Well, everyone is packing up for the winter but at Oatlands we are also packing up ready for the move in the new year. The greenhouses are being dismantled and the trees are being assessed for transfer.
Hopefully, the work is on schedule and we can start the new year in the new site.
However, being the pessimist that I am, I have planted some onions for the summer and my leeks are still growing well so they will be in the ground until the spring.
Our waiting list is growing well too :-)
Monday, 2 November 2009
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Interview with Bob - citystrolls.com
http://www.archive.org/details/Margaret-wm
If you have a spare 30 mins then here is my interview with Bob from citystrolls.com
Margaret
If you have a spare 30 mins then here is my interview with Bob from citystrolls.com
Margaret
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Article in the South Side News
http://www.localnewsglasgow.co.uk/2009/09/allotment-on-their-minds/
Glasgow’s green-fingered fraternity are gutted that they will be losing ground at one of the city’s sacred allotment spaces.Work on the new smaller Oatlands Leisure Gardens, which is only a stone’s through from the River Clyde, has again been delayed - this time for the New Year - while the present gardens site is earmarked for flats.Written into the development deal back in 2001 was a guarantee by Glasgow City Council to maintain an allotment space in the community.The recession is being blamed for the delay in progress by construction giants Gladedale.Margaret Kerr, secretary Oatlands Allotments, said: ‘I’m not happy about the situation.‘Gladedale have been unrealistic with their timescale and plans to build houses on our present leisure gardens site. I think the site will just lie dormant, which is sad.‘We have lots of people on a waiting list and if we were allowed to have used the existing space along with new one then that would have been far more satisfactory.’New allotments are to be constructed the line of the present Wolseley Street, encroaching slightly into the grounds of Richmond Park School and are expected to be less two thirds the size of the existing leisure gardens.Despite the increased interest in allotments locally, the Council and Gladedale claim there is only so much that they can do to meet that extra demand on the Oatlands site.Another potentially suitable site for allotments in the area is located between New Rutherglen Road and the M74 but enquiries to the Scottish Government which owns the land ‘hit a brick wall’.MSP for the area, Frank McAveety said: ‘The allotment provision should first and foremost be for people from Oatlands.‘The community has been through some tough times and it’s important that it retains a leisure garden space, run by and run for the people of the area.’A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: ‘I still think that the Council was very far-sighted in 2001 to agree to include allotments as an integral part of the new Oatlands neighbourhood. ‘Times have changed and we are responding in as positive a fashion as we can, given the legal commitment we have with Gladedale.’A spokesperson for Gladedale (Central Scotland) Ltd, said: ‘Work is due for completion in early 2010. Allotment holders will then be given a reasonable period to move to the new site at which time work will begin to clear the existing allotments.‘Unfortunately it is not possible for the current site to be retained past this point. Health and safety is of paramount importance at all times and Gladedale do not consider it safe to have allotments in the middle of an active construction site.’
Glasgow’s green-fingered fraternity are gutted that they will be losing ground at one of the city’s sacred allotment spaces.Work on the new smaller Oatlands Leisure Gardens, which is only a stone’s through from the River Clyde, has again been delayed - this time for the New Year - while the present gardens site is earmarked for flats.Written into the development deal back in 2001 was a guarantee by Glasgow City Council to maintain an allotment space in the community.The recession is being blamed for the delay in progress by construction giants Gladedale.Margaret Kerr, secretary Oatlands Allotments, said: ‘I’m not happy about the situation.‘Gladedale have been unrealistic with their timescale and plans to build houses on our present leisure gardens site. I think the site will just lie dormant, which is sad.‘We have lots of people on a waiting list and if we were allowed to have used the existing space along with new one then that would have been far more satisfactory.’New allotments are to be constructed the line of the present Wolseley Street, encroaching slightly into the grounds of Richmond Park School and are expected to be less two thirds the size of the existing leisure gardens.Despite the increased interest in allotments locally, the Council and Gladedale claim there is only so much that they can do to meet that extra demand on the Oatlands site.Another potentially suitable site for allotments in the area is located between New Rutherglen Road and the M74 but enquiries to the Scottish Government which owns the land ‘hit a brick wall’.MSP for the area, Frank McAveety said: ‘The allotment provision should first and foremost be for people from Oatlands.‘The community has been through some tough times and it’s important that it retains a leisure garden space, run by and run for the people of the area.’A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: ‘I still think that the Council was very far-sighted in 2001 to agree to include allotments as an integral part of the new Oatlands neighbourhood. ‘Times have changed and we are responding in as positive a fashion as we can, given the legal commitment we have with Gladedale.’A spokesperson for Gladedale (Central Scotland) Ltd, said: ‘Work is due for completion in early 2010. Allotment holders will then be given a reasonable period to move to the new site at which time work will begin to clear the existing allotments.‘Unfortunately it is not possible for the current site to be retained past this point. Health and safety is of paramount importance at all times and Gladedale do not consider it safe to have allotments in the middle of an active construction site.’
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Friday, 7 August 2009
OPEN DAY
A big day tomorrow for the allotments with our first Open Day for many, many years. Hopefully, we will get a sunny day to encourage lots of people to pop in and say hello. Maybe some will even want an allotment :-)
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Article in the Herald Saturday 27 June 2009
Sowing the seeds of revolution
CATE DEVINE
June 29 2009
It might not be Michelle Obama's new White House kitchen garden, or the Queen's newly dug allotment at Buckingham Palace, but a sorry-looking Georgian walled garden near Stirling is slowly coming back to life. Thirty years of neglect have decimated its original box hedges, caused its 18th-century walls to crumble and covered its acre of fertile soil in impenetrable turf - while, in the nearby orchard, plum, pear, apple and cherry trees, some 100 years old, are overgrown and fruitless.
Look beyond the decay, though, and it's just possible to spot the green shoots of recovery. Neat squares of dark brown earth are already bringing forth beans, peas, beetroots, potatoes, carrots and herbs. Plastic bottle tops and netting protect young plants and it's clear that, at long last, this beautiful old kitchen garden is returning to its glorious past.
"This used to be a wonderful garden full of seasonal produce and tended by a full-time gardener," says Pippa Maclean. Quarter, the house in which she and her husband Robin live, was built in 1753, and one high-profile former owner was Betty Harvie Anderson, the former Conservative MP for Renfrewshire East.
"When I moved in three years ago it was down at heel and in need of a lot of TLC, but we simply couldn't find anyone reliable to help us," continues Maclean, who was born into the family of Edmonstone of Duntreath and brought up in Duntreath Castle at Blanefield, Stirlingshire. "We were desperate." All that changed, however, when a friend steered the Macleans towards Landshare, an online project matching landowners with growers set up by the broadcaster, writer and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall. Maclean posted an advertisement asking for growers, then sat back and crossed her muddy fingers.
"I got 25 replies in the space of three days," she recalls. "And within another day I'd met my four new collaborators. Now I can't imagine life without them. Landshare has given me the impetus to get this garden up and running again. They say it takes 10 years to make a garden, but I reckon we can do it in three."
Step forward Stenhousemuir postman Kevin Doughty, 45, and his partner Althea Davis, 37, along with Stirling immunology student Kirsty Robb, 26, and her partner, abattoir stocksman John Murie, also 26. They responded to Maclean as potential growers, and are delighted to have been given the opportunity to work the ancient land at Quarter. Aptly, the walled garden has been divided into four and each couple has a plot of around 100 square feet.
"This is beyond our wildest dreams," says Doughty. He is a vegetarian and Davis, an environmental historian and archaeologist at Stirling University, is vegan, so they are keen to grow all their own vegetables organically. The growing space they have at home is cramped. "When we signed up for Landshare, we thought we'd maybe be lucky to get someone's council-house back garden to tend. To get 100 square feet is every grower's dream," he says.
Robb and Murie also have limited space at home and have been growing potatoes in bags and carrots in wellington boots. "When I saw this place I was absolutely gobsmacked, as it's much bigger than we anticipated," says Robb. "It's great to work alongside another couple because we can buddy each other at this initial stage, when there is so much work to do. Pippa is great, too, because she keeps us motivated."
Indeed, the six have become firm friends, delighting in the knowledge that they would not have met without Landshare. "We weren't intimidated by the house or garden, just surprised," says Doughty. "We never knew the house even existed. The first thing friends asked us was, Is it not a nightmare to work up there?' but we don't think so. It's a fantastic opportunity. Pippa is so enthusiastic but we all manage together."
They began work on their plots only last month but already they have made significant progress. "Since we started late in the growing season, our plan is not to plant everything this year," says Doughty. "Once the turf is all dug up, we'll plant green manure to help recondition the soil."
Horse, cow and slurry manure is being supplied by Henry Harris from his organic farm at neighbouring Wellsfield, while Ivor Scott, a stonemason, is repairing the wall. Mike Bisset, a professional fencer, will construct fruit cages for the new raspberry and strawberry plants.
How did Maclean choose who to work with? "I just got the vibes," she replies cheerfully. "I felt they wouldn't have been serious if they hadn't registered on the Landshare website." A detailed contract was signed by all parties, which states that no money can be exchanged between growers and landowners. The Macleans will receive 25% of the produce grown, and it will be used to feed family, friends and guests in the B&B business Pippa runs from the house. "It's a win-win situation for us all."
Up the road in Inverness-shire, Tim and Wendy Dearman's rural cottage garden near Alness has three neglected vegetable plots being tended by computer engineer Tom Busza, who lives in a flat above a pub in the centre of Inverness. Once again, they found each other through Landshare.
"The beds have been redundant for ages because we're so busy running our coach company," explains Wendy. "We are on old, original croft-sized land situated near a river with woodland, so it's a mild climate for growing. Having Tom has motivated me to repair and maintain the greenhouse. He's already got one of the plots up and running, and has started clearing the docks and weeds on the others. Brassicas and aubergines growing in the greenhouse are almost ready for him to plant out."
Busza, 59, is also growing broad and runner beans, leeks, onions, courgettes and sweetcorn, and plans potatoes for one of the plots. "I spend all day driving around the country and sitting in front of computers, and gardening really gets me away from it all," he says. "I only have windowsills to grow on at the flat and it's great to have this space. There's no mobile-phone signal here, which is an added bonus."
Wendy is delighted with the progress so far. "More and more people are growing their own vegetables, as we all did during the war," she says. "People are gradually coming back to real food and cooking nice things with fresh produce, but we still know some young people who don't know that peas are grown in gardens, not tins."
Landshare was launched by Fearnley-Whittingstall as a solution to the problem of Britain's lack of allotments, on a rising tide of enthusiasm for growing vegetables. Almost 38,000 people have registered online already, and comments posted on the website testify to the increasing desperation of would-be growers, who outnumber landowners by approximately two to one.
Living in Stenhousemuir, Kevin Doughty falls under the Falkirk Council area - which is unique in Scotland for having no allotments. Two years ago, he formed the Falkirk Allotment Society with the aim of changing that, but has had little success. "We have 70 people signed up and another 100 notes of interest, and we hoped to put pressure on the council, but nothing has happened yet," he says. "I've spent the past two years on committees trying to persuade the council to release land, and yet within hours with Landshare we got our fantastic site just up the road."
In Glasgow, only 27% of the population has access to a garden, yet in some areas of the city there is a nine-year waiting list for an allotment, and the situation is similar in Edinburgh. Glasgow has 24 allotment sites, translating into 1320 plots; the most recent survey, in 2007, showed 652 people on waiting lists.
Glasgow City Council's Allotment Strategy and Action Plan, approved on June 12, states a commitment to improving allotment sites and increasing their availability, but it also concedes that new funding will have to be found. "We know how important allotments are in Glasgow and the contribution they make to the health and wellbeing of the local community." says James McNally, executive member of Land and Environmental Services.
In the Gorbals area of the city, though, there is just one allotment site: Oatlands Leisure Gardens, which has been working successfully since the late 1980s. The council has given a property-development company a 99-year lease on the surrounding land, for regeneration and the construction of luxury apartments. As part of the agreement, the allotments are to be moved to a smaller site, and the number of plots reduced from 20 to 14.
When surrounding buildings were demolished last year, the plots were exposed to the elements - and to vandalism. Greenhouses were smashed, sheds were razed to the ground, the storage area and clubhouse were burned out, tools were stolen and the polytunnel was ripped apart. Meanwhile, the move to the new site has been postponed, because of a slow-down in the regeneration process caused by the downturn in the housing market. "Allotment holders feel disheartened," says Judy Wilkinson, secretary of the Glasgow Allotments Forum. "They feel that with the downturn in the housing market and the increase in demand for allotments, they should not accept a smaller, new site but instead should get a new site in addition to the original site. The evidence is all around us that people are desperate for land to grow on."
Across town, a piece of green land in North Kelvinside is also to be turned into housing. The council-owned disused space between Clouston Street and Kelbourne Street - the area of the former Clouston Street playing fields - is to be sold to property developers for the creation of 115 flats and houses, for a rumoured £10m-£12m. The land has never had housing on it, and a community campaign to turn it into a multi-use green space for the people of Maryhill was launched last October. Some 20 local families from surrounding tenements have established productive raised beds on the site, and a substantial community orchard has been started.
The council's proposal for the redevelopment of the area includes a small park, and a spokesman points out that capital from the sale of the site is being used to fund the construction of a new playing facility at the corner of Queen Margaret Drive and Maryhill Road. Douglas Peacock, chairman of the North Kelvinside Green Space Initiative, doesn't think this is enough.
"This land has been disused since the 1970s. It's a beautiful space, but the council allowed it to be used as informal dumping ground," he says. "We cleaned it up and turned it into a community green space called the North Kelvin Meadow. There is a shortage of allotments in Glasgow as a whole and there is currently only one very oversubscribed allotment ground in the Maryhill and North Kelvin-side area. The North Kelvin Meadow would provide new allotment opportunities for people living in the local area." An online petition to keep the land as community space has attracted signatures from more than 340 supporters since it opened on June 3, including the authors Louise Welsh and Alasdair Gray.
Jim Mackechnie, the councillor for the area, has said: "I am afraid I do not believe allotments would add to the amenity of the locality. They would be visually unattractive, and would occupy land which I believe should be open and accessible to the public in order to maximise community benefit." He tells The Herald Magazine: "There is no trespass law in Scotland, but trespassing is what these people are doing. They should not be there."
Final missives are expected to be concluded by the end of July, and although building will not start before 2011, residents are unclear about when the new landowners will take possession of the land. "The council say they're keen to maintain and improve their allotment provision," says Peacock. "But the proof of the pudding is the decision they made on this site, which we see as a test case for their allotment strategy."
Karen Cheun, who lives nearby, is growing cabbage, leeks, onions, carrots and coriander in a raised bed on the space. "I'll be completely gutted to be evicted from this site," she says. "In the short time I've been living here it's helped me meet my neighbours, and it's become such a precious resource. It's become more than just a piece of land; it's a real community focus."
Six new growers have joined North Kelvin Meadow through the Landshare website, and new raised beds and organic soil have been ordered for them. "We're not stopping until the bulldozers move in," says Peacock.
Vacant and derelict land and gap sites are exactly what Eleanor Logan is looking for. The recently appointed head of Sage (Sow and Grow Everywhere) in Glasgow, her task is to identify sites that can be transformed into community growing spaces, and to solve some of the problems of producing food on contaminated land and brownfield sites.
The brainchild of the environmental arts charity NVA, the imaginative project received three-year funding from the city council in April. Logan is undertaking a scoping study on behalf of the eight local authority areas within the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership, whose partners include Scottish Natural Heritage, the Forestry Commission and regional council representatives. Her report will be published in September.
In just one month she has already identified 10 potential sites in Glasgow - which, once matched with growers, will be supplied with a growing toolkit including specially-designed grow-boxes made from a range of materials. "It's becoming very exciting," she says. "I'm finding more by the day and it's a matter of trying to hold back the rising tide. There's been huge interest across the city, from Easterhouse to the south side."
Housing estates, backcourts and land earmarked for development but currently disused because of the economic downturn all hold potential for Sage. "People want to live close to where they grow their vegetables," says Logan. The organisation will test contaminated land - common in industrial cities such as Glasgow - and make it safe for planting before prepping it for production and handing it over to growers.
Logan does not see Sage reducing public demand for allotments; rather, she sees it as giving people the confidence to apply for a plot. "We're still pushing for more allotments in Glasgow," she says. "This project is about how land is utilised in an urban environment and it will be interesting to see if it changes the way land is used in the future."
Last week, only 152 Scots appeared to have registered with Landshare - although that doesn't take into account names that might have been removed following a match. Fearnley-Whittingstall, though, remains undaunted. "It could be better, but we have had some really good matches," he says.
"One of the things we've noticed is that people who grow food are also quite technologically savvy. They like to go online and talk to each other about what they've been planting. Landshare is the ultimate embodiment of that: people use it to communicate with each other. The idea is to continue and remodel the site."
The project is open-ended and there is no deadline for registering. "We would never want it to end as long as it's proving useful," he says. "We want to create shorter waiting times for land, and for it to become a basic tool for individuals, businesses and city councils to use to announce the release of land."
Through Landshare, the National Trust has offered 1000 plots - though none in Scotland - while the City of London wants to create 2012 community growing sites in time for the Olympics and will use Landshare to help. British Waterways will release hundreds, perhaps thousands, of plots through the website.
"It's not about shaming landowners into releasing land. It's more about cajoling them," says Fearnley-Whittingstall. "After all, if you allow people to grow on your disused midden, what's the worst that can happen?"
CATE DEVINE
June 29 2009
It might not be Michelle Obama's new White House kitchen garden, or the Queen's newly dug allotment at Buckingham Palace, but a sorry-looking Georgian walled garden near Stirling is slowly coming back to life. Thirty years of neglect have decimated its original box hedges, caused its 18th-century walls to crumble and covered its acre of fertile soil in impenetrable turf - while, in the nearby orchard, plum, pear, apple and cherry trees, some 100 years old, are overgrown and fruitless.
Look beyond the decay, though, and it's just possible to spot the green shoots of recovery. Neat squares of dark brown earth are already bringing forth beans, peas, beetroots, potatoes, carrots and herbs. Plastic bottle tops and netting protect young plants and it's clear that, at long last, this beautiful old kitchen garden is returning to its glorious past.
"This used to be a wonderful garden full of seasonal produce and tended by a full-time gardener," says Pippa Maclean. Quarter, the house in which she and her husband Robin live, was built in 1753, and one high-profile former owner was Betty Harvie Anderson, the former Conservative MP for Renfrewshire East.
"When I moved in three years ago it was down at heel and in need of a lot of TLC, but we simply couldn't find anyone reliable to help us," continues Maclean, who was born into the family of Edmonstone of Duntreath and brought up in Duntreath Castle at Blanefield, Stirlingshire. "We were desperate." All that changed, however, when a friend steered the Macleans towards Landshare, an online project matching landowners with growers set up by the broadcaster, writer and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall. Maclean posted an advertisement asking for growers, then sat back and crossed her muddy fingers.
"I got 25 replies in the space of three days," she recalls. "And within another day I'd met my four new collaborators. Now I can't imagine life without them. Landshare has given me the impetus to get this garden up and running again. They say it takes 10 years to make a garden, but I reckon we can do it in three."
Step forward Stenhousemuir postman Kevin Doughty, 45, and his partner Althea Davis, 37, along with Stirling immunology student Kirsty Robb, 26, and her partner, abattoir stocksman John Murie, also 26. They responded to Maclean as potential growers, and are delighted to have been given the opportunity to work the ancient land at Quarter. Aptly, the walled garden has been divided into four and each couple has a plot of around 100 square feet.
"This is beyond our wildest dreams," says Doughty. He is a vegetarian and Davis, an environmental historian and archaeologist at Stirling University, is vegan, so they are keen to grow all their own vegetables organically. The growing space they have at home is cramped. "When we signed up for Landshare, we thought we'd maybe be lucky to get someone's council-house back garden to tend. To get 100 square feet is every grower's dream," he says.
Robb and Murie also have limited space at home and have been growing potatoes in bags and carrots in wellington boots. "When I saw this place I was absolutely gobsmacked, as it's much bigger than we anticipated," says Robb. "It's great to work alongside another couple because we can buddy each other at this initial stage, when there is so much work to do. Pippa is great, too, because she keeps us motivated."
Indeed, the six have become firm friends, delighting in the knowledge that they would not have met without Landshare. "We weren't intimidated by the house or garden, just surprised," says Doughty. "We never knew the house even existed. The first thing friends asked us was, Is it not a nightmare to work up there?' but we don't think so. It's a fantastic opportunity. Pippa is so enthusiastic but we all manage together."
They began work on their plots only last month but already they have made significant progress. "Since we started late in the growing season, our plan is not to plant everything this year," says Doughty. "Once the turf is all dug up, we'll plant green manure to help recondition the soil."
Horse, cow and slurry manure is being supplied by Henry Harris from his organic farm at neighbouring Wellsfield, while Ivor Scott, a stonemason, is repairing the wall. Mike Bisset, a professional fencer, will construct fruit cages for the new raspberry and strawberry plants.
How did Maclean choose who to work with? "I just got the vibes," she replies cheerfully. "I felt they wouldn't have been serious if they hadn't registered on the Landshare website." A detailed contract was signed by all parties, which states that no money can be exchanged between growers and landowners. The Macleans will receive 25% of the produce grown, and it will be used to feed family, friends and guests in the B&B business Pippa runs from the house. "It's a win-win situation for us all."
Up the road in Inverness-shire, Tim and Wendy Dearman's rural cottage garden near Alness has three neglected vegetable plots being tended by computer engineer Tom Busza, who lives in a flat above a pub in the centre of Inverness. Once again, they found each other through Landshare.
"The beds have been redundant for ages because we're so busy running our coach company," explains Wendy. "We are on old, original croft-sized land situated near a river with woodland, so it's a mild climate for growing. Having Tom has motivated me to repair and maintain the greenhouse. He's already got one of the plots up and running, and has started clearing the docks and weeds on the others. Brassicas and aubergines growing in the greenhouse are almost ready for him to plant out."
Busza, 59, is also growing broad and runner beans, leeks, onions, courgettes and sweetcorn, and plans potatoes for one of the plots. "I spend all day driving around the country and sitting in front of computers, and gardening really gets me away from it all," he says. "I only have windowsills to grow on at the flat and it's great to have this space. There's no mobile-phone signal here, which is an added bonus."
Wendy is delighted with the progress so far. "More and more people are growing their own vegetables, as we all did during the war," she says. "People are gradually coming back to real food and cooking nice things with fresh produce, but we still know some young people who don't know that peas are grown in gardens, not tins."
Landshare was launched by Fearnley-Whittingstall as a solution to the problem of Britain's lack of allotments, on a rising tide of enthusiasm for growing vegetables. Almost 38,000 people have registered online already, and comments posted on the website testify to the increasing desperation of would-be growers, who outnumber landowners by approximately two to one.
Living in Stenhousemuir, Kevin Doughty falls under the Falkirk Council area - which is unique in Scotland for having no allotments. Two years ago, he formed the Falkirk Allotment Society with the aim of changing that, but has had little success. "We have 70 people signed up and another 100 notes of interest, and we hoped to put pressure on the council, but nothing has happened yet," he says. "I've spent the past two years on committees trying to persuade the council to release land, and yet within hours with Landshare we got our fantastic site just up the road."
In Glasgow, only 27% of the population has access to a garden, yet in some areas of the city there is a nine-year waiting list for an allotment, and the situation is similar in Edinburgh. Glasgow has 24 allotment sites, translating into 1320 plots; the most recent survey, in 2007, showed 652 people on waiting lists.
Glasgow City Council's Allotment Strategy and Action Plan, approved on June 12, states a commitment to improving allotment sites and increasing their availability, but it also concedes that new funding will have to be found. "We know how important allotments are in Glasgow and the contribution they make to the health and wellbeing of the local community." says James McNally, executive member of Land and Environmental Services.
In the Gorbals area of the city, though, there is just one allotment site: Oatlands Leisure Gardens, which has been working successfully since the late 1980s. The council has given a property-development company a 99-year lease on the surrounding land, for regeneration and the construction of luxury apartments. As part of the agreement, the allotments are to be moved to a smaller site, and the number of plots reduced from 20 to 14.
When surrounding buildings were demolished last year, the plots were exposed to the elements - and to vandalism. Greenhouses were smashed, sheds were razed to the ground, the storage area and clubhouse were burned out, tools were stolen and the polytunnel was ripped apart. Meanwhile, the move to the new site has been postponed, because of a slow-down in the regeneration process caused by the downturn in the housing market. "Allotment holders feel disheartened," says Judy Wilkinson, secretary of the Glasgow Allotments Forum. "They feel that with the downturn in the housing market and the increase in demand for allotments, they should not accept a smaller, new site but instead should get a new site in addition to the original site. The evidence is all around us that people are desperate for land to grow on."
Across town, a piece of green land in North Kelvinside is also to be turned into housing. The council-owned disused space between Clouston Street and Kelbourne Street - the area of the former Clouston Street playing fields - is to be sold to property developers for the creation of 115 flats and houses, for a rumoured £10m-£12m. The land has never had housing on it, and a community campaign to turn it into a multi-use green space for the people of Maryhill was launched last October. Some 20 local families from surrounding tenements have established productive raised beds on the site, and a substantial community orchard has been started.
The council's proposal for the redevelopment of the area includes a small park, and a spokesman points out that capital from the sale of the site is being used to fund the construction of a new playing facility at the corner of Queen Margaret Drive and Maryhill Road. Douglas Peacock, chairman of the North Kelvinside Green Space Initiative, doesn't think this is enough.
"This land has been disused since the 1970s. It's a beautiful space, but the council allowed it to be used as informal dumping ground," he says. "We cleaned it up and turned it into a community green space called the North Kelvin Meadow. There is a shortage of allotments in Glasgow as a whole and there is currently only one very oversubscribed allotment ground in the Maryhill and North Kelvin-side area. The North Kelvin Meadow would provide new allotment opportunities for people living in the local area." An online petition to keep the land as community space has attracted signatures from more than 340 supporters since it opened on June 3, including the authors Louise Welsh and Alasdair Gray.
Jim Mackechnie, the councillor for the area, has said: "I am afraid I do not believe allotments would add to the amenity of the locality. They would be visually unattractive, and would occupy land which I believe should be open and accessible to the public in order to maximise community benefit." He tells The Herald Magazine: "There is no trespass law in Scotland, but trespassing is what these people are doing. They should not be there."
Final missives are expected to be concluded by the end of July, and although building will not start before 2011, residents are unclear about when the new landowners will take possession of the land. "The council say they're keen to maintain and improve their allotment provision," says Peacock. "But the proof of the pudding is the decision they made on this site, which we see as a test case for their allotment strategy."
Karen Cheun, who lives nearby, is growing cabbage, leeks, onions, carrots and coriander in a raised bed on the space. "I'll be completely gutted to be evicted from this site," she says. "In the short time I've been living here it's helped me meet my neighbours, and it's become such a precious resource. It's become more than just a piece of land; it's a real community focus."
Six new growers have joined North Kelvin Meadow through the Landshare website, and new raised beds and organic soil have been ordered for them. "We're not stopping until the bulldozers move in," says Peacock.
Vacant and derelict land and gap sites are exactly what Eleanor Logan is looking for. The recently appointed head of Sage (Sow and Grow Everywhere) in Glasgow, her task is to identify sites that can be transformed into community growing spaces, and to solve some of the problems of producing food on contaminated land and brownfield sites.
The brainchild of the environmental arts charity NVA, the imaginative project received three-year funding from the city council in April. Logan is undertaking a scoping study on behalf of the eight local authority areas within the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership, whose partners include Scottish Natural Heritage, the Forestry Commission and regional council representatives. Her report will be published in September.
In just one month she has already identified 10 potential sites in Glasgow - which, once matched with growers, will be supplied with a growing toolkit including specially-designed grow-boxes made from a range of materials. "It's becoming very exciting," she says. "I'm finding more by the day and it's a matter of trying to hold back the rising tide. There's been huge interest across the city, from Easterhouse to the south side."
Housing estates, backcourts and land earmarked for development but currently disused because of the economic downturn all hold potential for Sage. "People want to live close to where they grow their vegetables," says Logan. The organisation will test contaminated land - common in industrial cities such as Glasgow - and make it safe for planting before prepping it for production and handing it over to growers.
Logan does not see Sage reducing public demand for allotments; rather, she sees it as giving people the confidence to apply for a plot. "We're still pushing for more allotments in Glasgow," she says. "This project is about how land is utilised in an urban environment and it will be interesting to see if it changes the way land is used in the future."
Last week, only 152 Scots appeared to have registered with Landshare - although that doesn't take into account names that might have been removed following a match. Fearnley-Whittingstall, though, remains undaunted. "It could be better, but we have had some really good matches," he says.
"One of the things we've noticed is that people who grow food are also quite technologically savvy. They like to go online and talk to each other about what they've been planting. Landshare is the ultimate embodiment of that: people use it to communicate with each other. The idea is to continue and remodel the site."
The project is open-ended and there is no deadline for registering. "We would never want it to end as long as it's proving useful," he says. "We want to create shorter waiting times for land, and for it to become a basic tool for individuals, businesses and city councils to use to announce the release of land."
Through Landshare, the National Trust has offered 1000 plots - though none in Scotland - while the City of London wants to create 2012 community growing sites in time for the Olympics and will use Landshare to help. British Waterways will release hundreds, perhaps thousands, of plots through the website.
"It's not about shaming landowners into releasing land. It's more about cajoling them," says Fearnley-Whittingstall. "After all, if you allow people to grow on your disused midden, what's the worst that can happen?"
Monday, 15 June 2009
Oatlands photos from Transitions course students
Find more photos like this on The Green House
Some good pics of the allotments (and some pics of our river garden, sorry couldn't figure out how to keep it to just a few pics).
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Open Day
We are having our first planning meeting for our Open Day on Saturday 1st August on Wednesday 10th June between 6pm and 7pm in the Blue hut. On Thursday 11th June we are having a work party clear up day also in preparation for the Open Day.
Save Our Allotments Update
Re: Our Six Demands -
The gardens will be regularly monitored by mobile CCTV. A Gladedale subcontractor is in the process of clearing the rubble next to the gardens. Since the articles in the Evening Times and the South Side News the stone throwing has stopped and there has been no other vandalism. Thanks again to the local company and the private individual who donated greenhouses. The council have refused to replace the clubhouse/storage area and toilets as they plan to close the current site at the end of the year and do not consider their replacement as financially viable. However they may be cleaned up as part of our Open Day. Gladedale plans to start work on the new site in September and open it in January next year.
The gardens will be regularly monitored by mobile CCTV. A Gladedale subcontractor is in the process of clearing the rubble next to the gardens. Since the articles in the Evening Times and the South Side News the stone throwing has stopped and there has been no other vandalism. Thanks again to the local company and the private individual who donated greenhouses. The council have refused to replace the clubhouse/storage area and toilets as they plan to close the current site at the end of the year and do not consider their replacement as financially viable. However they may be cleaned up as part of our Open Day. Gladedale plans to start work on the new site in September and open it in January next year.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
New Evening Times Article
Sorry you will have to copy the link:
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/
news/display.var.2509267.0.
firm_donates_greenhouse_to_
vandalhit_allotments.php
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/
news/display.var.2509267.0.
firm_donates_greenhouse_to_
vandalhit_allotments.php
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Evening Times
We made front page news on Tuesday 5 May in the Evening Times. The readers comments are very interesting too.
I hope this link works (it may be time limited)
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2506121.0.0.php
Monday, 4 May 2009
Green Allotments Not Green Deserts
terrible situation for you - good luck with campaign
The global financial situation has put a small number of developments in Glasgow on hold, and Bailie Baker’s motion proposed that the Council works with site and property owners, to lay grass on vacant ground to provide short term public green space on the sites until development conditions improve.
Bailie Baker said: “Although there is a substantial amount of new development activity underway in the city, it is recognised that the current financial downturn will put a number of planned projects on temporary hold. This is regrettable, but entirely understandable given current market conditions.
Some developments will be delayed, undeveloped sites will be fenced off and buildings awaiting redevelopment lie empty until market conditions improve. In the meantime, it is important that Glasgow presents a good environment to residents, visitors and potential investors.
thought this might be of interest
ironic ? green deserts not green allotments
please add me to any mailing lists and keep me posted
many thanks
cassandra
Thursday 30 October 2008
Glasgow considers plan to install temporary parks on vacant sites
A motion by Bailie Dr Nina Baker, (nina.baker@councillors.glasgow.gov.uk ) supported by Councillor Philip Braat, to provide short term public green space on vacant development sites in Glasgow was passed at today's (30 October) Glasgow City Council meeting.
The global financial situation has put a small number of developments in Glasgow on hold, and Bailie Baker’s motion proposed that the Council works with site and property owners, to lay grass on vacant ground to provide short term public green space on the sites until development conditions improve.
Bailie Baker said: “Although there is a substantial amount of new development activity underway in the city, it is recognised that the current financial downturn will put a number of planned projects on temporary hold. This is regrettable, but entirely understandable given current market conditions.
Some developments will be delayed, undeveloped sites will be fenced off and buildings awaiting redevelopment lie empty until market conditions improve. In the meantime, it is important that Glasgow presents a good environment to residents, visitors and potential investors.
“The Council’s City Plan 2 encourages the use of vacant and derelict land as temporary greenspace. I am delighted that the Council has resolved to work with site and property owners to temporarily landscape vacant sites to create simple and well-maintained grassed areas that will be open to the public, and also to use empty buildings’ windows for displays of Glasgow’s commercial, innovation, art and design capabilities.”
Councillor Philip Braat, one of Bailie Baker's co-councillors in the Anderston / City multi-member ward, supported the motion at the Council meeting. This was agreed to be a practical workable solution and a number of potential sites in the city have been identified.
Councillor Philip Braat said: "While Glasgow is well-placed to resist the worst of the global credit situation, it must be recognised that nowhere will be immune to its effects. This motion will help improve our city environment and will also encourage empty buildings to make suitable window space available to our universities and colleges to display student work and research projects. We should be clear that these green spaces will be short term in nature, and will be redeveloped as market conditions improve."
Councillor Philip Braat, one of Bailie Baker's co-councillors in the Anderston / City multi-member ward, supported the motion at the Council meeting. This was agreed to be a practical workable solution and a number of potential sites in the city have been identified.
Councillor Philip Braat said: "While Glasgow is well-placed to resist the worst of the global credit situation, it must be recognised that nowhere will be immune to its effects. This motion will help improve our city environment and will also encourage empty buildings to make suitable window space available to our universities and colleges to display student work and research projects. We should be clear that these green spaces will be short term in nature, and will be redeveloped as market conditions improve."
Sunday, 3 May 2009
May on the plot
We've had a busy holiday weekend and despite the forecast the weather has been good. Finally, got the potatoes in the ground and planted carrots yesterday too but that was after Robert finished his frame which had to be built, painted and covered in net curtains.....! I should have taken a picture.
Today, I planted beetroot, parsnips and turnip. Robert transplanted the broccoli and cauliflower. And, yes you've guessed it! He has a contraption to go with those too. He has stapled some netting to wood to protect the plants from the pigeons. We have also used old video tape to flap about in the wind (I would rather have a scarecrow). The video tape works quite well but you find it everywhere when it blows off or at the end of the season when you are dismantling it all.
Today, I planted beetroot, parsnips and turnip. Robert transplanted the broccoli and cauliflower. And, yes you've guessed it! He has a contraption to go with those too. He has stapled some netting to wood to protect the plants from the pigeons. We have also used old video tape to flap about in the wind (I would rather have a scarecrow). The video tape works quite well but you find it everywhere when it blows off or at the end of the season when you are dismantling it all.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Save Our Allotments
The Oatlands Leisure Gardens have been in their current site, Elmfoot Street in the Gorbals Glasgow, since the late 1980s. Funding was received from the EU and Land and Environmental Services set up two school plots with disabled access, raised beds and a polytunnel. These two plots were allocated to Richmond Park Primary in the Oatlands area.
The gardens have been very successful and have been enjoyed by local residents for many years. However, more recently an agreement was made between Glasgow City Council Department of Regeneration Services and Gladedale Property Developers for a 99 year lease on the land for regeneration. As part of the agreement, the allotments were to be moved to a smaller site adjoining Richmond Park School reducing the number of plots from 20 to 14. This could result in the eviction of several individual plot holders and community group plots rented by Blackfriars Primary, the Simon Community, Oatlands Residents Association, the Transition Group and the Carr-Gorm Group. This is at a time when waiting lists for plots in Glasgow can range from 2 to 8 years.
Last February, the allotment site suffered major damage due to the storms and heavy rain which fell. However, everyone rallied round and carried out repairs on the greenhouses and everything was back on track by the Spring. Unfortunately, at this time a spate of vandalism started and huts were being burned on a weekly basis. On Sunday 8th June the metal storage area for tools and the clubhouse were razed to the ground. By this time, the fire brigade had been called out on five separate occasions and it was obvious that the vandalism was not being carried out by kids. Before the fire, boltcutters had been used to cut the fencing and large industrial tools such as a rotovator and a chainsaw had been stolen. This would have required transport for these tools to be removed. The fire had taken hold very quickly so that the fire brigade were too late to save the clubhouse and it was likely that petrol had been used.
By July, there was not a pain of glass left in any of the greenhouses, five sheds have been razed to the ground, the storage area and clubhouse burnt out, everyone had lost their tools and the polytunnel was ripped apart.
In August the allotment secretary attended the Glasgow Allotment Forum meeting and asked for their help in tackling the problems at Oatlands. GAF agreed to help and a meeting was arranged with Ron Smith, Department of Regeneration Services, Robert Watson and Andy Worrall, Environmental and Land Services, Baillie James Scanlon, Baillie Jahangir Hanif, Councillor Danny Alderslowe, Judy Wilkinson, Secretary of GAF and Ian Baird, Gladedale along with representatives of Oatlands. Unfortunately, Ian Baird did not attend. A further meeting was held at Oatlands which Ian Baird did attend. Future meetings were held on 10 December in Councillor Alderslowe’s office and on 16 December with Steve Inch, the Executive Director of the Department of Regeneration.
As a result of these meetings it was agreed that CCTV would be provided for Oatlands and monitored by Glasgow Council and a new fence would be erected by Gladedale/Land Services and reimbursed to Gladedale on the move to the new site. However after the recent removal of the CCTV, without the plotholders being consulted, there has been more fires, more vandalism and threats to plotholders
The move to the new site has been delayed due to the downturn in the housing market and no definite date has been set, but the gardens remain under threat of vandalism and eviction. The new site should be in addition to the original site to meet the local demand and reduce waiting lists.
Updates on the gardens will be posted on our website: http://www.oatlandsleisuregardens6.blogspot.com
Monday, 27 April 2009
Flower Advice
Sorry I was not able to talk to you about flowers this weekend. It is difficult to suggest anything without seeing your plot, but selecting flowers from an easily available Dr D.G. Hessayon's "Flower Expert" book would be a good place to start. Try planting some herbaceous perennials (their foliage dies back in the autumn and grows back in the spring). Plant in a circle, in odd numbers so that they look more natural and less square, with the tallest plants in the middle. Try matching and contrasting the colours and have at least one species in flower throughout the growing season. Roukenglen Garden Centre should have a wider selection than Homebase, B&Q or the supermarkets. Anything else could be found in the classified ads at the back of gardening magazines like Gardeners' World. They usually have special offers for matching plants.
If you just want to grow annuals sow a wild flower mix on a depleted soil.
Let me know if any of this is of any use or if I am teaching my granny to suck eggs again.
If you just want to grow annuals sow a wild flower mix on a depleted soil.
Let me know if any of this is of any use or if I am teaching my granny to suck eggs again.
Carrots
Robert also built a frame for carrots yesterday. It is about 18" high and we will cover it will fleece (out the pound shop) and net curtains (Ikea) to keep the carrot fly away. This has been very successful over the last two years. We stored our carrots in boxes of sand over the winter and only ran out in February so would recommend that too.
Carrot seeds not in yet but in the next week or so. I think we have plenty of time.
Carrot seeds not in yet but in the next week or so. I think we have plenty of time.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Potatoes
Hoping to get our potatoes planted this weekend. We are quite late this year and didn't buy any until Easter but if the weather is good on Saturday we can catch up.
Flowers
Planning to plant some flowers this weekend but I don't have any experience of flowers. I want a lot of colour for the summer so advice would be appreciated. I have sunflowers ready to go in but that's about it
Help Offered
If any new members want help with digging etc or advice on gardening email me - mark.meneely@yahoo.com
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Onions
Well, our onions have gone in. We have decided to try and grow them through black membrane to reduce the weeds this year. We have stapled the membrane to a wooden frame (about 6" high) so that it will not blow away in the wind. So, now we will have to wait and see how we get on.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
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Re: Save Our Allotments
Bloody hell. Good luck in your fight against these cynical gangsters, I'll certainly be writing to my local councillors and helping if I can. Have you tried publicizing the vandalism, thefts and fires to the newspapers? People can put two and two together, and negative press has some chance of influencing the council.. The Evening Times has been quite good for publicising the NK Meadow project. I know the media are a shower of bastards, but if you can give them an angle of "community group vs. greedy developers" on a single issue like this, they can be useful.