Tag: Dobbies Community Gardens

Dobbies invites local schools, charities and community groups to get involved in gardening initiative

Applications now open for Dobbies Community Gardens

Dobbies’ Edinburgh store is inviting local schools, charities and community groups to apply for this year’s Dobbies Community Gardens, giving successful groups the opportunity to receive support to help bring green spaces to life across the country. 

In 2025, each of Dobbies 53 stores selected a winner from over 600 entries to receive support, supplies and advice through the community initiative. Dobbies’ Edinburgh is committed to giving back to the community on both a national and local level and is passionate about encouraging the nation to discover and share a love for gardens. 

Dobbies Community Gardens will support its local communities by providing essential tools, plants and expert knowledge from colleagues to groups, to bring their green spaces to life. Dobbies’ Edinburgh store colleagues will also provide dedicated time to each project through volunteer hours. 

The community gardens initiative nurtures wellbeing, connections and inclusion to help inspire local residents to spend more time in nature. 

Dobbies’ Edinburgh store is looking to hear from local groups hoping to start, restore or upgrade their indoor or outdoor green spaces, and learn more about what they would do with the support. 

Dobbies’ Plant Buyer, Nigel Lawton, is encouraging groups across the country to apply. He said: “Every year we look forward to hearing from the variety of inspiring groups about what they are looking to their garden spaces, with our support.

 “We encourage local communities and groups within 20 miles of their local Dobbies store to apply to help create their perfect shared garden spaces that will bring joy to the community all year long.

“Whether they are a charity looking to upgrade their green space, a local group looking to bring the community together with a new project, or a school with plans to restore a vegetable patch, we want to hear from anyone who has a garden project that we could support.”

Craig Allardyce, Secretary of Your North Muirton, helped transform an area of land into a community garden with more than 30 raised beds with help from Dobbies.

Craig said: “Our new space supports a wide range of local involvement from individuals renting a low-cost raised bed to grow their own food, to schools and community groups using the area for hands-on learning and shared planting.

“Dobbies Community Gardens is a fantastic initiative to help bring local communities together and we would encourage groups looking for help with a garden project to apply.”

Applications are now open and close at 5pm on 31 March 2026.

Those entering must be within 20 miles of Dobbies’ Edinburgh store. Successful projects will be invited along to their local store for a consultation before getting recommendations from Dobbies’ colleagues about what products and tools will help bring the space to life. 

To find out more information about Dobbies Community Gardens and to fill out an application form, visit Dobbies Community Gardens | Dobbies Garden Centres

Dobbies announces Edinburgh and Lothian community winners

Local groups in Edinburgh and Lothians to receive support for their green space as part of national initiative

Dobbies, the UK’s leading garden centre, has revealed the community and charity groups across the UK that will receive support to help transform, restore or start their indoor or outdoor green spaces this year, including Silvermills for little dobbies Stockbridge and Newtongrange Community Garden in Midlothian for the Edinburgh store.

Over 660 groups applied to Dobbies Community Gardens when it opened in March. Each Dobbies store selected their local project to support from the nominations that were made. Nominated projects from Edinburgh and the Lothians were invited along to the in-store Grow How session on Saturday 4 May when the winners were unveiled. 

Silvermills and Newtongrange Community Garden will now receive a one-on-one session with Dobbies’ colleagues in the Stockbridge little dobbies and Edinburgh store to kick-start the activity, and the team will support the winning group right the way through their project. In addition to receiving products, tools and plants, there will be volunteer hours allocated to help bring the project to fruition and keep their outdoor space blooming.

Silvermills is a local community group that plans to rejuvenate an unused area of Stockbridge with colourful flowers and plants to brighten the space and create a place for the neighbourhood to come together.

Newtongrange Community Garden hopes to use Dobbies’ expertise and support to expand the garden and provide more accessible beds to the growing area to make the garden more inclusive for those looking to grow fruit and vegetables.

The group’s aim is to help those in the local area suffering from food poverty and improve social isolation by bringing people together.

Recent research* from Dobbies by Censuswide found that 71% of Brits say being close to nature helps them relax, highlighting the importance of initiatives like Dobbies Community Gardens to help green spaces thrive.

Dobbies’ colleagues are passionate about gardens and plants, championing garden living all year round to create experiences that bring people and communities together.

Nick Anderson, Dobbies’ Operations Director, is thrilled with the response to Dobbies Community Gardens. He explained: “We are really pleased to have had so many community groups get in touch looking for support with their green spaces. 

“The Stockbridge little dobbies and Edinburgh store had the responsibility of picking a community group to back this year, choosing Silvermills and Newtongrange Community Garden as its winners.

“We’re looking forward to seeing these outdoor green spaces flourish over the year.”

For more information about Dobbies work in the community and to see this year’s Dobbies Community Gardens’ winners, visit dobbies.com/community-gardens

*The research was conducted by Censuswide with 2007 natrep consumers in UK 16+ between 22 March-25 March 2024. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society, which is based on the ESOMAR principles and are members of The British Polling Council.