Award Ceremony fun with GLiN in partnership with CRT

Posted October 17, 2023

In Blog, GLiN, GLiN/CRT, Grow & Learn in Nature

This year, The Caley worked in partnership with CRT (Coalfields Regeneration Trust) to bring our Grow & Learn in Nature (GLiN) Award to ex-coalfield communities across Scotland. For the past ten months we have been working with seven groups across Scotland, helping them to create and grow new gardens on sites in their communities. The seven groups we worked with were:

ACDI Cabin Crewin Auchinleck,
The Zone – Recovery Support Groupin Dalmellington,
The Danderhall District Guerrilla Gardeners in Danderhall,
The STAND Dementia Group based at The Kennoway Community Shed & Garden,
Fairway Fife based at the Grow West Fife Garden in Culross,
UPMO at The Hive in Gorebridge and
The Gorebridge Community Gardeners at the Beacon Centre.

They have all created very different and wonderful gardens that grow food for them to eat and cook with, create food and homes for pollinators and wildlife, showcase plants and change rundown spaces into great gardens for the community to enjoy. And all of the hard work has paid off as they have all achieved their GLiN Awards. We were able to celebrate with all of the groups throughout September and October at award ceremonies across the country.

All of the groups have done a fantastic job, working hard on their gardens. What a brilliant, diverse mix of gardens and all of them growing food for people, growing for their local community, or growing for wildlife and pollinators. It has been a pleasure working with every single one of them over the past 10 months and we have all learned so much about gardening. Keep up the great gardening.

We would also like to say thank to our partners, Coalfields Regeneration Trust, for funding this work and giving us the opportunity to work with the groups. An extra special thanks to Enid for all her help and support.

Well done to everyone for achieving their GLiN Awards.

Emma Griffith
RCHS Horticultural Educator

Please see below a collection of pictures of the groups receiving their GLiN Awards and pictures of their beautiful gardens.

UPMO at The Hive in Gorebridge

The UPMO Group with their GLiN Award Certificates

The UPMO Group with the raised beds they built. The group cut the grass, drilled the sleepers together and stapled the liner into the raised beds ready for filling.

The UPMO groups cottage garden style raised beds planted with peas, beans, beetroot, courgettes, carrots, onions, spring onions, lettuce, chicory, cabbages, mixed leaves, spinach, calendula, sweet peas, nasturtiums and poppies.

The Gorebridge Community Gardeners at the Beacon Centre

The Gorebridge Community Gardeners with their GLiN Award Certificates

The Volunteers from Gorebridge Community Gardeners transformed this area (left) nicknamed “The Death Strip” into “The Cobble Garden”. This was done after consultation with the local home owners and they decided to turn it into an accessible space that would become a wonderful wildlife and feature garden for the community.

The Danderhall District Guerrilla Gardeners in Danderhall

The Danderhall District Guerrilla Gardeners and pupils from Danderhall primary school receiving their awards at Saughton Park.

The Maulsford garden, an ex-council area that the group wanted to transform into an alpine show garden as it is the entrance to Danderhall Village

The DDGG group of volunteers and primary school children planting up the new alpine plants and wildlife hedging in the Maulsford Garden

The alpine garden and wildlife hedging newly planted in the new “Show Garden

The STAND Dementia Group based at The Kennoway Community Shed & Garden

Emma (Caley Horticultural Educator) and Enid (CRT Community Engagement Officer) giving out certificates to the participants of the STAND group in the Kennoway Shed.

The STAND group in the garden after receiving their GLiN Award Certificates.

: The STAND groups raised bed at the start of their GLiN project in May with potatoes, beans, leeks and onions and marigolds.

: The STAND groups raised bed at the end of the project in September with beans, sweet peas, potatoes, marigolds, leeks, onions, lettuce, salad leaves, peas, cabbage, Romanesco cauliflower, carrots and poppies

Flower bouquets the STAND group collected from their raised beds. The group grew poppies, cornflowers, calendula and sweet peas to encourage pollinators. The members really enjoyed growing the flowers alongside their vegetables and loved smelling the beautiful scents of the sweet peas.

Fairway Fife based at the Grow West Fife Garden in Culross

The Fairway Fife Group with their GLiN Award certificates at the Grow West Fife Garden

The start of the groups nature garden. They had already found and added in the old sink as a wildlife pond and started their rock pile. At this point they were starting to add the bark pathway and plant lots of wildflowers.

: The group planting up their sunflower planters.

: The group’s planter gardens with their sunflowers for feeding birds.

: The group’s Nature Garden that they created.

: The group’s flag that they made to advertise the wonderful nature garden they created .

The groups vegetable plot really grew and produced lots of tasty food for the group to eat. They grew onions, garlic, peas, parsnips, Brussel sprouts, cabbages, mixed leaf lettuce, radish, basil and parsley.

ACDI Cabin Crew in Auchinleck

The ACDI Cabin Crew members receiving their GLiN Award Certificates from Pam (The Caley) and Bob (CRT).

The Cabin Crews Garden at the start of their GLiN Award. At this point they had already cleared away the brambles and weeds that covered the whole area and had discovered the patio, BBQ, benches and had built the fire pit.

Craig’s garden design for the space, to turn the garden into a mediation and zen garden with herbs, fruit bushes, alpine plants and hedging for wildlife (left). In the right hand picture is Trisha and Toni removing weeds and planting chives and nasturtiums.

The Cabin Crews Garden at the end of their GLiN Award with an alpine rockery (right corner), tyres of bulbs and shrubs (on the ridge), hedging whips planted along the left ridge to add shelter and the start of the herb garden in front of this on the left bank.

The Zone – Recovery Support Group in Dalmellington

The group receiving their GLiN Group Award

: The Zone Recovery groups polytunnel and garden area. The polytunnel was empty of plants when they started and sadly the sides of the polytunnel had been ripped open by vandals.

: The groups garden and polytunnel at the end of their GLiN Award. They upcycled wooden creates, plastic bread crates, mushroom creates and pallet collars to make planters. In these they grew spring onions, beetroot, carrots, peas, parsley, mint, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, corn marigolds and rudbeckia.

Inside the polytunnel the group cleared three beds and build a half-pallet raised bed. Doing this gave them the space to grow sweetcorn, tomatoes, courgettes, dwarf beans and a lemon cucumber. All grew well considering the polytunnel continued to be damage throughout the project.

The ACDI Cabin Crew and The Zone Recovery groups in the garden at Auchinleck after receiving their GLiN Award Certificates. With representatives from The Caley and CRT.