Join gardening community

Braehead Community Garden is getting ready to start the 2018 growing season.

The popular community facility’s membership year starts on April 1. Membership costs £12, giving access to the garden and all events and workshops. You can also lease a raised bed for £52 and grow your own fruit and vegetables.

Other facilities members can access are raised beds in the garden’s polytunnels for growing more exotic food. There is a flock of egg laying hens, a picnic area and a communal kitchen garden where members teach each other growing skills as well as a member run apiary to learn how to keep honeybees.

Members also enjoy regular workshops/classes, covering everything from crafts to propagating, composting and cooking.

For 2018, the garden has also joined the“Men’s Shed”movement and converted a shipping container into a workshop, with drop in sessions on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10.15am until noon. Despite the “Men’s Shed”movement name, the workshop is open to men and women.

The garden also runs monthly members’barbecues and public events including the popular Braehead Horticultural Show in August and the Pumpkin Festival in October.

Community Garden chairperson Chris Kane said:“This is fantastic, welcoming community space. At Braehead, we’re as interested in community as we are in gardening and we’re going from strength to strength with a increasing membership and a packed programme of activities, events, workshops, and growing spaces.

“The garden is also a relaxing community area where you can simply sit and watch the world and the trains pass by.”

The garden opened in 2015 thanks to a £250,000 lottery grant. See www. braehead.org/garden or drop in any Tuesday or Saturday morning 10.30am-noon. It is not necessary to live in Braehead to become a member.