Kyle of Lochalsh Community Trust received funding from The Pebble Trust for their Garden on the Plock project. Here they tell us how they turned part of Plock of Kyle community parkland into an edible garden.
Our community parkland the Plock of Kyle is basically peat. We had spent two or three years restoring the wildflower meadow but thought that the park would benefit from a community garden. We envisioned volunteers and groups growing vegetables and enjoying the peace of a garden. The produce that was grown was to go to our Community Fridge which is in the village of Kyle.
The grant from the Pebble Trust paid for a gardener, 14hrs a week for a year –which we hoped would be long enough to establish the garden and volunteers. The garden area is approximately 20m x 20m, right in the middle of the Plock Meadow, which means that it is very public and passed by an average of 100 people a day. We have created a small pond for water, here is a fruit cage, 3 very large raised beds, with planter ‘wings’. We have an Orchard Trail in the garden with plans to expand it with fruit trees leading from the main road up to the community garden.
John, our gardener, was able to get some vegetables from the garden at the end of the growing season 2023.
Our mental health support group the ‘Resting Rowans’ has seen a change in leadership with Jess and John (the Gardener) working together as Group Leaders. We have increased volunteer participation and gained two additional, regular attendees. We have maintained semi regular active-sessions in which local artists and experts, lead activities e.g.: seated movement, willow weaving, sketching and ink painting within the garden area.
We will also have an outdoor cooking space in the garden, and have portable outdoor cooking equipment, funded through another source, so that the community can enjoy cooking and eating our produce together. Our newly recruited volunteer chef delegates cooking roles to those keen to be involved in making delicious food each session, from soups, hot wraps, burgers and more using as much of the garden produce as possible.
We continue to focus on, and prioritise creating safe and relaxed sessions with a focus on the natural environment – from gardening, seated chats, gentle walks and mind forest bathing.
We have struggled with attracting garden volunteers, although we do have a couple who will come along when they are able. The Trust has also recently appointed a Volunteer Coordinator who will be trying to recruit volunteers for all the Trust projects. However, we are also looking at perhaps the possibility of creating allotment space as we have had feedback that people are put off putting in time when someone else can take the produce.
The garden will continue to evolve but has already become a space for people to gather when we have events, and the newly created benches often have visitors seated on them.