier in the year! Ron Gilchrist and Neil Robertson attend a Rotary meeting in January and gave a presentation on vermi-culture and hotbox composting. As a result several Rotarians have built their own wormeries and are busy composting.
15/5/09
A HAPPY GARDENER
Early vegetables fresh out of the garden!
SOME HAPPY (AND VERY DIRTY!) GARDENER'S CHILDREN
Somehow the pile of builder's sand was more fun than digging in the beds.
4/5/09
GARDENING EXPANSION
Just look at all those new beds! The garden is a hive of activity as beds are allocated and the gardeners get digging.
1/5/09
GARDENING SCOTLAND SHOW 2009
Plans are well in place for our demonstration at the Gardening Scotland Show. We have a mention on the show web page and will have three of our beds built together with with wormeries and hot-boxes. These three beds are part of the garden expansion (see below).
CLIMATE CHALLENGE FUND (CCF) AWARD/GARDEN EXPANSION
The Fairlie Organic Gardeners have been awarded the sum of £47,492 by the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund to extend the garden and improve access. As a result of this award work has already started to build additional beds. Thirty four new beds have been built to date with a set of twenty-four beside the original group and a set of eighteen under construction. Three beds have been held back for use at the Gardening Scotland 2009 show at Ingliston and will be re-built in the garden after the show. So far thirty new beds have been allocated. An advert will be placed in the local newspaper to raise information/interest in the project/beds which are expected to be leased very soon. Two of the new front beds beside the slab path are already taken for gardeners requiring wheelchair access.
8/4/09
GARDENING SCOTLAND PREPARATIONS
At a meeting at Ingliston yesterday, it was decided that OGF should have a row of 3 beds right across the Back Garden arena. The show managers are confident that our demo garden will attract great interest. Our GS2009 group already have a lot of plants growing for the show. It would make our garden much more child friendly if we could have some colourful big flowers and butterflies, made from recycled plastic, and a scarecrow at the end of each bed. Would all those interested in this craftwork, please contact Nancy.
8/4/09
NEW DIGGING TECHNIQUES DEMONSTRATED?
and these beds were supposed to have been designed to give easy access????
7/4/09
PHASE II CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES
The construction continues with a slabbed path being laid from a new pedestrian gate to the potting shed and then on to the poly-tunnel. The interior of the potting shed is also being slabbed.
1/4/09
START OF PHASE II CONSTRUCTION
Caley Construction have started on the installation of an extension to the access road in the site in preparation for further development.This road is to allow easy wheelchair access direct to the plots andconsists of hard-core laid on plastic sheeting to prevent migration ofthe chemicals in the ground.
31/3/09
ZERO WASTE AND WASTE RECYCLING
Visit from Gordon Jackson, Leader of the Zero Waste Tean in the Scottish Executive, Iain Gulland, Director of the Waste Recycling Network Scotland, and Nicki Souter of the Community Recycling Network Scotland to discuss how best to enable groups across Scotland to set up similar community food production projects in their towns / villages.
28/3/09
SAGS - GROWING IN GLASGOW
Our new Presidents, Nancy and Malcolm MacQueen were invited to exhibit Lisa's photographic display to SAGS "Growing in Glasgow" in the Trades Hall, Ingram Street. They also showed a high-quality version of the video from the web-page. Such was the interest in our initiative that they were left with little time to attend the break-out sessions!
20/3/09
PHASE II APPROVAL AND GS2009 SHOWGARDEN
At a meeting at the Climate Challenge office in Stirling, progress was made in establishing our project partners for our showgarden at GS2009 and the development of the next phase of the garden was approved for immediate start.
19/3/09
VISITORS FROM PERTH
Six visitors from the South Perth Community Allotments Project visited our Garden on a beautiful sunny day and were extremely interested in our work and left a donation. Much appreciated.
Gardening Tip from S Perth Allotment Project ... If you want tightbrussel sprout buds, tramp down the soil surrounding the plants.
18/3/09
TRELLIS SCOTLAND
Trellis Scotland Annual Conference, Cardonald College. Reports were presented on wonderful garden projects which are operating princially for the benefit of disabvantaged groups. It was great to spend time with such wonderful people.
11/3/09
BIGGEST SPONSOR TO DATE TO CONTINUE SUPPORT
At a meeting at Hunterston "A", Magnox North / Energy Solutionsconfirmed that they would wish to be our on-going project partners andwould wish to feature at the Gardening Show as one of our sponsors.
There are 9 "pods" in their Community Garden. Each pod now has an insulated wormery so that they will have a good supply of lovely mineral- enriched wormcast for next season.
thirty new beds have been allocated. An advert will be placed in the local newspaper to raise information/interest in the project/beds which are expected to be leased very soon. Two of the new front beds beside the slab path are already taken for gardeners requiring wheelchair access. 
