The Maxwell Centre in Dundee is host to the community gardening project, Every1’s Garden. Originally a builders yard that had become derelict, the Maxwell Centre identified an opportunity to develop a community green space. They transformed the lot into a community garden, with an array of raised beds, allotments, a polytunnel, orchard, seating areas, and a building used for education and garden therapy activities.
The garden provides access to growing facilities in an area of the city where access to green spaces is limited. Many of the children who visit the centre for regular workshops have little access to gardens, and the space provides children with educational opportunities relating to food production, healthy living, the environment, and ecology.
Many of the groups which meet in the centre use the garden to produce fresh fruit and vegetables, and as a way to socialise and relax. Fresh produce from the garden is used to make healthy soup which is regularly made available to centre visitors.
The Maxwell Centre aims to empower members of their community to improve their quality of life with welfare advice, art groups, IT classes, and, of course, its award-winning community gardening which is endorsed by Keep Scotland Beautiful’s “It’s Your Neighbourhood” Campaign.
This project exudes what a community gardening project should be. Their work is geared for every generation and provides an environment for therapeutic gardening.
