Lochend Community Growing Project

23/08/2026

15/08/2026

Huge thank you to everyone that helped finish off the paths a couple of weeks ago. A year in the planning, three full days, 11.8 tonnes of gravel and lots of help from members and phase 1 is complete 💪 We still have compacting to do for phase 2.
Thanks also to the OneCity Trust and the Corra Foundation for funding the additional gravel, and ErthStone who paid for the additional Saturday delivery costs.

19/07/2026

We had another amazing day in the garden yesterday refreshing the paths.
We had a false start two weeks ago (when the wrong gravel was delivered and had to be sent back). After hours lifting old gravel, we then had to spend hours putting it all back ready for our birthday party last week! But we also used the time to remove tree roots that were becoming a tripping hazard and repair patches of weedblock.
Yesterday we succesfully took delivery of 6 tonnes of self binding granite gravel and loads of people turned up to help. Thank you to everyone that helped with weeding, hosing, shoveling, wheelbarrowing and spreading. It was amazing team work in hot sunny weather. Thanks also to The OneCity Trust who made this possible by funding the gravel.
The gravel only covered half the garden so we'll need to arrange another delivery and do it all again! I hope the next day will be as much fun and rewarding as yesterday was.

17/07/2026

Volunteer opportunity - tomorrow Sat 17th July.

If anyone would like to help us wheelbarrow 6 tonnes of gravel from the lane into the garden and rake it out tomorrow afternoon, any help would be gratefully received!

Enjoy being outside in the fresh air, overcast sky with occassional view of the sun, and free excercise! Tea/coffee, crisps and biscuits will be provided.

14/07/2026

We had a cracking party on Saturday celebrating 15 amazing years of Lochend Secret Garden and all the members and guests who've been through our gate since 2011 (despite falling on the one overcast day sandwiched between glorious sunshine!) ☀️☀️😶‍🌫️☀️☀️
👢We had welly wanging and a quiz trail.
🖍 Eileen's crafty kids table and the photo props were really popular.
🎂There was plenty of food!
🍸A cocktail / mocktail bar!
🍛 And Kulwinder did a live curry and chappati making demonstration which everyone loved.

Thanks to everyone that visited on Saturday including all our members and their friends and families, local residents, Chris Murray MP , Ben Macpherson MSP for Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith , Greig from Edible Estates and Ewan Aitken's lovely wife. Thank you all for helping to celebrate the day 💚

Thanks also to our wonderfully generous supporters:
The Corra Foundation who funded all the food.
And the following who donated tour prizes for our games:
Edinburgh Gin Distillery , Royal Yacht Britannia and Port of Leith Distillery

10/07/2026

A reminder that it's our 15th birthday garden party tomorrow 11am - 3pm. Everyone welcome - drop in (no need to book).

Please join us and take a wander round our Secret Garden, and help us to celebrate with free food and drinks including birthday cake of course!

A huge thanks to the Corra Foundation for funding the food and to the following wonderful companies that have donated prizes for our party games:
* The Edinburgh Gin Distillery (Classic Tour & Tasting for 2),
* The Royal Yacht Britannia (2 tour tickets), and
* The Port of Leith Distillery (Tour & Tasting for 2).

03/07/2026

2026 marks15 years since Lochend Secret Garden opened and we're celebrating with a garden party.

Join us on Saturday 11th July between 11am and 3pm for free food and drink (birthday cake of course and cocktails and mocktails).

Open to members and non-members. Party clothes encouraged!

See the event for more info.

26/06/2026

This week in Lochend:
- the pearl oyster mushrooms from our recent Rhyze Mushrooms workshop grew.
- the viola seed pods started splitting open and exploding (they literally sound like someone's throwing gravel at my window).
- we had the most amazing storm I've ever seen!

If you're still reading (thank you!) here's a few notices:
1. We're celebrating our 15th birthday on Sat 11th July 11am-3pm with a garden party. All welcome (both members and non members, under 16yrs must be accompanied by an adult). More info will come out next week.
2. We've had an influx of new members recently (welcome to our new members!) but we still have a handful of beds available. Membership is £25 per year. Email us if you're interested.
3. We've been included in a grant application for a vermiculture (wormery composting) system and workshops. Rhyze have submitted the application to ECCAN (Edinburgh Communities Climate Action Network) for Gorgie Community Farm, Leith Community Growers and ourselves. Applications with the most community votes by 10th July will receive funding. Please consider voting for us at https:/www.eccan.scot/greenlightvoting-2026 It's free to register and you can vote for 5 of the 22 fantastic projects. Thanks.

15/06/2026

What a fantastic workday we had on Saturday! Thanks to everybody who helped with:
* Weeding the orchard and pavement next to the orchard
* Turning the compost
* Making comfry fertiliser
* Painting the fascia boards to go back on the shed
* Watering the mushroom beds and moving our shiitake logs to their home after a soak.
* Weeding the paths
* Weeding the forrest garden (we get a lot of weeds!)
* A tip run to get rid of the old shed roof skylights (they were too brittle and broken to re-use sadly, we re-use everything we can).
* Cooking hot dogs for our break!
It was a really productive day and great company.

15/06/2026

This year we're celebrating our 15th birthday with a garden party on Saturday 11th July (changed from 18th July).