News

The Community Growers were all delighted to be involved in the new Food Festival in the City Square this summer.   We used the occasion to showcase all the work that goes on in the Growing spaces around the City.  We served up over 250 free Mocktails made with herbs and flowers from the gardens.  We had loads of fun and told visitors all about how to grow more plants for bees, how to make compost and how to sow seeds.   We even made pots out of old newspapers.   It was also a great chance to tell everyone about some of our volunteer opportunities and this shiny new website!

Our network is very grateful to the wonderful University of Dundee Botanic Garden team headed by Kevin Frediani. Thanks to them, volunteers from all our community gardens and growing spaces can benefit from free entry to the Botanics. What a wonderful gift and opportunity for us to visit more often and hopefully work in collaboration.

We are super excited about this new mini-community garden right in the middle of town. Robyn Scanlan and fellow artists and community organisers are making this space in the Keiller Centre a real hub of green, creative, community reflection and action. We are looking forward to working together to get more folk to benefit from community food growing. follow them on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cityflowers_gardenstudio/

Our great group of seed savers got together again this past Sunday, hosted (and fed!) by the lovely Gisela at Dundee Botanics. Bonnie Dundee, Maxwell, Duntrune, PLANT, Botanics, the Seed and Campy Growers were all present with a few apologies. After sharing our progress Lucy presented some useful information about diseases to look out for. Gabriela Toledo from the James Hutton Institute told us about their projects with tomato varieties and we considered ways of working together, from events to shared project participants. Gisela made us very jealous after showing us how well their edible plants are doing in their greenhouse, we all know now who will be saving those first ripe tomato seeds! If you would like to get involved please send us a message.

The Community Garden Network are taking part in the 2024 Big Garden Birdwatch run by the RSPB.

Growers from Dundee Community Garden Network have received seeds from Seeds of Scotland. 

A spade, some compost, a bit of strength and here is Campy Growers' new orchard appearing!! Incorporating fruit tress makes a massive difference to the growing space. In a few years, they will harvest their own fruits to share with the community and why not make some apple juice! 

We're so pleased to report that not only has Victoria Gardens received a Level 5 - Outstanding grade from Keep Scotland Beautiful's It's Your Neighbourhood Program, but we have also received a certificate of recognition for our work in making a space that is friendly to pollinators and helps support their vital ecosystem services even in an urban environment! Let's keep up the good work in the coming year in making Victoria Gardens as friendly to people AND wildlife as it can possibly be!

  They’ve done a wonderful job clearing and restoring the pond. It’s looking so much better and will make a welcoming home to lots of wildlife. Louise from Frog Life offered her help and advice to make the most  amazing pond.  Let's not forget volunteers who worked hard behind the scenes, providing hot drinks and soup to keep everyone warm! An inspiring project for sure.