Visit plants ideas for island garden

Volunteers travelled to Cambuslang in Glasgow on Saturday to get a tour of green charity GROW 73’s site.

The group spent an information-packed afternoon with GROW 73 co-ordinator Eugenie Aroutcheff and community gardener David Matthews picking up ideas and tips on how to cultivate a successful project back home on Luing.

GROW 73 helps people of all ages and abilities to grow their own produce, learn how to lead more sustainable lives and support biodiversity in their area.

From starting up a wormery to making raised beds, organising a polytunnel to filling compost bins, lots of questions were asked and answered.

The trip ended with soup and cake shared round a campfire.

Luing Growers are building a plan for their community garden in Cullipool. Planning permission has been granted by Argyll and Bute Council with quotes for groundwork now being gathered. Two polycrubs have also been ordered. 

Isle of Luing Community Trust’s Colin Buchanan who is also the project co-ordinator for Luing’s garden said: "So grateful to visit GROW 73 Community Garden in Cambuslang and learn from them, how to create a working garden. They also connected us with a great network of people working across Scotland with gardens that are growing food, including Dunoon and Campbeltown. Luing Growers plan to be joining them soon as we develop our Community Garden."

Luing Growers interim chairperson Birgit Whitmore said: "What I learned was that it’s not just a garden project but that it can become a hub of related activities that brings the community  together."

Luing Grower Avril Buchanan said: "A key point for me was Eugenie telling us that networking with other garden projects had been particularly useful for them and that by using and adapting practices that had already been tried out had actually saved GROW 73 a lot of time and effort."

And fellow grower Kathie Griffiths added: "We’re full of inspiration and can’t wait to start on our own garden after Saturday’s exchange visit. A big thanks to Eugenie and David at GROW 73. We’re looking forward to  inviting them to our grand opening later this year."

Saturday’s community learning exchange visit to GROW 73 was funded by the Scottish Community Alliance.

Luing Community Garden also has financial support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Central Scotland Green Network and the Scottish Government via its Community Led Local Development fund overseen by the Argyll and the Islands Local Action Group (LAG) to be administered by Argyll and Bute Council.