COMMUNITY GARDEN
In the town of Newburgh on the north coast of Fife - a small town with a population of just over 2000 with history stretching from the Cistercian Abbey at the east end of the town back to the Mugdrum Estate at the west - a group of local volunteers have restored and developed the rose garden in the Memorial Garden to its resplendent glory.
Adrian Miles, a gardener by profession, spearheaded the garden’s restoration, and he takes us through the garden’s story.
“Just round the corner from me in a prominent position at the west end of our high street is our Memorial statue, in a garden comprised of grassed areas with shrub and seasonal flower beds.
“Walking past the Memorial Garden in 2020 when the local authority was unable to keep up with their maintenance programmes due to lockdown restrictions, I noted how the empty flower beds were becoming weed infested.
“The gates were always kept closed, something of a barrier borne out of that sense of respect handed down through generations. One evening though I overcame my sense of intruding and wandered in. There was an old bed of around 70 roses on the far side of the garden, mostly hidden from passers-by, in a very poor state. Many were dead and those that were alive had disease and much dead material within, and there was evidence of herbicide damage and many weeds.
"It was a sad sight and gave me much food for thought. It was obvious that time and effort was required if these roses were to be salvaged.
"My background in horticulture goes back 25 years. I was a horticultural lecturer delivering City and Guilds and latterly NVQ Level 2. I’ve attended rose courses and events at both David Austin and Peter Beales. My thirst for knowledge and my passion for roses has taken me far and wide and many a gardener has been a great source of information. I now run my own whole day events on roses covering the basics of plant nutrition and soils, through history and culture of the rose, and finally to the whole process of choosing and maintaining them.
"I have also been a volunteer judge for Keep Scotland Beautiful since 2016, taking me across Scotland to acknowledge and encourage the great work that so many communities do to better their environments.
"We reach a stage in our lives within our professions when we can finally put our heads above the parapet and say, “I think I’m ok at that!” It was time to give back, an opportunity to use the skill-set I have acquired.
"One evening I simply began to clear the weed-infested beds in the Memorial Garden. My efforts were soon noticed and a neighbour joined me (restrictions allowing). Once the beds were clear, my attention turned to the roses which like the garden, were under the care of Fife Council so we had to seek their approval and to know that we weren’t treading on anyone’s sensitivities.
"There were several wide borders left as mowing gutters beside the grassed areas; on one lower lawn area these were 3ft wide with nothing in them but two half-dead weeping cherries. These spaces were crying out for planting.
"This was an ideal area for new roses to be planted: open, sunny, protected from grazers, and in a prominent position within the town. The iron railings also offered the opportunity for climbing and rambling varieties.
"The Royal British Legion was contacted; meetings were arranged on site with local councillors; the Community Council was approached for their approval and input, as well as the local Minister. I sought permission from Fife Council to renovate the old roses and this was granted.
"As social distancing restrictions lifted we were able to get a starter group of 10 people including our Minister, to tackle the old rose bed by clearing all the dead and diseased material away.
"I have received enormous support and encouragement from the Royal British Legion through our District President, Margaret Stewart. The first new roses, eighteen of them, were purchased with a legacy of £400, and were planted in the wide empty borders on the lower lawn.
"The RBL has made further contributions along with the Newburgh Co-op, Scotland’s Gardens Scheme, local individuals, and a community coffee morning. To date we have received £2500 and spent £1700.
"Funding has been used to purchase roses each year, their feed, organic material for planting, as well as sundries such as canes and string.
"Soil improver has been supplied by the council each year, enough to cover all the beds, and this is applied by volunteers.
"Volunteer hours to date over the four years so far equate to roughly 700 hours, the financial equivalent just over £10,000.
"The existing roses have been renovated over a number of years, slowly taking out the oldest stems in order to promote replacement with new. This has worked well in conjunction with their feeding and mulching. There were only two different varieties and their provenance is not known despite my best efforts. One variety suffers bad gall disease and only time will tell if we have done enough to secure their long-term future.
"When buying new roses for the space, the most important criteria were the ability to withstand the local weather conditions, robust constitution, and fragrance. Most of our purchases have been repeat flowering varieties. I prefer ‘Old’ roses so we have Gallicas, a Damask, Hybrid Perpetuals, Portlands, and Bourbons. Some modern roses have been added such as David Austin’s ‘English’ roses as well as some Hybrid Musks. Many of the simpler flowers are magnets for pollinators.
"Several ramblers and climbers have also been added and are trained along the railings, being thornless near the pavement, and repeat flowering where possible.
"The space also benefitted from donated roses, twenty from our local church - apparently they used to snag the brides dresses! The roses were dug out in autumn and relocated to the Memorial Garden, all have survived and thrived.
"All the roses are cared for by the community in terms of pruning, mulching, feeding, and dead-heading. We also take care of the weeding of all the beds, including the 4 annual beds provided by the Council as well as all the edging which has to be done manually. This year, two of the formal annual beds were turned over to roses as permanent planting.
"All the roses have been planted bare-root, usually around February. This offers the best choice from the suppliers in terms of variety, and they get planted as soon as possible after receipt or placed in a large bucket and topped up with compost to prevent the roots drying.
"A hole is dug wide and deep enough to allows the roots to sit without cramping. We use a planting mix of 1/3 organic material and 2/3 soil with a small handful of bonemeal mixed into the bottom layer. The roses are root and stem pruned, and watered in. Personally I find a whole can of water which makes a mud pie after backfilling, and a slight jiggle up and down gets air out, and then top up when the water has soaked in. The crown should be an inch to 2 inches (2.5-5cm) below the soil level.
"I then top dress with a handful of Blood, Fish, and Bone and cover this with an inch (2.5cm) of organic mulch such as composted manure. By the time the soil warms and the fertiliser is broken down by micro-organisms the plants are starting to grow and the food is ready for them to take up.
"Mulching the roses is essential to keep the moisture in, suppress the weeds, and feed the soil. It is done every year with composted manure. We avoid digging any of the soil around the roses to avoid root disturbance - weeds are hand picked and we’ve got them down to a minimum now. We don’t water the roses as there is no supply here but once they are well established, and well mulched, it is unlikely you will need to.
"Once established the roses are fed twice a year with the aforementioned fertiliser: once in early spring with mulch applied on top, once after first flush of flowers in late June, early July. As the roses are not sprayed with fungicide we rely on choosing tough, disease resistant varieties. Some are more prone than others: Bourbon roses for example, as a type have rather a reputation as being martyrs to disease but as they often have some of the best scented blooms available I have recommended above two of the most robust that we have in the garden.
"It is an open site so wind-rock can occur. Autumn pruning assists here and they are visited in the spring again.
"Dead-heading is one of the most time-consuming jobs but this is the only way to ensure a continuous display on the repeat-flowering types. A couple of our volunteers use some of the rose petals for potpourri and decoration."
"Compost bins are now located in the garden, although carefully hidden. We compost the flower heads of the roses, the bedding, and all the little weeds with the important bit of soil on them. Grass cuttings are raked up after mowing by Fife Council and these are added too. Rose prunings are set aside and uplifted by the council. Leaf fall from the roses is gathered and put in the brown bins to help control disease.
"If you want to start a similar project, realise that you will do much of the work yourself, take account of this and don’t get down-hearted. At the age of 61 I am a comparative ‘spring chicken’ and I do not expect others to want to come out on cold miserable winter days to do the necessary work involved when they may not be physically able to do so.
"Getting the buy-in from the local authority has been key and it enables issues to be overcome as they arise, this has been an invaluable lesson.
"Ask for help when you need it whether it be funding, materials, or practical help - most people want to help in some way.
"Keep everyone on board, keep them all informed: I use our local Facebook Group to give regular updates.
"Thank those who contribute and ask opinions: it’s their garden as much as yours.
"It does make a difference. People locally notice improvements very quickly and are supportive of volunteers’ time.
"We now keep the gates open and have signs to invite you in, resulting in a lot more visitors this year. And why shouldn’t we, the garden is a sea of roses with thousands upon thousands of blooms? My favourite rose, the Hybrid Perpetual ‘Reine des Violettes’, has between 200 and 300 blooms on each bush at the first flush in June, and there are 8 in a row, which looks fantastic and attracts a lot of attention.
"The garden has changed from being a rather neglected and little used area to a welcome space for reflection, reading, or just a blether without taking away any of the respect owed to those who have gone before - if anything I feel they would be smiling down."
If you want to hear more about this fabulous project, Adrian Miles will be a guest speaker at one of The Caley’s Winter Talks on Tuesday 15th October. The talk takes place in the Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row EH3 5LR.
If you would like to see your community garden featured in a future edition of Scotland Grows magazine, please do get in touch to mail@scottishgardeningmagazine.com - we would love to hear from you!
