Before and After

Today I visited the Porty Community Growing Space behind the Town Hall.

The change since I last visited the site is incredible.

The strip of land is now packed with raised beds and pop-up greenhouses bursting with produce (and happy gardeners). 

MAY 2009

It's hard to believe that the site was an almost inpenetrable jungle just over a year ago.

The site began as a guerrilla gardening project without Edinburgh City Councl's knowledge or agreement.  I suspect the whole project would have come to a standstill had it not been for Lucy-Ann's tenacity when dealing with the local authority- who initially were not exactly overjoyed by our presence.  Today the site is leased from the Council and is a fully-fledged community project. 

Guerrilla Gardening was a great kickstart at Porty but now with a committed group of individuals and community activists, the project looks set to be sustainable in the long term.