Urban garden brings growth to city centre
Goodlyburn kids in their garden Children from a Perth primary school have created a new urban garden in the middle of the city centre.
St John’s Shopping Centre is now home to a colourful green space thanks to the green-fingered youngsters from Goodlyburn Primary School.
The children have been working hard over the past term to plan, design and create the urban garden to promote biodiversity in the city centre and attract bees, butterflies and spiders.
Teacher Christina McGregor said: “We have loved working with St John’s Shopping Centre and the many other organisations and businesses who were involved in this project.
“The pupils have been empowered to make decisions and have a voice on how they wanted the project to develop.
“The children have been instrumental in creating a unique and lasting space in their city centre and they are proud of what they have created.”
The once unused space is now home to five new mini gardens and a ‘bug hotel’. The children used garden accessories donated by Poundland and ground coffee from Starbucks as fertiliser. Allander Security also donated four tonnes of soil.
Derek Martin, marketing manager at the shopping centre, said: “We could not be happier with the vibrant burst of colour the children from Goodlyburn Primary School have created.
“It was great to see such a collective effort from the community to put this green space together and also share their skills and knowledge with the next generation.”
Two horticulture students from Scotland’s Rural College also chipped in.
Findlay Lang, one of the students, said: “It was a great experience, sharing my knowledge with the children and assisting them in creating their own unique and colourful flower beds.
“I was blown away by how enthusiastic and keen the children were throughout the process.”
The children received a classroom workshop from Zero Waste Perth, who helped them to make their own garden decorations from used plastic bottles.
Fiona McBain of Zero Wate Perth said: “Single-use plastics like bottles and straws are very much in the headlines right now and there is a real urgency to tackle the issue.
“We want to encourage people to consider reusable alternatives whenever they can but if they have a plastic bottle lying around they could make something fun like our rainbow garden spinners.”