By Cain Lindsay
Whitfield Community Garden hoping to become “green hub” for local area
The Whitfield Community Garden volunteers are hoping for some big changes this year as they push to become the “green hub” of the community.
Since opening in 2021 the garden has provided various methods of support for the local area, from producing fruit and vegetables for community groups, to offering a safe space for volunteers to focus on their mental health, the garden has grown into a vital establishment in Whitfield.
One of the many familiar faces at the garden, aptly named treasurer Alex Gardiner, insists the garden still has much more to offer the local area.
“This is a community space, a green space, and we want it to be the green hub for Whitfield. Somewhere everybody can use.”
Alex was present from the very start, the humble beginnings of the future community hub. Back in Covid a group of hard-working volunteers banded together to transform the old Whitfield bowling green into a fully functioning green space. Bit by bit, the garden grew into an area where events could be held, fruit and vegetables could be grown, and locals could come to relax and escape their struggles for as long as they needed.
“It was all overgrown when we took over, but we transformed it to what it is today. We started during lockdown so people could get outdoors. A lot of folk were struggling with isolation, and it was really having a negative effect on their mental health.”
Although the garden has already seen drastic changes from the plot of land Alex and his fellow volunteers stumbled across almost four years ago, he admits there are still plans in the pipeline to improve the area.
“The next couple of months will be quiet, as it’s not the season, but we’ll be looking into what we can do this year.”
The team constantly find themselves circling back to two major roadblocks in use of the garden: the lack of a working toilet or electricity. However, through community networking and some support from Dundee Changemakers Hub, there are plans to implement environmentally sound solutions to both issues.
“We’ve been looking into a compostable toilet. Chatting to the team at the Roundhouse, they’ve given us some information on where they got theirs, so hopefully we can look into this. We’ve also had help from Dundee City Council workers to enquire about using the old bowling green pavilion. So there will be a solution soon.”
Roundhouse have not only been the perfect hosts for recent Whitfield community meetings, but their knowledge of positive environmental alternatives has rubbed off on other groups members, such as the gardening team.
“Solar panels too, I’ve been sent all the information needed from Roundhouse so this is something else we’re currently looking at. We don’t have any power at all, and it’s one of the greatest limitations to the garden, but solar panels can fix that, and in a positive way for the environment, if we can’t access the pavilion.”
The garden volunteers are no strangers to positive sustainability. Each year the team donate an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables to various community groups to fight food poverty.
“We let the volunteers take first dibs, seeing as they put the hours in, but we still have so much left over to donate. You’d be shocked with how much we end up with. Some of it can go to the café at The Crescent, some of it Lifegate church collect, they run a larder and café. It saves them money, and it gives something back to the community which is what we want to do. Christine works with the council, she runs a cooking group, so when she runs that we can donate some to her too. Donations to the larder are going down, they can struggle sometimes, and ours are all green, there’s no chemicals or anything. It goes to a variety of places. Honestly you wouldn’t believe how much we can grow!”
What they grow varies, and at times it’s a hit or miss.
“We’re experimenting with what to grow. The amount of tatties and tomatoes we grow are incredible, they’re popular. But one year we grew some beans and nobody seemed to want any. If we find some things are really not popular we’ll knock it on the head and just stop, and vice versa. Potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, onions, they’re the things people always tend to take.”
It’s all about paying back to the community. The garden also receives donations of pallets from around the city, allowing them to recycle the unwanted materials for the benefit of their own projects.
“We’ve largely bought our materials, but if we can make stuff ourselves we will. We got pallets donated and from that we made our compost bin. If we can get donations we’re delighted, because by recycling goods we’re not only looking out for the environment, but we save ourselves cash too. There are places we can ask for donations, Community Wishes being one, if someone has stuff they feel we can use they’ll get in touch with us. If we want something specific sometimes we can ask builders for it. If there’s building going on in the community they’ve got to give something back to the area, as part of the development agreement.”
As it’s run by volunteers the garden has no set hours, but Alex and other members are never far away if anyone requires access.
“If there’s an event on we’re there. We’ve had people come in for a while and drift away again. They can do their own projects if they want to, that’s fine, but we’re there to assist if necessary.”
The Community Garden is tucked away near Ballumbie Primary School. Hidden away from plain sight, the team are currently looking into appropriate signage nearby so that locals can be made aware of the garden, an area which continues to breathe life into Whitfield. Along with battling food poverty, and locals’ mental health struggles, the garden is beginning to blossom into the green community hub of Whitfield.