An exciting new gardening initiative which makes use of recycled food waste from households across the ABC Borough, has been launched at Kinnego Bushcraft Community Garden.
A new garden bed – which was magically created within a matter of hours at the Oxford Island site on Tuesday – will showcase the environmentally friendly ‘No Dig’ approach to growing vegetables.
The project is a partnership between Kinnego Bushcraft Community Garden, the recycling team at ABC Council and local firm Natural World Products who process the organic waste and produce peat free composts one of which ‘New Leaf Compost is being used at the garden.
Healthy plants depend on healthy soil. No-dig gardening cares for soil by cutting out the need for cultivation which damages soil structure and disrupts the natural processes which makes no-dig a better choice for soil health.
It is hoped that this new No Dig Garden bed – will help inspire more people to adopt this method and there are already plans in place for a number of horticultural workshops at the garden throughout the year led by Natural World Products Community Outreach team.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, Sorcha McGeown was on hand to see the creation of the new garden bed. “I always thought digging was an essential part of gardening, so this is a real revelation and this new garden bed can be an example for our local gardening enthusiasts and inspire many others to get involved,” she said.
“It is also inspiring to see the compost made from our own recycling being used at this site to grow more food and complete the circle. Not only are we reducing waste going to landfill, but we are putting it to good use. It is also encouraging people to get active and outdoors at this shared space, which is important for our well-being.”
Thanks to the recycling efforts of our residents, a whopping 22,300 tonnes of brown bin waste is collected from across the ABC Borough and composted each year.
Colm Warren who is the Chief Executive of Natural World Products, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the establishment of new no dig beds at the Kinnego Community Garden.
“It is a great opportunity for us to show how people using their brown bins and recycling centres effectively can enable the production of such high quality peat-free growing media products, eliminating the need for peat harvesting and helping to make a real and tangible difference in their own local community.
“This is what a local circular economy actually looks like and everything here, from collecting, managing and recycling the organic waste to it playing its part in such an important sustainable growing project on the shores of Lough Neagh is happening within the ABC Borough.”
Sharon McMaster from ‘Natural World Products’ outreach team added: “With this new No Dig Garden bed, we want to show people just how easy it is to grow your own organic food in peat free compost at home or to share this wonderful community space and get involved with the many local community gardens.”
Workshops on the No Dig method, composting, soil health and horticulture will be taking place over the next few months. Keep an eye on the ‘getactiveabc’ Facebook page for details on these events at the No Dig Garden.
Numbers for the classes are limited, if you are interested please email to register.
