County Donegal has become the second county to create its own community garden network following a call for more local organisations by the national Community Garden Network of Ireland.
The new network is now mapping all community gardens in the county and plans to organise networking events throughout the year to showcase what members have been growing and also open the gardens to local people as well as artists and musicians. Co Carlow is so far the only other county to have set up its own network when volunteers from community gardens in the county came together in the two-acre community garden being created in
Carlow Town, An Gairdin Beo. Each of the gardens in the group is to host an event this year for all gardeners at community gardens throughout the country, as well as for local schoolchildren and community groups. Among the events planned are biodiversity walks, barbecues, horticultural training, film nights and cookery demonstrations.
“We want community gardens to be accessible to everybody, not just gardeners,’ said Joanne Butler, joint coordinator of the new Co. Donegal network.
The volunteer-run Community Garden Network (www.cgn.ie) was founded in 2011 by Carlow-based gardening tutor Dee Sewell to build links between the hundreds of community gardens across Ireland.