Heal the Earth Ayrshire have received over £30,000 from the Climate Challenge Fund in April 2009 for a two-year community project to grow organic food in the previously unused walled garden at the Dean Castle Country Park, Kilmarnock, neglected for over a century.
Our plans for Walled Garden at Dean Castle Park are unique. The garden space will be open to local people to grow good quality, fresh, organic vegetables with little or no carbon footprint from transportation and without need for harmful packaging. We aim to develop a sense of community sharing (akin to the ‘Dig for Victory’ movement of WW2) sharing both the creation and care of the garden.
The primary aims of the garden will be:
- Grow food organically in individual/ group raised beds
- Contribute and share in the community area of the garden
- Participants reduce their personal carbon footprint over time
- Educate, especially young people, about growing food to restore the old custom of growing veg in the back garden.
East Ayrshire Council offered the group this site in December 2008 and have been most helpful in giving lots of practical support to get this venture off the ground. As there is only one allotment site in East Ayrshire, with a long waiting list, demand by residents for growing space is increasing. The walled garden is part of the Assloss Estate and was last used to supply Assloss House with vegetables over 100 years ago.
It is very important to us that participation by local people should be affordable. ‘We are grateful to the Climate Challenge Fund for sharing our vision of people growing their own food locally at very little financial cost,’ said Jenny Brown who is managing the garden project. ‘We are linking with local families, schools, Kilmarnock College, financially disadvantaged peoples and those with limited mobility to use the garden to grow their own organic food.’
Why use raised beds? In a permaculture approach, raised beds are low maintenance because:
- Soil isn’t stepped on so isn’t compacted
- The soil doesn’t need dug
- Vegetables are easily reached from the sides.
- High raised beds allow easy access from a wheelchair.
- It’s an easily manageable system for experienced gardeners and beginners alike.
What makes this a Community Garden? - We believe that building a sense of community, in the microcosmic level which this garden represents, could be a model of community sharing for all ages in society at large, especially preparing our young people for the norm of a low-carbon lifestyle and how to co-operate as community.
The community area of the garden will have communal beds, fruit trees and bushes, seating and a wildlife pond. Garden users are encouraged to contribute to the community area in addition to their own area. Some seeds will also be given to growers to use in their individual growing area. Tools will be shared which allows garden users to arrive by an eco-friendly mode, such as walking, bus or cycling. The nearest car parking is ¼ of a mile away at Assloss Road car park. No parking is allowed on Assloss Road or on the track down to the garden, except to off load or for disabled parking.
After the two year funding period, we plan to explore ways to work as a community to fund the garden so that individuals & groups can use the garden for very little cost, such as selling some communally grown produce in the local area. In this way, everyone benefits. The price is affordable to anyone to use the garden and the wider community get fresh, organic food with virtually no carbon footprint.