With the arrival of the growing season and their Spring newsletter, the Arran Pioneer Project reflect over the last five years and report on the community gardens that are flourishing across Arran. Featured image shows first broad bean shoots at Cordon garden. All photo credits: Arran Pioneer Project
Five Years of Growing Food
As torrential rain and hail accompany the arrival of Spring, we find ourselves celebrating a significant milestone – five years since the Arran Pioneer Project began the journey of helping to transform unused land into productive community spaces. What started as a response to pandemic-related food security concerns has contributed to building a thriving network of community gardens, food forests, and collaborative initiatives that span our beautiful isle, and a great deal more food being grown locally.
Five Years of Progress
In March 2020, we set out with a simple mission: to grow food on unused land and empower our island communities to learn the skills to do so. Five years on, the results speak for themselves:
- Several new active community gardens established across Arran
- Thousands of volunteer hours contributed by islanders and visitors to community gardens
- Five years of successful harvests with knowledge and skills gained through the seasons
- Diverse food production with hundreds of varieties of plants and seeds grown
- Top soil generated through establishing no dig beds and local composting initiatives
- Hundreds of fruit trees and soft fruit planted for long-term food resilience in several sites
- New skills learnt and shared through workshops and volunteer days
- Stronger community connections forged through shared growing spaces
- Increased biodiversity as gardens become diverse habitats for wildlife
The Latest From the Gardens
Bellevue Farm in Blackwaterfoot now hosts the newest community growing initiative, with regular Tuesday volunteer sessions established for 2025. Come join us!
Cladach Community Garden continues to tick along with its award-winning grape vine and the polytunnel now entering its 7th productive season. The “no dig” beds are being prepared for spring planting with the addition of seaweed to grow tatties.
Pirnmill Community Garden the group are busy preparing for another productive season, since helping to establish the garden, we have supported with annual costs for seeds and compost and other sundries, including the willow pictured above which is from Barfad willow in Argyll.
Cordon Community Garden is entering its fifth growing season with plans for expanding the herb section and planting more soft fruit and edible hedgerows, and as ever lots of tattles in local seaweed and horse manure. *Now also with beautiful new geodesic dome onsite. The Thursday volunteer group welcomes new faces as we prepare beds and sow early crops.
The food forest gardens at Kilpatrick and Clauchlands are developing well, with the fruit trees and soft fruits becoming more established each year. These long-term projects demonstrate how perennial food production can work in harmony with wildlife habitat creation.
Images show the gardens at Bellevue
Get Involved!
Spring is the perfect time to join our community growing efforts. Here’s how you can get involved:
Regular Volunteer Days:
- Bellevue Community Garden: Every Tuesday, 11am-1pm
- Cordon Community Garden: Every Thursday, 11am
- Pirnmill Community Garden: Every Sunday (email for details)
- Cladach Community Garden: Every Saturday (email for details)
- ACLI Family Club, Whiting Bay: Every Saturday (email for details)
– Email: arran@pioneerproject.scot
– Website: pioneerproject.scot
– Facebook: /thearranpioneerproject