The City of Edinburgh Council’s £52,500 Grow Your Own Fund has been shared between 13 community and voluntary groups whose work includes creating food growing spaces and providing food growing education.

Applications for funding were individually assessed by a panel, with grants of up to £5000 awarded to a range of schemes. Amongst the initiatives are Tuk Tuk and Grow, which brings mobile growing and cooking sessions to families across Edinburgh using a tuk tuk bike, and Nuclear Growth, which plans to set up a food growing project on the site of a former nuclear bunker on Corstorphine Hill.

Funding is intended to be spent in areas such as: purchasing seeds, plants, and tools; equipment for community garden cooking areas; education and training activities; personal protective equipment; and staff time directly related to establishing the growing area.

Councillor Margaret Graham, Culture and Communities Convener, said:

The standard of applications to the fund was extremely high, and the panel were really impressed – the successful projects demonstrate real creativity and ambition.

Urban food growing is important for the health of both people and nature. These initiatives will really benefit local communities and the wider city by bringing people together, reducing food waste and supporting biodiversity.

Full list of successful projects:

• Nuclear Growth, Barnton Bunker Preservation Society (awarded £4640)
• Get Blackhall Growing, Blackhall Parent Carer Council (awarded £2000)
• Tuk Tuk Grow and Go, Edinburgh Community Food (awarded £5000)
• Redhall Grows, Friends of Redhall School (awarded £5000)
• Gate 55 Community Food Growers, Gate 55 Community Centre (awarded £4946)
• Growing Together, Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre (awarded £5000)
• Longstone Primary Farm and Garden, Parents at Longstone School (awarded £1400)
• Community Garden at Pilton Equalities Project, Pilton Equalities Project (awarded £4000)
• StJV Allotment: a growing space for the campus community, St John Vianney Primary School Charitable Trust (awarded £5000)
• Community Garden and Foraging Trail, St Mary’s Episcopal cathedral (awarded £5000)
• Flourishing Together at Gracemount Medical Practice, Transition Edinburgh South (awarded £5000)
• Garden @ the Snake, Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust (awarded £2625 – partial funding)
• Edible Garden at The Action Group, The Action Group (awarded £2889 – partial funding)

Patricia Lee from Gate 55 said:

We were really keen to support a new community food growing group here and this grant makes a huge difference to us. The funds will enable us to provide the group with resources for propagation space and for fruit bushes and compost, as well as supporting them with a project worker who will help with capacity-building and growing the membership of the group.

Ryan Lytwyn, Mental Health Worker with the Pilton Equalities Project, said:

We’re absolutely delighted to receive this funding from the Grow Your Own grant scheme. It will make a huge difference to our community garden at the Pilton Equalities Project, allowing us to expand our growing space, install greenhouses, and involve more local people in growing fresh, sustainable food. This support means we can promote food security, improve wellbeing, and help our community take positive action for our climate.

Jonathan Baxter from A+E at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral said:

We were delighted to hear about the Grow Your Own Fund and even more delighted when we heard that our application had been successful. Community food growing is a key part of that commitment and securing funding for a community gardener/development worker allows us to realise our aim of establishing a Community Garden in the West End of Edinburgh.

Alongside local residents and current users of Walpole Hall, the Community Garden aims to support the wider climate justice movement in Edinburgh. It does this by providing a welcoming space where horticulture and ecological design skills can be learnt in a hands-on way.