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Edinburgh Garden Partners (EGP) is an exciting new charity formed in February 2011 to continue and develop a garden share project which had been running across Edinburgh.


Edinburgh Garden Partners are a local charity that works with all Edinburgh City residents and aims to help regardless of difficulties with health or wealth. They help those who have


gardens but are unable to maintain them; the most common reasons are poor physical/mental health, struggling for time and lack of knowledge. The charity supports individuals by helping them to find a volunteer gardener from the bank of volunteers it recruits. Any matches


made are mutually beneficial, the garden owner receives help to keep the garden tidy and attractive and the volunteer is allocated a place in the garden where they can grow vegetables and/or soft fruits. Both people involved in the match often share the fresh food and in time they will often begin to share good times together in and around the garden.


These matches have all


sorts of benefits for those involved, such as increasing fitness, gaining gardening knowledge, decreasing social isolation and better connecting communities.


Volunteer Nim Kibbler writes about the benefits that come from garden sharing Edinburgh


Garden


Partners have many years of matching and supporting Edinburgh residents in garden sharing, and they’ve shown it to be a safe and enjoyable way to grow food and maintain the garden.


service that could help. Edinburgh Garden Partners matched her with Abby, a woman who lived only a 15-minute walk away. Abby had been on the allotment waiting list for the last 3 years and she was keen to get started as soon as possible. Now, Nancy and Abby often chat out in the garden and talk about how the crops are doing. Abby gets all the


practical


experience she needs to learn how to grow her own food and is confident that, when she does get an allotment, she’ll know where to start. For Nancy, she now has the joy of seeing her garden as she likes it


C


Nancy is 89 years old and her husband is 2 years her senior. Their house has a large garden that was once full of flowers and vegetables. Five years ago they were forced to turf over the veg patch and scale back what flowers they were growing due to loss of mobility. For Nancy, this was a sad moment as she enjoyed fresh food and was proud of her productive garden. It was a relief when she


found that there was a specific


and enjoying the fresh tomatoes from it once again. Currently in Edinburgh the


charity has 30 partnerships and there are others looking for both gardens to grow in and volunteers to help. If you’d like to volunteer


your garden or your time, then please call 0131 220 5067 or email info@edinburghgardenpartners.o rg.uk


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