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Community Garden at Pilton Equalities Project (PEP)
2025-05-09 • No comments • • Grow Your Own fund
The West Pilton Gardening Group is seeking funding to expand and further develop our existing community garden, increasing access to fresh, locally grown produce for people in our area. Our project supports food security, environmental sustainability, and community wellbeing. By enhancing the garden’s infrastructure and capacity, we will be able to grow food for our local sharing initiatives, involve more volunteers in meaningful activity, and provide opportunities for informal learning and skill-building.
Our community garden is already a valued local resource. With additional support, we aim to increase its impact by producing food, engaging more people, and creating a greener, healthier neighbourhood. Produce grown in the garden will be shared via our Community Sharing Shelf at the PEP Centre and used in our community groups. The project will also promote mental and physical wellbeing by offering regular opportunities for residents to connect with nature, learn new skills, and contribute to a shared purpose.
Project Objectives:
- Expand and improve our community garden to boost food production.
- Provide fresh, sustainable produce to our community groups and local residents, supporting the City of Edinburgh Council’s Net Zero and Anti-Poverty priorities, as well as aligning with the priority goal of Creating Good Places to Live and Work.
- Promote wellbeing and social connection by involving volunteers in growing activities, skill-sharing, and informal education.
- Foster a greater understanding of urban food growing and sustainable practices through hands-on experience.
How We Will Use the Funding: A grant of £4,000 will allow us to:
- Install Two Greenhouses – These will extend the growing season, support seed propagation, and increase our ability to produce food year-round.
- Purchase Tools, Equipment, Seeds, and Plants – Essential resources to expand and maintain the garden effectively and sustainably.
- Employ a Sessional Gardener – We will hire an experienced gardener for 3 hours per week over 6 months (£25/hour). This role will involve planning and overseeing growing activities, supporting volunteers in the Gardening Group, and delivering informal education and skills sessions.
- Increase Volunteer Engagement – We will involve a diverse group of at least 15 local volunteers, including existing PEP service users, in regular gardening sessions. Funding will help us promote the project widely across the community, making volunteering accessible and inclusive.
This project will be an inclusive, community-led initiative. The garden will serve as a space not only for food production, but for social connection, skill-building, and positive action on climate and health.
Edible Garden at The Action Group
2025-05-06 • 1 comment • • Grow Your Own fund
We would propose the following: • The Green Thumbs (our clients) has approached us at The Action Group to set up a unconstituted /informal gardening group made up by our clients. The role of The Action Group is to provide assistance in facilitation and risk management, and we agree to be the parent company of this project. • The group would use our indoor courtyard space, that is privately accessed by The Action Group, that the group could access freely, with an emphasis on fresh produce (herbs, vegetables, fruits) to be grown safely there, away from public misuse or vandalism, to ensure it is safe to then share with this community. • The group would then harvest the produce, and we could set up a publicly accessible stall in the land/garden that is publicly accessible currently. This is where people could take the fresh produce for a small donation or for free, with donations going towards the gardening groups endeavours or local charities within the community. • For larger fruit trees we do have a public accessible spot that we would happily set up a orchard. We would put recycled signs up to encourage people to help themselves to the fruit. One client in particular has a vision of us making apple juices from trees that we hope to one day plant/be able to acquire!
Additional things we'd like to be able to achieve: o One of our service groups in Falkirk are learning how to make planter boxes and basic woodwork skills from recycled goods and so we’d plan to incorporate their skills and recycled goods to aid this project further and to invite community volunteers to help us with this project. o Eventually we’d love to see our clients proudly sharing what they manage to do with the ingredients we harvest and sharing that information with our community. One idea that the clients have had is to make a recipe book based on what we cook from the fresh produce, to share with the communtiy. o We'd like to connect with Edinburgh College which is across the road from our centre, for them to share their skills in horticulture and gardening where possible, and potentially the cooking units. We'd also welcome any of the students to gain volunteer experience with us.