SHED at the Community Roots Gardens

17/12/2025

What a bumper week for our volunteers! We have been waiting on our Community Roots Garden to quieten down a bit so that we could get back to work around the polytunnel site. Digging in ant-rodent protection around the perimeter with mesh and repurposed Victorian bricks that we had to hand. I think we might sow mixed clover into the mesh and brick work or creeping thyme. 🩷
There was lots of clearing up of the overgrown beds which have not been in use so that we can sow surplus onion and garlic sets into them from the main garden. The interior of the polytunnel was tidied up and we had a lot of fun!

And that was just Monday!
Today we had a splendid wee get together with lots of tasty food and were unusually indoors and nice and toasty! Some of our volunteers only come on specific days so this was their first time meeting up.

It was a wonderful wee afternoon!
To our volunteers - you rock! Thank you for a special year!

11/12/2025

You can help Community Roots WIN a £500 donation prize in easyfundraising's giveaway this week! Community Roots will get a FREE entry each time a new supporter signs up before the 14th December! It only takes a moment and it's completely free, so please get involved if you haven't already - this would really boost our 2025 fundraising:

Help us when you shop with 7,000+ brands. Join now.

09/12/2025

🎉It’s official! We’ve excelled ourselves this year and moved up to Level 5 Outstanding in just the 3rd year of our Community Roots Garden being open! 🎉

Well done to all the team involved on the ground and in the background! This certainly is an “outstanding” achievement! 👏🙏

08/12/2025

https://www.ruralsprout.com/marigolds-in-the-vegetable-garden/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAOjwntleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeZ9KXaF6GM99uGJPG2C_A6bWNi5fWwuQUTsk365a4J6_dCN7wgSuoVlgGymQ_aem_9w-nB6e_Nz4KaGdFiGbg_w

French Marigolds (Tagetes patula) are an excellent plant to grow. They look lovely in planters, hanging baskets or ornamental beds or borders, but they can also be an excellent addition to your vegetable garden. In fact,

07/12/2025

The groundwork has begun at the top of our garden in preparation for our Garden Haven build.
Our gardening volunteers sessions will be disrupted a bit over the next few weeks so keep an eye on this page for updates to schedules and location.

04/12/2025

What a busy week we’ve had at the Community Roots Garden! We’ve been preparing for the groundsworkers prepping the new Garden Haven site . So as well as gardening we’ve been finding temporary homes for things off-site, getting tip runs organised, flattening our container unit, and generally being a bit excited! (Or in my case a little nervous)
Lots going on behind the scenes also, getting funding and paperwork sorted.

We’ve a sign up on our gate now advising of building work, and though we welcome visitors popping in usually, please note that if it is not a Monday or Wednesday morning please do not enter even if you see activity inside.

We may be working at our poly tunnel on the Monday and Wednesday group and will put a sign up to say so with directions (3 mins on foot)

It’s a new year soon and it’s going to be an exciting one for us at Community Roots with a shiny new building to welcome you into!

04/12/2025

Looking for a gift for a gardener in the family this festive time? 👀

We are selling some items that we are no longer needing or have been donated but cannot use.
Funds raised will go directly back into the Community Garden and Haven project.
Please message Fi on 07903404224 for more info or to view the items

Also 1 Dalek compost bin and 2 water butts- no donation required.

Thanks

26/11/2025

🙏💡Urgent last call for our wee consultation survey that will carry a lot of weight for us.
The average time to complete is just 3mins so please take a few to help us inform funders and the way we shape our projects. It’s anonymous and very user friendly😊
I’m leaving it open until midnight tonight before pulling the data to send off in the am for funders.

Even if you’ve never visited the garden or larder, we want to know what you think of our ideas for the future and hear your ideas too! 🙏🤩💡

21/11/2025

I had such a lovely visit with West Kilbride Primary School yesterday. They were interviewing people in the community that had visited the school before.
I have to say how impressed I am with the primary school and how they are building their children’s confidence and skills, not just in academia, but in their self-development and leadership skills.
There’s also a space that they use for when children need to take some space to regulate themselves and the children even knew what their rights are within the UNCRC.

As someone who lacked self-esteem and was unrealised in their neurodiversity in school, I put a lot of energy into fitting in and often in the shadow of other more self-assured kids. It’s great to see how much the headteacher and staff are investing in the children’s holistic development.

It is a joy to link in with them and get a glimpse of this.

09/11/2025

Participatory Budgeting voting is still open!
We have a bid for food growing for the community in the regular PB and we have a bid in the Community Wealth Building PB for our Garden Haven build.

There’s also a lot of other really great projects in our area to vote for. You get 3 votes in each section!
Please use the links below to see more info on both of our bids, and you can then navigate to the other projects to see who else you might want to vote for.

Thanks

https://northayrshire.communitychoices.scot/budgets/16/investments/1164

https://northayrshire.communitychoices.scot/budgets/16/investments/1163

The Garden Haven will be a purpose-built community space within the Community Roots Garden in West Kilbride – a once-derelict site reclai...

31/10/2025

A big thanks to everyone who has already taken a few minutes to do this consultation for us.
We need to have a much higher number of views and want to hear from a good cross section of the community. Please fill it out and share with friends and family.
We will be closing it next week.

If you’re passing by the garden next week on Monday or Wednesday between 10-1 we can chat to you and show you the site, answer your questionsw and capture your views on the iPad.

Thanks for your support

❓🙋Please take a few minutes to complete this community consultation survey.
We need your views on our new project - The Garden Haven building at our Community Roots Garden.
This is an excellent essential part of our application for funding and it’s really important that we can share what the community thinks of our plans.

There is a video link and further info on our project and building plans in the survey. All information gathered is anonymous.
Please share this with everyone you know so that we can get as broad a survey as possible.

Thank you for your support. 🤩

https://forms.office.com/e/LFrjH86uAD

16/10/2025

🤝A great article from Calum Corral on our wonderful project and upcoming plans for the Garden Haven building. 🌿🏠

💭We would love to hear from you on what you think of our plans as it helps us taylor our project and supports funding applications. If you live in West Kilbride or have connections with the area, then please take 5 minutes to complete this community consultation survey.
👉 https://forms.office.com/e/LFrjH86uAD

Thank you

🙌 "You generally find the young volunteers gravitate towards the oldest, so it is a nice inter-generational thing that happens."