Clearing the Way for the Avant Gardeners
The Avant Gardeners were awarded funding to help improve their local community garden.
In late 2023, the community garden on the outskirts of Dalavich faced significant encroachment from scrub willow, brambles, rushes, and bracken along its boundary areas. The invasive vegetation was reducing growing space, limiting light to the garden, and creating additional maintenance burdens for members who lacked the physical capacity to undertake the extensive clearance required.
The Avant Gardeners were awarded £2,340.00 from the An Suidhe Wind Farm Community Fund to pay for contractors to help get the garden back under control.
An Suidhe Wind Farm Community Fund supports community projects benefitting those living in the areas covered by the Community Councils of: Glenorchy and Innishail (Eredine only); Inveraray; Furnace, and by Dalavich Improvement Group.
The project began with employing a local contractor to cut and chip the encroaching vegetation on all four sides of the garden. This initial clearance work was completed early in the project timeline, creating the foundation for subsequent maintenance activities.
From May 2024 onwards, a local gardener was employed for two hours a week to maintain the enlarged garden area through mowing and preventing regrowth. This was challenging due to the size of the garden, and the gardener shared his work schedule with members, which successfully motivated volunteers to join him for strimming and hedgerow pruning. This achieved substantially more work than just the funded hours would have.
The project encountered a significant challenge with stump removal. The original plan to use horse-powered extraction became unfeasible when the contractor determined that stumps had been cut too close to ground level for chain attachment. In response, the team developed an innovative alternative approach. They could prevent regrowth by drilling holes in the willow stumps and filling them with Epsom salts.
Volunteers stepped forward at the Annual General Meeting to research and implement this experimental solution, and the results remain under evaluation.
The project directly benefited 30 individuals through the improved garden facilities and expanded accessible areas. Beyond the practical outcomes, several unexpected benefits also emerged.
The identification of effective volunteer coordination capabilities within the team created a lasting resource for future community initiatives. The project also provided meaningful social benefits, notably for two long-term residents, one of whom gained renewed focus during ill health by participating in the project, and their partner found valuable respite and produced excellent vegetables.
Key learning outcomes include the importance of detailed contractor briefings to prevent communication gaps, the value of a flexible approach for unforeseen challenges, and the potential for community assets to emerge unexpectedly and prove more valuable than anticipated resources.
Read more about the An Suidhe Wind Farm Community Fund