Blackhall Horticultural Society are holding their annual plant sale tomorrow (Saturday 10 May) at St. Columba’s Church Halls on Hillhouse Road.
The Society plan to have an excellent range of plants for instant colour in your garden as well as some ‘home grown’ perennials, and there will be free advice on hand from time-served experts too.
Last year’s sale made over £440 and the group hopes to beat that total this weekend so get there sharp for the bargains – doors open 10am!
Compost_giveaway_posterVictoria Park
The city council is giving away free bags of compost made from residents’ recycled garden waste to mark the return of fortnightly garden waste collections and to thank residents for using the service.
The local event in the North neighbourhood is this Friday (25 April) at Victoria Park (entrance by Trinity Primary School gate) from 12.20 until stocks run out.
Council officers will be on hand to provide information about all city recycling services, and will have some food waste kitchen caddies and liners to give to those who need them.
Edinburgh Garden Partners is a local charity that works with all Edinburgh City residents and aims help regardless of difficulties with health or wealth. They help those who have gardens but are unable to maintain them; the most common reasons are poor physical/mental health, struggling for time and lack of knowledge. The charity supports individuals by helping them to find a volunteer gardener from the bank of volunteers it recruits.
Any matches made are mutually beneficial, the garden owner receives help to keep the garden tidy and attractive and the volunteer is allocated a place in the garden where they can grow vegetables and/or soft fruits. Both people involved in the match often share the fresh food and in time they will often begin to share good times together in and around the garden.
These matches have all sorts of benefits for those involved, such as increasing fitness, gaining gardening knowledge, decreasing social isolation and better connecting communities.
Edinburgh Garden Partners have many years of matching and supporting Edinburgh residents in garden sharing, they’ve shown it to be safe and an enjoyable way to grow food and maintain the garden.
Nancy is 89 years old and her husband 2 years her senior, their house has a large garden that was once full of flowers and vegetables. Five years ago they were forced to turf over the veg patch and scale back what flowers they were growing due to loss of mobility. For Nancy, this was a sad moment as she enjoyed fresh food and was proud of her productive garden.
It was a relief when she found that there was a specific service that could help. Edinburgh Garden Partners matched her with Abby, a woman who lived only a 15-minute walk away. Abby has been on the allotment waiting list for the last 3 years and she was keen to get started as soon as possible.
Now, Nancy and Abby often chat out in the garden and talk about how the crops are doing. Abby gets all the practical experience she needs to learn how to grow her own food and is confident that when she does get an allotment she’ll know where to start. For Nancy, she now has the joy of seeing her garden as she likes and enjoying the fresh tomatoes from it once again.
The charity currently has four partnerships in this part of Edinburgh and there are others looking for both gardens to grow in and for volunteers to help. If you’d like to volunteer your garden or your time then please call 0131 220 5067 or email info@edinburghgardenpartners.org.uk
Edinburgh Garden Partners
Oaklands School’s Millennium Wood scooped a prize when it was named runner up in the schools section of Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards last week. Oaklands’ wood has only been growing for three years but the judges were clearly impressed and the school now has £250 to invest in improving their environment even more.
The cheque was presented by Bonnie Maggio of Scotland’s Finest Woods charity at a special assembly at Oaklands last week. Guest of honour at the event was Susan Walsh (pictured above right with her son Oscar), who with her family has done so much to support the Oaklands Millennium Wood project. The former Principal Teacher of Art at Fettes College worked with Oaklands over five years, seeing the garden grow and develop, and Susan and her family are now moving on to a new life in Canada.
They leave with a lot of love and good wishes, and they leave behind a growing, thriving wee area of peaceful woodland in North Edinburgh.
Ferryhill Primary School children are the city’s champion growers!
Primary pupils from across Edinburgh competed to be crowned the most green fingered of them all in a competition that saw them grow their own country for the Olympic Games. Each school was given the name of a country competing in the 2012 Games and tasked with growing a basket of flowers to represent the nation for the chance to win gold for their school.
The City of Edinburgh Council teamed up with Gardening Scotland for the competition and the winners were crowned champions today by Scottish Environment Minister, Stewart Stevenson MSP. Gold medal was won by Ferryhill Primary , silver by Gylemuir Primary and bronze went to Bruntsfield Primary.
Convener for Children and Families, Cllr Paul Godzik, said: “This is a great, innovative way for pupils to feel a part of the Olympic Games and also learn valuable lessons about the environment and other cultures and countries. The Games are set to be a historic time for the whole of Great Britain, and involving all our schools across the city in a wide variety of Olympic activities will inspire pupils to enjoy taking part in sport and learn about the world they live in.”
Environment Minister, Stewart Stevenson MSP, said: “With Olympic football at Hampden and the torch coming to Scotland, the Country in a Basket competition will help excite pupils about the forthcoming Olympic Games. This schools contest is an excellent way to engage pupils in the inclusive international spirit of the Games, while also helping them learn more about gardening, biodiversity and the natural world. I look forward to seeing the many creative country basket designs that pupils come up with and wish them all the best of luck for a place on the winners podium.”
Martin Dare, organiser of Gardening Scotland 2012, said: “At Gardening Scotland we welcome the participation of gardeners of all ages and we are delighted that this year so many green-fingered youngsters will be taking part through Country in a Basket. They’ll be taking their place alongside top garden designers, some of the UK’s best nurseries and more than 400 exhibitors selling everything for the garden.”
The competition and display will form part of the Gardening Scotland event at Ingliston, which runs until 3 June. More than 50,000 people are expected to attend over the three days, and the schools’ flowers and plants will be on proud display throughout.
The schools were provided with a basket, bag of compost and £50 to spend. Volunteers were also on hand to provide practical growing advice.
This is part of a wider initiative Edinburgh Gets Set for the Games – a series of cultural and sporting events held across the city. The programme includes a concert at the Usher Hall and a major sporting event at Meadowbank Stadium.
Schools have also run a wide range of curriculum based educational projects based on making international links, learning about other Olympic nations, healthy eating, sport, international culture, concerts and events and international twinning.
City of Edinburgh Council
The Granton Community Gardeners now have a Tuesday morning gardening club. We meet at 10.30 at the Salvation Army building on Wardieburn Drive for a cup of tea and to pick up tools. Then (weather permitting) we go to work on the community gardens at either end of Wardieburn Road. All very welcome! You don’t need to know anything about gardening to join in. For more information and updates you can now follow us on Facebook at: http://tinyurl.com/grantoncommunitygardeners
Tom Kirby
Granton Community Gardeners
