March Update

March has arrived and with it comes the first signs of spring! Now is the perfect time to get ready for an abundant garden in the months ahead.

At Gamrie Gardens, we've had a few new members join our allotments already and we are thrilled to kick off the gardening season on the first day of spring (March 20th). There are still memberships available, but we anticipate they will go quickly! Mother's day is coming up this month and we think a 5x5m allotment is a perfect gift. Or maybe our *Garden Guidance services.

On March 18th, we'll be having our first volunteer day! From 12-4, we'll be digging and building and need your help! Plus, we'll have a warm fire, warm snacks, drinks and good tunes to make it more fun. If you need a pick-up from McDuff or Gardenstown, let us know and we'll arrange it for you. Our main goal is to prepare the gardens as much as possible for members to get started on their plots.

In addition to volunteer days, we now have some great products available on our website. All proceeds go to the gardens, but for now, payments must be made through Paypal.

*We also have a new page on our website called "Garden Guidance" where you can get unique advice on how to optimize your space to grow more food - this is a free service!

If you are looking for more in-depth advice, there is a paid service available that offers guidance for the whole year, from garden planning and planting to harvest.

We will also be working on building the farm shop - we hope for it to be open in early April. This will be a really exciting addition to the gardens and the first structure! We are building a geodesic dome and would love to speak more with people about why this structure is perfect for Scottish crofters. If you are a volunteer interested in working on this project specifically, please let us know as we will be working on it outside of regular volunteer days, but are happy for the help.

Finally, we're still working on a woodland proposal with a forestry adviser and hope to have it finalized and submitted this month.

A note on donations:

We are still hoping to find someone who can help to till half an acre of land for the allotments. This will save volunteers and new members a LOT of work, and help us get planting sooner. Please contact us ASAP if you can help with this.

We are also hoping for more donations of wood, screws, nails, wire, cardboard, horse muck, hay, gloves, buckets, watering cans, water catchment materials, hose, tubes, shovels, wheelbarrows etc. If you have any items to donate, get in touch so we can arrange a pick-up or drop-off.

Here's a quick recap of important dates this month:

March 8th - International Women's Day

March 17th - St. Patrick's Day

March 18th - 1st Volunteer Day

March 19th - Mother's Day

March 20th - Members can commence gardening, the first day of spring

March 26th - Daylights Saving Time starts

It's going to be a great season at Gamrie Gardens and we can't wait to get our hands dirty and get growing!

Join us as we look forward to the abundant gardens of Gamrie.

See you in the gardens!