Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens – March Update

In the wake of an exceptionally mild winter, March temperatures have further exceeded expectations, the last week or so in particular bringing almost Mediterranean conditions. Early sowings have been germinating well in the warm soil of the vegetable garden; we have had a team of enthusiastic waterers from Craiglockhart Primary to ensure that things get a good start in spite of the persistent dryness!

We welcomed George Watson Nursery School to the gardens this month. The children and staff came for a tour round the site in six groups over three days, with each tour lasting around an hour. The wormery proved a definite favourite, and sightings of Rabbits, Squirrels and birds were also popular.

The children ran a special garden related assembly at their school, selling programmes, and generously donated the proceeds to ourselves. Many thanks!

A team from Lloyds banking group spent the day with us on the 27th, enjoying a day of perfect weather to assist with the planting of a new hedgerow to border the orchard. About 80 metres of hedging went in, a mix of Hawthorn, Cherry Plum and Apple. This will grow to provide a nice dense sheltering corridor for wildlife, as well as foraging opportunities for local people well into the future.

The glasshouse complex is in the process of being re-glazed with safety glass. As a result it has been necessary to move all the plants and sundries from our tunnel to another on the site, and thanks to all who helped out with this on Friday 30th. It was a massive undertaking, hot work under the glass, with some large and awkward lifts that required real teamwork. Thanks to Debbie, Celia, Lesley, Barbara, Flora, Bill, Chris, Derek, John, Eddie and Alec for approaching the task with such good spirit and humour.

All said, another highly productive and enjoyable month.