Updates Archives - Growing Together

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Looking Back at 2024: New Growing Project in Pilton

November 25, 2024

In the latter half of the year, we were approached by some Pilton residents who were interested in making use of an unloved grassy area on Crewe Road and set about carrying out a consultation and drawing up plans on how best to support their aims.

Since then, Community Gardener Sylva has been working with four residents to transform some unused greenspace on Crewe Road in Pilton – two adults and two wee ones, great to see some kids using those green thumbs!

They’re a small but mighty team that have made fantastic progress in building and filling four raised beds so far, with hopes to mow and strim the weeds to create more space for ball games soon. They’d also like to build a tool store and picnic benches for the community to use.

If you live locally and would like to get involved, get in touch with Sylva – sylva@edibleestates.scot

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Looking Back at 2024: Greendykes Allotment Clear-up

Members of the Greendykes community were keen to do some allotment clean-up days this year, and come rain or shine, worked hard over several weeks to make several spaces look so much tidier with support from Community Grower Jen.

The time spent working together to do something positive in the community sparked interesting conversations about the challenges they face in communicating as a group and accessing funding. They now have plans to elect a new committee with the aim of addressing these issues – proactive and hopeful stuff showing a real enthusiasm for what they’re doing!

Here’s a rundown of what they got up to:

Week 1: They braved heavy rain to clear wood and junk from the shared seating space, dead end paths, and unkempt plots.

Week 2: Focus turned to clearing weed seed beside the polytunnel to stop it getting inside when it’s opened. They also moved the bulk of some huge, out of control willows from one plot, which the group really enjoyed.

Weeks 3 & 4: A very busy couple of weeks with some sunshine! The group cleared large tree sections from outside the fence, tidied the entrance paths, and dealt with junk in a few more dead ends. Following that, they moved the location of some fencing and gates to prevent this happening in the future and increase allotment space – more room for fruit, veggies, and flowers! One member also repainted many of the fences to get them looking tip top, while others worked to identify what wood could be stored for future use.

All in all, an extremely productive few weeks, with the group completely clearing the previously abandoned allotments.

Fantastic to see such a lovely group of folk coming together and dedicating their time to maintain the area’s growing spaces. Looking to the future, they have plans to install additional compost bins plus rebuild their existing ones, and are looking forward to having a shelter and improved polytunnel courtesy of the Growing Youth team.

If you live in the area and would like to get involved contact: pippa@edibleestates.scot / 07549431528

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Looking Back at 2024: Dumbiedykes Growers’ Wildflower Patch

Dumbiedykes Growers, like Oxgangs Growers, community grow across various different sites in their area, brightening up spaces for all residents! This year they undertook a wildflower project and set about planting up the grassy area by their fruit trees on Viewcraig Street.

The flowers came into abundant, beautiful bloom in the summer months, tended all the while by the dedicated growers. They became a haven for pollinators and the subject of many a passer-by’s photograph, with several people commenting on the way the sea of colour brightened up the neighbourhood. The wildflower patch was also a stop for Out and About’s Bauks View nature and wellbeing group back in May, during a stroll around the neighbourhood – a great example of how local community groups can benefit one another!

To encourage neighbours to get involved, the group created ‘Sam,’ and asked locals to paint colourful rocks and pop them among the wildflowers – fantastic to see the community engaging with their greenspaces in creative ways.

It was lovely to see the growers proud as punch of the project, and we can’t wait to see the area bloom year after year.

The group meet at this spot on Viewcraig Street every Sunday from 1-3pm with Community Gardener Johanna, and they welcome anybody to drop by for a chat, whether or not you want to get involved is up to you!

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Looking Back at 2024: Before & After Transformation in Oxgangs

November 23, 2024

Oxgangs Growers are a fantastic group of community-minded folk who have made it their mission to restore a sense of pride in their local area by making communal greenspace areas more welcoming for residents – and this year they did just that with some inspiring work!

With support from Community Gardener Stuart, they set about clearing an unloved, overgrown plot next to The Chip Inn on Oxgangs Rd North. Throughout several months of Saturday gardening sessions (10 – 1pm,) they worked hard to remove rubbish, weed the area, and plant it up with biodiversity friendly plants and sensory area. The space is now a bright spot in Oxgangs, and has become a relaxing communal space that’s been well received by local folk, with plans to install benches so local people can meet while waiting for the bus.

Residents of residents of 3 Oxgangs Drive also created a biodiversity border brimming with plants that attract a wide range of creatures and brighten up the area, and built several wooden raised beds to grow fruit and veg (with help from Crumble the dog!)

The welcoming group meet and communicate regularly through gardening sessions, and have forged friendships along the way, often enjoying a bring and share meal together after sessions in the being in the Oxgangs Community Church Hub.

We wanted to acknowledge their dedication at our Harvest Celebration, and presented the group with a Golden Trowel Award to celebrate their successes!

Looking to 2025, they have set up Oxgangs North Tenants and Residents Association to tackle wider issues in the area, and will be getting together to plan their growing activities for next year’s growing season over the winter months. If you’d like to get involved, contact pippa@edibleestates.scot.

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Looking Back at 2024: Hutchison Summer Fete

On Saturday 3rd August, the sun shone for Hutchison’s first annual summer fete, a joyful afternoon celebrating one year of growing at the Neighbourhood Garden (July 2023.)

Preparations began after the usual weekly Saturday work session (9:30am – 12:30pm,) with everyone mucking in to hang bunting, assemble the gazebo, and get the BBQ fired up for what was a great turnout, which included some furry friends.

There was a bring and share picnic – and what a feast it was, everyone went above and beyond! With 13 different nationalities participating in the garden, there was a delicious array of delicacies: homemade biryani, salads, samosas, and pickled beetroot (grown in the garden of course.) Alongside this, our participant chef, Aron, cooked up a feast including BBQed octopus – it’s safe to say everyone was well fed. It was lovely to see everyone chatting amongst themselves and getting to know one another while they ate.

After recovering from our food comas, it was time for activities. Susie ran a Bookbugs session with stories and singing for the wee ones, who also really enjoyed getting creative in the craft tent. Meanwhile the adults were tested on their horticultural knowledge in a garden quiz organised by Gulnaz organised a garden quiz – everyone was delighted to win a prize!

There are plans for many more seasonal events at the garden in the future, and the group welcome any ideas – the garden can be a space for a whole host of activities after all! If you want to get involved come along to sessions on Thursdays & Saturdays 9:30 – 12:30 or contact Community Gardener Gaby on gaby@edibleestates.scot

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Our Muirhouse Mural Project is Complete!

Harvest Celebration 2024

October 25, 2024

Photography by Colin Hattersley

Growing Together – it’s in the name! While we support council estate residents to start community growing projects with their neighbours or get involved in those that already exist in their local community, each individual growing project is also part of something bigger. They make up a web of gardens across Edinburgh, connected by shared goals among the like-minded folk that make them thrive – to build community, grow food together, and do something positive for themselves and others.

So, what better way to bring those folk together than with our first ever Harvest Celebration – good food, fun, and lots of rich discussion about community food growing made for a fantastic evening in September.

We kicked off the event with a tour of Sunshine on Leith Community Garden (SOL,) courtesy of participant Moyra. SOL is a tenemental backgreen with a vibrant group of growers that have worked together to create a beautiful garden in and for the community, which made it the perfect place for our guests to get inspired, by seeing first-hand what is possible for their own growing spaces.

Drill Hall hosted us for the rest of the evening, which, after welcoming the great turnout of gardeners and organisations, began with a Challenges of Community Growing Workshop. After discussing the challenges faced by growing projects in the city, each group was tasked with picking a challenge and brainstorming solutions. It was fantastic to see a cross-section of gardens and organisations exchange lots of creative ideas – some new, and others drawn from the wealth of knowledge and experience in the room.

‘Highlight: Meeting so many enthusiastic folk and the positive impact on mental health.’ – Guest feedback

We were also grateful to be joined by community councillor Katrina Faccenda, who gave us an informative and thought-provoking speech about the ‘right to grow’ for communities in Edinburgh, and how Edinburgh Council can facilitate that – a great reminder to contact your local councillor to express your desire for more community growing opportunities in your area.

Following this – it was time to enjoy some delicious food together courtesy of Out of the Blue Café (OOTB,) featuring produce donated by some of the fantastic gardens. Freshly pressed apple juice was also on the menu thanks to those donations, which was such a treat!

Diving into workshop number two, Future Greenspace, everyone discussed what opportunities they saw for more community gardening and greenspaces in their communities – a conversation that was brimming with ideas and will continue long after the event. The gardeners’ enthusiasm and care for their growing projects and communities was palpable here, and it was a real joy to witness their hopes for the future.

‘Loved exchanging ideas with other gardens, lovely film and delicious food.’ – Guest feedback

Our workshop portion ended with First Steps, where we had some great suggestions about how we can start to drive more action and change for community growing and greenspaces using the resources and knowledge available to us.

Edible Estates Growing Together 24 Event, Thur 26/09/2024:
Photography from: Colin Hattersley Photography – cphattersley@gmail.com – (+44) 7974 957 388 – www.colinhattersley.com

To round off a great evening, we wanted to celebrate the achievements of the gardens, beginning with the premiere of a film put together by Glenda Rome showcasing the amazing things taking place in community growing projects across the city – there was a real sense of pride in the room while watching!

‘So inspiring seeing what is happening in other community gardens. Exciting to think of the possibilities!’ – Guest feedback

Then, from creating a community orchard, securing funding, or making a garden more accessible, to beekeeping sessions, new compost bays, and a spectacular wildlife pond – every garden received a certificate and a Golden Trowel to mark all their fantastic efforts. Keep your eyes peeled for a full list and photos of the winners on our Facebook and Instagram.

With that, the celebrations ended, leaving us all with lots of ideas, inspiration, and things to consider moving forward. Feedback from our guests suggested this relaxed forum was a great way to bring community gardeners and local organisations together to support one another through the exchange of knowledge and resources, with suggestions for improvements to future events taken on board. As the year draws to a close and we begin to reflect and plan for 2025, we’re looking forward to highlighting and exploring the themes, challenges, and solutions discussed in the event’s presentations and workshops on our blog over the coming weeks. Here’s to many more events like this in the future!

‘It was super inspiring to have so many community minded folk in the same room! The evening showed the power of celebrating together and sharing learning. Here’s to much more of that!’ – Pippa Lobban, Garden Development Officer

A massive thank you to OOTB for the delicious community meal, Moyra and SOL for the garden tour, and of course to all of the gardeners and organisations who came along and made for such a positive, engaging evening.

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Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden: Community Gardens Are About More Than Growing Food!

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Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden: Community Gardens Are About More Than Growing Food!

Our Muirhouse Mural Project is Complete!

October 8, 2024

(All credit and a huge thank you to Julie Howden for the fantastic photos. Images courtesy of the National Galleries of Scotland.)

It’s been an exciting year in Muirhouse, with the building and opening of its very own Neighbourhood Garden. We’ve been delivering growing workshops to the community since September 2023, which included building growing beds for local people to adopt, and we’re delighted to now have twelve households tending to their own plots. By building neighbourhood gardens like this one on council estates, we aim to create safe, colourful, and inviting spaces where locals can come together as a community to enjoy activities alongside growing and sharing food. This summer, we had the perfect opportunity to collaborate with other local organisations and young people to create something joyful in and for the space – and the result is fantastic!

The Project

While building the garden, we noted a dirty and graffitied wall in need of some TLC on the adjacent disused garages that were being renovated – a blank canvas if you will!

We chatted with Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG) who highlighted that a lot of the young people they work with are creative, and so a mural project seemed a great way to engage and support young people, their families, and the wider Muirhouse community to make the garden space their own and build their connection with it for years to come.

To curate lots of ideas and bring the project to life, we needed an artist. Gillian Cullen (MYDG) got in touch with Holly Yeoman at National Galleries of Scotland (NGS). Holly is the Community Development Coordinator for The NGS Art Works project, and put us in touch with mural artist Natasha Russell. We also offered, via Volunteer Edinburgh, the opportunity for a corporate group to help us prepare the wall.

The stage was set, and so the project began!

The Painting Process

In July, volunteers from Black Circles spent a lovely sunny day scrubbing, wire brushing, and painting the wall in preparation for the mural, which gave the staff an opportunity to get out of the office into the fresh air, spend time with one another, and support a community project.

Throughout August the MYDG, NGS, and Natasha worked on designing and painting the mural, with lots of gardening skills such as seed planting learned along the way, blending creativity with outdoor education.

‘During the mural workshops, the opportunity for the group to work on creative painting work whilst spending time in the garden felt really valuable and it was lovely to see people splitting their time between watering, potato picking, vegetable tasting, and painting their designs.’

Natasha Russell, Lead Artist

The bright colours and interesting shapes of flowers and produce in the Muirhouse garden were the focus of the design, which allowed for lots of exploring. The young people also visited the Botanical Gardens, walked around the neighbourhood, and looked through the NGS’ collection of horticultural artworks for inspiration. Natasha then led several workshops with the young people to come up with the designs, which were cut out and arranged into a collage to make up the final composition.

Natasha also attended community gardening sessions to chat to participants about what they would like included in the mural. Shapes such as the allium flower buds are results of these conversations, which were a great way to involve participants in the project.

‘I loved working with the young people, staff, and wider community to gather ideas, design, and paint this mural together. It’s been great to see how the young people have taken inspiration from the garden’s plants.’

Natasha, Lead Artist

It was wonderful to see the young people spend time getting creative and curious in a natural outdoor space, working together, and developing their confidence throughout the process.

The Mural Unveiling

We welcomed residents, lead artist Natasha, local organisations and MYDG’s budding young artists to an open day in the garden on Monday 16th September, and were blessed with some final rays of summer sunshine over an afternoon of tea, cake, and activities – including fantastic botanical art workshops from artists Seamus Killick and Alexa Hare of NGS.

‘It’s been fantastic to work alongside the local young people and wider community on this project. My hope is that the participants have built a long-lasting connection with the garden and continue to make the space their own. The project has shown that community gardens are not just for horticulture but can be spaces for all kinds of activities – arts, relaxation, exercise, whatever you want it to be!’

Pippa Lobban, GT Community Garden Development Officer

We were delighted that so many people came together to celebrate the young people’s achievement, a few of whom took part in the mural ribbon cutting ceremony. Each were given a certificate for their amazing contributions to the project, with certificates also awarded to the Lend A Hand team for their hard work renovating the garages themselves. It was a fantastic afternoon and a wonderful way to round off the project!

The Final Result

The final mural is vibrant and joyful – a reflection of and credit to the wonderful young people that created it, as well as the Muirhouse community. It’s become a real focal point in the area, with gardeners and local passers-by commenting that it has brightened up the space, and made the garden feel more lived in. It can also be spotted from a nearby roundabout, which has sparked local curiosity and encouraged people to wander up the path to see what is happening – more footfall in and around the garden is always positive!

‘The mural is great, it really brightens up a blank space. The gardeners love it, it’s made them feel like the garden is part of something bigger and it’s great to see several of the local kids popping in to show their painting skills off to their friends.’

Sylva Atkins, GT Community Gardener at Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden

We hope that the young people’s time in the garden throughout the summer has grown their understanding of and appreciation for the space, and encouraged them to use and care for it alongside their family, friends, and neighbours as they grow older, fostering community spirit along the way.

A massive thank you and well done to everyone involved, and here’s to many more creative community garden projects in the future!

A new mural at Muirhouse Community Garden organised by the National Galleries of Scotland was unveiled by some children who worked on it with artist Natasha.

Muirhouse growing sessions run Wednesdays 9:30am-12:30pm, and Sundays 1-4pm, our map will help you find us! Pop in to see the mural for yourself, have a wander around the garden and chat to the lovely group – a cup of tea and a biscuit are always on offer, and Sylva will be happy to chat to you if you’d like to get involved with growing.

MYDG provides opportunities for local young people that foster a positive view of their own future and their impact on the world around them.

National Galleries of Scotland brings together a world class collection of artworks across the National, Modern, and Portrait galleries in Edinburgh.

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Meet Our Community Gardeners: Sylva, Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden

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Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden: Community Gardens Are About More Than Growing Food!

September 6, 2024

One of the great folks that comes along to the newly opened Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden has been doing just that, carving out time to do something she loves – sketching. She shared with us why she loves to draw in the garden, some photos of her sketches, and highlights that community gardens are for everyone.

Have you always enjoyed sketching, and how did you come to love it as a hobby?
I did art when I was young and starting out, and am returning to it now that I’m older, with worse eyes but just as much enthusiasm and joy, Art is how I connect with the world – and it’s fun! Even the simplest sketch involves conceptual thinking so it’s deep too – and you meet really cool people along the way, there’s that as well.

What are your favourite things to sketch?
Diversity, I think, is what I enjoy most both in life and to draw.

Why do you enjoy sketching in the Muirhouse garden?
Just that it’s ok! I can sit and draw and nobody minds. I can also do polyculture in the raised bed I adopted, and nobody minds that either. Sitting and sketching is my way of saying, ‘it’s ok to be here in this garden,’ it’s for us.

Do you think that spending time sketching in the garden has a positive impact for you?
For a high-rise dweller like me the garden as a community space is all kinds of wonderful! Being able to just sit and draw is a big deal for me. I’m more used to sketching at bus stops or perhaps on the (alas increasingly rare) benches dotted around the city. A liminal activity in liminal spaces. Having a garden to sit and draw in is astonishing and unexpected – and amazing. That’s the art bit, that it’s a garden is even better, and that it’s a community garden better yet, so yes, a very positive impact.

The Muirhouse garden is new to the neighbourhood, what do you think about the garden as a space for local people?
The community here is very strong and always has been. We have a history of initiatives being helicoptered in though, so the garden is on the ‘wait and see’ spectrum as far as I can make out, with general good feeling, particularly about growing food for the community, which, given the fact that we haven’t had a supermarket for over a decade, seems a very good idea. I think people are unsure if they’re just expected to donate hours to help. Many people walk past and look in, wave, but under their eyes is what they must do next to keep going in their own lives, not much time nor energy for donating hours.

What would you say to those people to encourage them to stop by for a chat with neighbours, or simply to enjoy the space without feeling as though they have to donate hours?
They should know that there’s really no pressure! My approach is to wave and say hello if I’ve seen someone pass by a few times. Sometimes they’ll pause and chat a little longer, mention how nice the garden is – and that gives me the chance to say they’re welcome to come in for a wander and closer look.

Find your local community garden to see how you can get involved and explore how you can use the space using our map.

Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden holds gardening sessions every Wednesday from 9:30am-12:30pm, and Sunday from 1-4pm.

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