Vision and Purpose:

This community garden will serve as a multifunctional space that:

• Provides a calm and beautiful resting place for individuals using the active travel networks.
• Engages local people in food-growing practices, offering an accessible way to connect with urban agriculture.
• Supports biodiversity, linking nature networks in Roseburn Path, Union Canal, and Dalry Cemetery, mitigating habitat loss caused by the cycle path development.
• Improves soil permeability to absorb rainfall and reduce flooding risks on Russell Road.
• Promotes community wellbeing by providing a shared space where local people can gather, share knowledge, and engage in meaningful activities that strengthen local connections and deepen community ties.
• Promotes individual wellbeing by enabling people to reconnect with nature, contributing to mental and emotional health through hands-on engagement with soil, plants, and local wildlife.

 Environmental resilience and food security:

• Permaculture techniques to manage natural resources at the garden.
• Careful rainwater management (waste water runoff collection by plumbing runoff pipes from cycle path railway bridge into water butts, rain water collection in landscaped swales)
• Improvement of soil structure, stability and nutrient density (Focussing on perennial plants as much as possible to reduce soil disruption, adding organic matter back into the soil with compost and green manure, improving soil water permeability and water retention through surface mulching)
• Natural pollination and pest management by co-planting veg/fruit with flowers and herbs to attract pollinators and pest-managing insects like ladybirds.

 Access to food growing knowledge and green skills:

• By encouraging community learning and informed participation in community composting, demonstrated by a fantastic project in Lancaster where residents could take a quick induction course in order to make sure compost composition and maintenance was correct. More community involvement means more compost, which means more food!
• Volunteers at the garden will learn hands-on about food growing, and funding could allow guest experts to come in to teach skills, or to help run interactive sessions.

We would like to develop the outdoor farm area of Longstone Primary School.  We have so far constructed 5 large raised beds for growing vegetables and further space is available around it.  We would like to add fruit bushes and plants to this.  The area will help develop the children's understanding of where our food originates, allow them to learn how we can grow our own and then enjoy the reward of picking and eating it.  Our goal is to provide further outdoor learning opportunities and a space that the children can be proud to take care of.

How do we hope to spend the money?

We would like to purchase and plant a selection of fruit plants, including raspberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and rhubard.  We would also like a supply of seeds and seedlings for the vegetable area, including herbs for a sensory area.  We would also purchase some child-sized gardening equipment, including gloves, small trowels/forks and watering cans.  Other gardening supplies such as compost, seed pots and growing supports/trellises would also be needed.  We would also look to purchase a folding fire pit and safety equipment so that small groups could be involved with outdoor cooking.

Who will benefit from this project?

The site is accessed by 300 children - 250 from the primary school and 50 from the attached nursery.  This project would provide garden areas accessible to all of these children, giving the option for teachers to incorporate outdoor learning into their classes.  It would also be available for use in extra-curricular activites with a gardening club.  This project is coordinated by the parent council so would also provide volunteering and social activities for the parents and carers willing to help.