News from the Community Garden
The Community Garden is open to anyone and a great opportunity for you to grow fruit and vegetables, together with other gardening enthusiasts! Our volunteers are lovely and very keen to get more people involved, so "Spring into Action" and join us on our next Garden Work Days!
At our February Work Day, we learned about pruning and moved 2 apple trees, 3 hazels, 2 hawthorns and 3 small oak trees to more suitable locations in the Community Garden, making room for the raised beds and polytunnel. In March we created 2 new raised beds and added a roof to our shed.
Our next Garden Work Day is planned for Sunday 12th May 2024, when we'll build a larger polytunnel (thanks to funding from the Highlands & Islands Climate Hub!)
The Work Days always start at 11am, weather permitting. Check our Facebook page nearer the time, to find out if it's going ahead: Facebook
On Easter Sunday, 31st March 2024 the Garden hosted a very successful Easter Fun Day, organised by the An Cearcall Gaelic Playgroup. More than 60 people joined in with some 'egg'cellent activities!
The Community Garden is open to anyone and a great opportunity for you to grow fruit and vegetables, together with other gardening enthusiasts! Our volunteers are lovely and very keen to get more people involved, so "Spring into Action" and join us on our next Garden Work Days!
At our February Work Day, we learned about pruning and moved 2 apple trees, 3 hazels, 2 hawthorns and 3 small oak trees to more suitable locations in the Community Garden, making room for the raised beds and polytunnel. In March we created 2 new raised beds and added a roof to our shed.
Our next Garden Work Day is planned for Sunday 12th May 2024, when we'll build a larger polytunnel (thanks to funding from the Highlands & Islands Climate Hub!)
The Work Days always start at 11am, weather permitting. Check our Facebook page nearer the time, to find out if it's going ahead: Facebook
On Easter Sunday, 31st March 2024 the Garden hosted a very successful Easter Fun Day, organised by the An Cearcall Gaelic Playgroup. More than 60 people joined in with some 'egg'cellent activities!
Where is the Community Garden?
If you walk past the Community Centre and along right to the end of MacNaughton Crescent, you come to a gate that takes you into a grassed area with a tarmac track running around the edge and goal posts at either end. The garden is furthest from the gate, at the far end of the pitch, behind the caravan.
If you walk past the Community Centre and along right to the end of MacNaughton Crescent, you come to a gate that takes you into a grassed area with a tarmac track running around the edge and goal posts at either end. The garden is furthest from the gate, at the far end of the pitch, behind the caravan.
2023:
The small polytunnel was put to good use by our volunteers and yielded lovely crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries. We have put up a shed and compost bins, one of which was donated by Lochaber Environmental Group. Shielbridge Estate enabled us to install additional deer fencing, so hopefully we should have some fruit on the trees in 2024!
As you can see in the pictures below, three generations of volunteers helped to build and paint a marvellous "mud kitchen", for children to play in!
To celebrate our achievements and raise awareness of the Garden and its opportunities for learning about resilience and the climate, we took part in the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival, with a pot-luck picnic (incl. live music, click here for a short video!) on 30th September 2023.
The small polytunnel was put to good use by our volunteers and yielded lovely crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries. We have put up a shed and compost bins, one of which was donated by Lochaber Environmental Group. Shielbridge Estate enabled us to install additional deer fencing, so hopefully we should have some fruit on the trees in 2024!
As you can see in the pictures below, three generations of volunteers helped to build and paint a marvellous "mud kitchen", for children to play in!
To celebrate our achievements and raise awareness of the Garden and its opportunities for learning about resilience and the climate, we took part in the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival, with a pot-luck picnic (incl. live music, click here for a short video!) on 30th September 2023.
How did it start...
Inspired by the taste of freshly squeezed apple juice all picked from apple trees in the village in October 2019, a group of us got together to see if we could establish a Community Orchard......with fruit trees that are grown, looked after and the fruit harvested by the community. We found a great but neglected site right in the middle of the village which is surrounded by very healthy looking apple trees in neighbouring gardens; so we thought it should be a good location for more!
Working with the Community Company we were successful in getting a grant from the Scottish Salmon Company, a local employer, which was enough to buy 12 fruit trees. These included 8 apples, 2 pears and 2 plums. Then the local estate (Shielbridge) said they could pay for the fencing that was needed to keep the deer out of the site. Over 2 Saturdays, we have worked with volunteers to enclose the site with new fencing, a large gate and a pedestrian gate.
Up to being planted, the trees were looked after over the winter in a polytunnel and so needed to be planted out before first signs of growth. Luckily, the Acharacle Primary School sent out 12 willing pupils on March 21st and all the trees were planted, fed and staked (using coppiced hazel poles and old bike inner tubes to tie the trees to each stake). The school also kindly donated 40 mixed native shrubs and trees which have been planted within the site.
Inspired by the taste of freshly squeezed apple juice all picked from apple trees in the village in October 2019, a group of us got together to see if we could establish a Community Orchard......with fruit trees that are grown, looked after and the fruit harvested by the community. We found a great but neglected site right in the middle of the village which is surrounded by very healthy looking apple trees in neighbouring gardens; so we thought it should be a good location for more!
Working with the Community Company we were successful in getting a grant from the Scottish Salmon Company, a local employer, which was enough to buy 12 fruit trees. These included 8 apples, 2 pears and 2 plums. Then the local estate (Shielbridge) said they could pay for the fencing that was needed to keep the deer out of the site. Over 2 Saturdays, we have worked with volunteers to enclose the site with new fencing, a large gate and a pedestrian gate.
Up to being planted, the trees were looked after over the winter in a polytunnel and so needed to be planted out before first signs of growth. Luckily, the Acharacle Primary School sent out 12 willing pupils on March 21st and all the trees were planted, fed and staked (using coppiced hazel poles and old bike inner tubes to tie the trees to each stake). The school also kindly donated 40 mixed native shrubs and trees which have been planted within the site.
