On Saturday 25th April, almost 40 people came together for a (mainly) sunny spring garden clear-up day at the disused bowling green beside Colinton Mains Park. This event was run by Edible Estates and Oxgangs Community Gardeners (OCG) – a group of dedicated local residents aiming to improve greenspaces and biodiversity, create and grow local food, and with it, community.
The collaborative effort included Trustees and existing members of OCG, new volunteers, as well as some local visitors wanting to know what was going on at the site, and to find out more.
OCG have spent a long time planning, plotting and waiting for permissions to come through to get started transforming the neglected space into a thriving community garden. And of course, looking at the skies in an especially rainy spring, and wondering if they’d ever be able to go into the garden and get their hands dirty.
Finally, the stars aligned, and you’d be hard-pressed to see a more enthusiastic group of people anywhere.
Activities included removing a lot of debris and waste from the site, which meant some surprising discoveries along the way, such as:
- a “Ladies” sign from the old Colinton Mains Bowling Club
- bowling balls and shoes
- animal bones, potentially from foxes and badgers
- a fire extinguisher, presumably from a fire at the site after the club closed down.
Elsewhere, members and new volunteers were busy trimming back hedges, mowing the grass, and digging up weeds and saplings.
We cleared and widened existing paths and even found a ramp which will help us get materials on site in future – thanks to a former member of the bowling club who remembered much of the original layout.
We were all excited not just to finally be working on the site, but also to see so much interest and support from the local community. Everyone came away energised and eager to do more, with one community member saying:
“Superb day, came away on a wee high on life!”
and another stating:
“Still can’t get over yesterday and how many lovely people came and helped out.”
The day represented an important step on the road to creating the neighbourhood garden, and the community couldn’t wait to get going with more. We will be running two more Saturday clean-ups on 23rd May and 13th June, and anyone is welcome to come and help out, find out more, or just have a cup of tea and a blether.
If you would like to get involved with Oxgangs Community Gardeners, or become a member, you can email oxgangsgardeners@gmail.com or eleanor@edibleestates.scot
And finally, we would like to thank:
- The members and volunteers who planned the day, posted flyers, brought tools and refreshments, and last but not least came together and did an incredible amount of work
- The Hub for letting us use their space for breaks and to prepare and store refreshments
- Oxgangs Library for supporting local charities with meeting facilities and free printing.
See you very soon and watch this space!
Blog originally written by Birgit Gaiser, Chair of Oxgangs Community Gardeners
Work begins on a new community garden for all of Oxgangs!
On Saturday 25th April, almost 40 people came together for a (mainly) sunny spring garden clear-up day at the disused bowling green beside Colinton Mains Park. This event was run by Edible Estates and Oxgangs Community Gardeners (OCG) – a group of dedicated local residents aiming to improve greenspaces and biodiversity, create and grow local food, and with it, community.
The collaborative effort included Trustees and existing members of OCG, new volunteers, as well as some local visitors wanting to know what was going on at the site, and to find out more.
OCG have spent a long time planning, plotting and waiting for permissions to come through to get started transforming the neglected space into a thriving community garden. And of course, looking at the skies in an especially rainy spring, and wondering if they’d ever be able to go into the garden and get their hands dirty.
Finally, the stars aligned, and you’d be hard-pressed to see a more enthusiastic group of people anywhere.
Activities included removing a lot of debris and waste from the site, which meant some surprising discoveries along the way, such as:
- a “Ladies” sign from the old Colinton Mains Bowling Club
- bowling balls and shoes
- animal bones, potentially from foxes and badgers
- a fire extinguisher, presumably from a fire at the site after the club closed down.
Elsewhere, members and new volunteers were busy trimming back hedges, mowing the grass, and digging up weeds and saplings.
We cleared and widened existing paths and even found a ramp which will help us get materials on site in future – thanks to a former member of the bowling club who remembered much of the original layout.
We were all excited not just to finally be working on the site, but also to see so much interest and support from the local community. Everyone came away energised and eager to do more, with one community member saying:
“Superb day, came away on a wee high on life!”
and another stating:
“Still can’t get over yesterday and how many lovely people came and helped out.”
The day represented an important step on the road to creating the neighbourhood garden, and the community couldn’t wait to get going with more. We will be running two more Saturday clean-ups on 23rd May and 13th June, and anyone is welcome to come and help out, find out more, or just have a cup of tea and a blether.
If you would like to get involved with Oxgangs Community Gardeners, or become a member, you can email oxgangsgardeners@gmail.com or eleanor@edibleestates.scot
And finally, we would like to thank:
- The members and volunteers who planned the day, posted flyers, brought tools and refreshments, and last but not least came together and did an incredible amount of work
- The Hub for letting us use their space for breaks and to prepare and store refreshments
- Oxgangs Library for supporting local charities with meeting facilities and free printing.
See you very soon and watch this space!
Blog originally written by Birgit Gaiser, Chair of Oxgangs Community Gardeners