May’s Community Fund focus was on Edinburgh Garden Partners – a charity that focuses on tidy up and redesigning projects for the elderly and those unable to maintain their gardens. As well as this they have a garden sharing scheme which matches people who want to garden with people who have space to share, often older and disabled people.
Our Community Fund team’s project focused on the former, heading to the south of Edinburgh to help an avid gardener restore her garden to how it was when she was able. Our Vegware team of eight volunteers headed down early in the morning keen to get to work. With limited gardening experience among us, the Edinburgh Garden Partners volunteers were great in spearheading the owner’s vision.
With the garden having three tiers to it there was plenty of work to be getting on with. From weeding to creating a compost heap, along with the Edinburgh Garden partners team, we worked for around five hours in the sunshine working on an array of tasks. Some of the more creative members of our team even tried their hand at bush sculpting, shaping a perfect egg.
At the end of a hard day, our work was done. We learnt some great gardening skills and gave the garden a good platform for further development. Edinburgh Garden Partners do a lot of great work in the community and hopefully our story has inspired you to get involved. If you would like to volunteer, details on how to register your interest can be found on their website.