Here’s the page to find all the Resource sheets our digital volunteers and facilitators are producing. Resource Sheet – Building a bug hotelDownload Resource Sheet – Quick Growing VegDownload Resource Sheet – Retaining WaterDownload Resource Sheet – WormeriesDownload resource-sheet-small-space-gardeningDownload Credits to Kim Forsyth and Colleen Allwood (small space gardening) for making the resource sheets ..read more

Volunteer Kim got creative and made a festive bird feeder before Christmas- a great idea and one you could adapt for different seasons. Here’s how she did it. I’d seen an outdoor Christmas Tree for birds a couple years ago and been inclined to try it myself since then. I made garlands out of dried orange and apple slices held together with garden twine. For a bit of contrast, I threaded popcorn and dried cranberries onto cotton thread. I had to pop the corn at home as all the store bought stuff is coated in salt or sugar. But I used a glass topped pot and had great fun doing it. Some easy baub ..read more

Sage advice… Volunteer Marjie is continuing her series about perennial vegetables, click through for Part 1: Skirrets and Part 2: Rosemary As Christmas approaches, some of us might be thinking about festive recipes, and one side dish I always love both making and eating, is sage and onion stuffing. Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a superb perennial herb, with its distinct flavour and fragrance. It has evergreen silvery foliage and beautifully coloured flowers in shades from blue through to dark pink. It can be grown in pots, or in open ground. Perennial sage can be short lived, but provided you h ..read more

Facilitator Helena uses the fallen leaves to make one kind of compost Autumn is the perfect time of year to start thinking about compost. You might be surprised to hear it, but some compost does grow on trees (you just have to wait a while before you can use it). There is a lot to be said for leaving fallen leaves on the growing beds in a garden, and even on the grass! Many creatures rely on the fallen leaves for places to hibernate over winter or as a food source. And as the leaves break down they will feed your soil, improving it and storing carbon in the ground. A big pile of leaves- next y ..read more

Volunteer Marjie has shared her recipe for using up the last of the green tomatoes. When I was last up at the Garden I tidied up some of the tomato plants and picked almost a kilo of mostly green and a handful or two of tiny ripe fruits. I used them to make this easy and very tasty chutney. As the green tomatoes haven’t developed their natural sweetness, the addition of sugar and raisins improves the tangy flavour. Any ripe tomatoes go in about half way through the cooking time. I also threw in a couple of tomatillos from the poly tunnel. This chutney is delicious with cheese, crackers, and as ..read more

Volunteer Christina has been growing potatoes. Earlier in the session I, and some others, attended the Gardening in Small Spaces workshop held in the garden. We began with herbs in pots and I planted up two. We were then shown how to plant potatoes in a carrier bag. I decided I had enough to carry down the hill with my two pots so didn’t do the tatties at garden but, as had bought myself some reusable tomato planter bags and compost at home for my tomato crop which I was expanding following a great crop last year, that I would just bring the two seed potatoes home and set it up at home myself ..read more

There is lots in the news about the Climate Crisis, it can feel quite overwhelming, and while big changes will need to be made, we can start by taking some positive climate actions in our own lives and gardens. The amazing fact is that plants take in carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and with sunshine and water (and a few minerals) use it to grow into bigger plants. All the wood in the world is made from air! fungus is a sign of healthy soilan oak sapling converting air into wood! Soil is also really, really good at storing carbon, under the right conditions. Using plants and soil -you can hel ..read more

Facilitator Helena has written about providing habitats for all the wee beasties. Wildlife is incredibly important to our ecosystem, especially in the middle of a city! The habitat wildlife needs is reducing but we can help. There are lots of things we can do to garden in a way that helps wildlife, creating different habitats. Sometimes the first thing we need to change is our ideas about what a garden is. If your garden is going to be part of the ecosystem, we need to let things in and let them eat some of our plants. The good news is, the more wildlife you get, the more balanced your ecosyst ..read more

Volunteer Christina shares a seasonal recipe using rhubarb. In a previous blog I shared my rhubarb crumble recipe which is an old favourite. This time I’m sharing a new recipe I have adapted for a rhubarb and ginger cake which went down well at the gardens Big Lunch/Volunteers week thank you event. So here we go….. INGREDIENTS Cake 350g of stewed rhubarb (cooled) 250g plain flour 1 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger 200g caster sugar 75g soft brown sugar 2 medium eggs 125 ml vegetable/sunflower oil Icing 75 g butter, room temperature 100g icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract ..read more

To be honest my gardening ability is pretty poor and I have, in the past, been known to kill a spider plant. When I moved to the Dundee area just before I took up my post as Community Engagement Facilitator, I moved into a property with a small outdoor space, pretty devoid of any plant life, and completely covered over by paving stones and gravel. Some of the wall to wall stonework I am unable to change as I am not the owner of the house, but I can still change the environment and make it a little bit more green.  Taking inspiration from Helena’s small space gardening workshops, I’ve man ..read more