Oban garden club tastes success
A college gardening club is cultivating links with the community, writes Kathie Griffiths.
Every week Argyll college tutor Elspeth MacDonald works with groups of students with additional needs who dig in and have fun.
The Wings Gardening Group sells on its homegrown produce so the public can get a taste.
Combie Street’s Taste of Argyll shop is one of its biggest fans. Shop owner Katherine MacKenzie said: ‘Their fruit and veg just fly off the shelves. It’s great knowing that the money they get for them goes straight back into regener- ating the garden for next year’s crops.’
Mrs MacDonald said; ‘Katherine is just brilliant. She doesn’t mind if 10 of us crowd in to the shop when we deliver our produce. It’s all washed and ready before hand. It’s also a really good way of teaching the group about life skills and numeracy.’
Help to keep the garden growing has also come from other businesses in the area, said Mrs MacDonald.
Jewsons donated wood and screws to fix the up the fruit cage; Craigard Decor gave paint to brighten up the raised beds and Taynuilt Trees gave students a VIP tour of its nursery. Poppies Garden Centre past Dunbeg and Rembrandt Timber have also helped and the group also paid a visit to Ardmaddy gardens this summer to look at its plants.
The keen gardeners try to keep everything they grow on the college site pesticide free and in the polytunnel next to the thriving strawberry bed and herbs is a patch of corn about 12ft high. Any money we make from selling our produce goes back into the garden to help buy more seeds and compost although we use manure and seaweed as much as we can to try and keep everything pesticide free,’ said Mrs MacDonald.
‘Getting support from the community means lots to us and we’re always looking for new partners to help,’ she added.
Most of the group members come via Oban services like the Affinity Trust based in Glenshellach Rd and can bring along their carers too.
In the run up to Christmas, the group will also be making festive wreaths to sell at this year’s Oban Winter Festival.