Magical moments caught on camera as our intrepid volunteers and visitors keep coming to the garden despite the frosty weather in December. Landmark events continue like the planting of the first handful of new fruit trees at the walled garden in decades, the best of old and new varieties of an ancient delicacy….the Damson.
Our experimental permaculture based approach to preparing the land for planting is in full swing with the first hugel beds being built. Using up the branches from tree saplings cleared from the ‘kitchen garden’ area earlier in the spring.
Birch, willow and ash branches have been used to weave a hurdle edge to the long raised beds for hedges of soft fruit, flowers and herbs in-between the veggies.
Over the summer and autumn the garden space has attracted a lot of creative interest from photographers, sculptors, dancers and filmmakers. Crossings and Intervals by Improvisation Collective The garden volunteers have enjoyed creating their own structures and embellishments too, with art and gardening naturally going hand in hand. A huge thankyou to photographer Ashey Erdman for capturing the essence of the walled garden this summer, people working, plants and the atmosphere during our first season. A link to our 2017 progress Granton Castle Walled Garden
Recently documentary filmmakers visited the garden and were entranced by the story of Granton’s ‘lost castle garden and the energy and enthusiasm of the Friends Group volunteers in taking on the restoration of this unexpected treasure. A massive thankyou to Trina and Kev for their hard work in making a film of our December work. Written in Film
The hardest question to answer was, “what has been most special at the garden this year”? Answer, too many things to write on this page, but a common theme has been the joy of sharing the surprise with first time visitors at finding such an unexpected living link to the past in a derelict area of Granton. Since January a diverse group of volunteers have spent hundreds of hours working to restore a tiny bit of the once magnificent 2 acre garden. Many visitors from different nationalities and lots of highlights to celebrate in our first year at the walled garden only possible because of continuous support and hard work from community volunteers, visitors, Friends Group members and associated groups.
The aim of creating a space to dream, learn and grow together seems to have been infectious and a leap of faith taken by many people working together to restore one area of the historic garden, showing the potential for the rest.
“There is still so much left to save in this sleeping beauty garden” Nov 2017
Hope to see you in the New Year, when we are back at the garden on the 6th January for an informal gathering to welcome back the light, celebrate the achievements of 2017 and discuss plans for 2018.