On Weds 10 March artist Alex Wilde led our fourth community garden workshop.  Alex is well known artist in Drumchapel as has worked extensively with local children on gardening projects.

Alex led a ready steady cook-along workshop with the seasonal produce that can be grown at this time of year, showing what to do with the produce once it's grown. By the end of the session we had made curried parsnip soup, a variety of salads and stewed rubbarb and apple for desert.

The workshop demonstrated the link between gardening and health and well-being. We hope that the community garden in Drumchapel will eventually provide a provocative way into a better diet and better health for the local community.

Last Weds 24th February, Drumchapel community gardeners braved the snowy weather to pay a visit to community gardens in Toryglen.

Abi Mordan from Urban Roots led a tour around three of their community gardens.  Urban Roots is a community led organisation based in Toryglen. It works with local people on projects that improve health and nutrition and the environment.  Their volunteer teams take on lots of different projects such as transforming derelict or unused green spaces into thriving, blossoming community gardens where they grow herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers.  Some of the produce is then redistributed back into the community through their weekly Fruit Barra.

The gardens make the area look more attractive, and help to create more used, social and safe places in the community.  It was impressive to see what the residents of Toryglen had achieved and the visit gave us lots of enthusiasm for the things which could be realised by the community garden project in Drumchapel.

The Drumchapel community garden workshops have been moving along successfully and have been well received by local residents who are keen to get involved in a project which intends to improve out door living space for the community.

On 11 February we visited the Coach House Trust’s community run garden centre on Aldermann Road.   The Coach House Trust provides support, training and work opportunities for adults recovering from problems such as an addiction or mental health problems.  Their garden centre provides a valuable resource for the local community, creating employment and also incorporates a market garden growing vegetables and fruit.

Expert gardeners Kate and Paula, who work for the trust, led workshops on basic gardening skills such as seed sowing and composting.  We sowed a variety of seeds such as tomatoes, dwarf beans, basil, chives, marigolds and calendula, which are now happily growing away in the CCA office awaiting warmer weather when they will be planted outside on the community garden site at Drumchapel.   We eventually hope that Drumchapel community garden will provide training and work for local people akin to Aldermann Road. This visit was therefore very insightful.