BBC’s Beechgrove Garden team of Producer, Gwyneth Hardy; Designer, Lynn Harris; and Researcher, Stacey Shear together with Presenter, George Anderson, did a final recce on Friday before finalising their filming schedule for the end of the month. They first checked the progress being made in Ardentinny Community’s Glenfinart Walled Garden and, in particular, the Sensory Garden which will be the main focus of their programme.

George Anderson also advised the Walled Garden team on the problem of “Mares’ Tail’ weed and pronounced it invincible, declaring that it can only be kept at bay with regular hoeing. He also suggested that the orchard needed regular pruning and lots of bird boxes to encourage birds which would eat the caterpillars.

The team then went on to recce several domestic private gardens in the area for possible inclusion in the programme, one of which was Andy McLintock’s in Kilmun. Andy, a local sculptor, is kindly donating one of his works in the shape of a garden seat for the Sensory Garden.

Lynn’s design includes several seats, of which Andy’s is one. Ardentinny resident and stone mason, Stephen Johnstone is both constructing and donating a stone seat; similarly, a carpenter from Kilmun is carving and donating a wooden bench; Designer Lynn Harris plans to create a grass sofa and a local resident has commissioned a metal bench in memory of a friend.

In addition to these generous donations, Ardentinny Community Trust is also indebted to its tireless volunteers and the support and donations of individuals and companies, most notably West Coast Tool & Plant Hire who continue to supply invaluable equipment, free of charge.

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A group of children from Strone Primary visited Glenfinart Walled Garden on Friday afternoons for 4 weeks, accompanied by school staff. They planted out seedlings of radish, broccoli, cabbage, peas, beans and pumpkins which they grew from seeds planted in school. They have also been involved in planting seeds and established plants donated to the garden e.g. sunflower seeds, strawberry plants and broom. They learned about the history of the garden, Ph soil testing and how to weed round their plants. Some of the children added their wishes to the wishing tree (one wish we all identified with was for ‘a weed free garden’).

The most memorable activity was when the children were let loose on the tyres which were to be used as planters. They spent a fun filled 15 minutes rolling on and inside the tyres which had become sports cars, sailing ships and mobile play parks.

On the last week of term Lynn Kerr gave a talk at assembly about the garden, the history and the future plans for it. She showed a powerpoint presentation of photographs of the garden, both old and new and ran the video footage from Ardentinny.org. The pupils were very interested to hear how the video had been shot and the children who worked in the garden were surprised to see how much it had changed. They pointed out to the rest of the school the areas they had planted and the tyres with which they had played. They also spoke about the plants they had put in and what they remembered about the history of the walled garden.

Many of the children were keen to visit it in the school holidays, some wanted to do some work and others were interested to hear about the Beechgrove filming days.

Lynn Kerr.

Photographs supplied by Strone School.

The Ardentinny Community Trust team, supported by enthusiastic volunteers, had the factor 30 out over the weekend as the temperatures soared in Glenfinart Walled Garden. These dedicated folks are bringing new life to the Victorian garden which had, until its acquisition by the Trust in 2012, remained largely neglected over many years. The energy expended over the past weeks and months has been impressive: polytunnel completed;  paths created; sheds erected; an orchard established; and vegetables and flowers planted.

Support from local businesses and individuals has been exceptional. Indeed, this last weekend local firm West Coast Tool & Hire provided the Trust with the loan of a digger and motorised barrow, free of charge. This enabled designated digger driver, David and hand barrow “operative”, Lynn to make a major impression on the circular Beechgrove Garden area of the project which is due to be completed and filmed at the end of July. Included below is the ambitious garden design created by Lynn Harris.

If you would like to be part of this exciting project and have a few hours to spare, why not come along any Monday, Wednesday or Saturday from 10.00 to 16.00 or call Bill on 810238 or Merle on 810220 for information.  Do visit us, you will be made very welcome!

Bird’s-eye view of the garden courtesy of a rookie pilot who’s still a long way off getting his wings!

Tern TV was in Ardentinny on Saturday filming the ‘before’ shots for Beechgrove’s programme on Glenfinart Walled Garden. In the meantime, their landscape designer, Lynn Harris had taken away ‘the wish list’ for possible inclusion in the garden design.

Lynn and Beechgrove researcher, Stacey Shear, had earlier attended a meeting with Ardentinny Community Trust’s Walled Garden Committee in order to ascertain what they would like to have in the garden. Ideas gleaned from community consultations were passed on and the committee received the good news that Lynn intends to do a design for the whole garden, rather than just a part of it.

Due to tight financial and time constraints it will not be possible to put the complete design in place prior to broadcast. However, Lynn felt that by having ‘the whole picture’, this professional design plan could be presented to future potential funders in order to facilitate its eventual completion.

While Lynn and her team are working hard on our behalf, there is something she would like you to do. As it is a time for thinning out or discarding unwanted plants, she has asked that gardeners in Cowal give any excess plants to the project. No matter how insignificant you consider them to be, she promises that every single one will be used somewhere in the garden.

If you have unwanted plants to give or would like to volunteer in the garden, contact Ardentinny Community Trust (ACT) Convener, Bill Williamson on 01369 810238, or ACT secretary, Merle Ferguson 01369 810220 (In the case of adverse weather conditions, please phone either of these numbers to check that the garden is open). Alternatively, you can visit the garden between 10.00 and 16.00 hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays or contact the committee at info@glenfinartgarden.org.

The Beechgrove Garden team will be in Cowal to record the programme from 31 July – 2 August, 2013.