As the city’s V&A gears up for a major garden design exhibition, it’s the perfect time to look more closely at the grassroots spaces that make Dundee flourish.
Nicola Macnee co-ordinates Grow Dundee, a relatively new network that links up over 30 community gardens, from city-centre pockets to flourishing plots on the city’s fringes.
The network is coordinated from the Maxwell Community Garden, situated in an old churchyard in Hilltown. It’s been around since 2014 and attracts a huge range of people – from young to old, green-fingered to horticultural first-timers. “It’s one garden for everybody,” says Nicola, who is employed as Garden Outreach Officer for the Maxwell Centre. “We have a lot of schoolkids, and they feel it’s theirs – there’s always a volunteer group or event going on.
“Whatever veg is produced is either used for our community cupboard or we can do some cooking with it.”
The special thing about a community garden, as opposed to an allotment, is that sense of shared ownership and welcome. Nicola often sees people who come along, a bit nervously initially, who begin to get involved after a few weeks of watching.
“Being part of a community garden is not about keeping it neat and tidy. We’ve got different sorts of people working in it, with all different abilities and knowledge, and it’s much more fun in a way.
“We try to provide something nice when sometimes the world is a little bit scary, and because there’s a number of us we can all help each other.
“It’s about the people, as well as the plants.”
The idea for Grow Dundee came about as a way of recognising the informal relationship that many of the city’s growing spaces had developed. As a network, it allows gardens to learn from each other, share resources, and do more for the people of the city too.
“We don’t have to push being sustainable,” Nicola explains, “Everyone just accepts it as part of what we are and we recognise the need to nurture our environment.”
Recently, the network ran a seed swap from Campy Growers - at eight acres the largest garden in the network. Seeds from crops grown in many of the gardens were shared with other gardens, and the general public. Plants such as the tomato ‘Scotland’s Yellow’, which you’d be hard-pressed to buy in a high-street garden store, are now being cultivated from the seeds that were shared.
The network also runs regular get-togethers, where staff, volunteers, and people local to all the community gardens gather to drink tea and talk compost. “If you come along to a get together you would see people from all walks of life, all ages and backgrounds, and we welcome everyone. We try to be as inclusive as possible,” says Nicola.
For Nicola, the journey into community gardening has been a late one. She trained in horticulture and pursued a career in garden centres, spending time with National Trust for Scotland gardens and contributing to gardening advice shows on BBC Radio Scotland. Since she started her role at The Maxwell Community Garden in 2023, she’s had to learn to let go of some of the more traditional horticultural approaches. “As it’s for the community we just let people find their way.
“I just think I’m so lucky. I really like to work with people, and I love plants - so it’s my dream job.”
There are so many ways to get involved in Dundee’s community growing spaces. Grow Dundee launched its website last year – and this spring will be the perfect time to visit, as a fantastic exhibition all about gardens comes to V&A Dundee ‘Garden Futures: Designing with Nature’ opens on 17th May.
If you would like to see your community gardening group featured in a future edition of Scotland Grows magazine, please do get in touch to mail@scotlandgrowsmagazine.com - we would love to hear from you!