Vote at Tesco for the James Gillespie’s Primary Plant to Plate project

The James Gillespie’s Primary Plant to Plate project initiative is to develop gardening opportunities in the playground and a programme of learning around growing and food. They will also be developing biodiversity/wildlife areas in the school grounds and depending on how much is raised,  may be able to purchase some more play materials for the playground. This project will benefit JGPS children and many children for generations to come. 

Tesco are running a community funding initiative where shoppers vote for projects.  Plant to Plate is one of them.  

Next time you are in any of  the Tesco Stores (below), please could you pop the token given to you at the check-out into the James Gillespie’s Primary Plant to Plate project box. The top prize is £12k and JGPS need all the votes they can get! Many thanks.

Bruntsfield Metro (EH10 5DN)

Fountain Bridge Express (EH3 9QG)

Earl Gray St Express (EH3 9BN)

Causewayside Express ( EH9 1PR)

Nicolson Street Metro (EH8 9EW)

Princess Street Express (EH2 4BL)

Southbridge Express ( EH1 1LS)

Haymarket Express ( EH1 1LS)

Holyrood Express (EH8 8AU)

Roseburn Express (EH12 5NG)

Summer fair and garden party at Maggie's Edinburgh: 12-4pm on Sa 22 Aug

Maggie's Edinburgh are holding a Summer Fair and Garden Party on Saturday 22 August from 12–4pm (at Western General Hospital, The Stables, Crewe Road, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU)

There will be a garden workshop as well as various stalls and refreshments. 

The garden has been carefully created to be a welcoming extension of the Maggie’s Edinburgh inside space; it offers uplifting views out from the Centre, a connection to the changing seasons and, in warmer weather, a pleasant place to sit and relax.

[Maggie’s offers free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their families and friends]

Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens

The Royal Edinburgh Community Gardens have now been running for just over two years. 

Located within the grounds at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside, the gardens offer fantastic opportunities to grow your own food, build community, and keep active. 

There are often events, workshops, and courses available - see their website to find out more. You don't need to be an expert gardener. Enthusiastic and interested amateurs are most welcome.

Edible Edinburgh: a Sustainable Food City

The Edible Edinburgh initiative aims to inspire, motivate and connect everyone across the city in developing new relationships with food, choosing healthier and tastier food and bringing social, economic and environmental benefits for the whole community.

The Edible Edinburgh steering group has therefore drafted a consultation document to encourage everyone to join in the debate about our food. Edible Edinburgh: A Sustainable Food City initiates a collective conversation about how we re-imagine a new food system and culture for our city. You can get involved by completing a short survey once you’ve read the consultation document.

Edible Edinburgh is also hosting a Feed the 5,000 event in Bristo Square on Saturday 5th October. Go along for a free lunch, find out more about food initiatives in the city and have your say on how you would like to see Edinburgh develop as a sustainable food city.

Can you help tend the Green Banana?

Everyone  will have seen the planting on the strip of land between Marchmont Crescent and Roseneath Place.  It is lovingly tended by a group of ‘Guerilla Gardeners‘ who  work for an hour at 11am on the second and fourth Sunday mornings of each month.   


There's tidying, weeding, planting to do, as well as, I'm afraid, dog-dirt to clear away, (for those with strong stomachs).  Plants and bulbs have been given, and it is looking much better that it has done. 

Sometimes people stop when we're working and say what a great job we're doing, but they never stop to  help!    The Council send the lawn mower to cut the grass when they can.   There's a special brown bin there for compostable stuff and it is put out out every fortnight.  


This is a real community effort but we do need more people to help.  Could you spare an hour once or twice a month? The next days will be 8th and 22nd July.                        

Well done Garden Competition winners!

Congratulations to the following winners in this year's Marchmont & Sciennes Front and Container Garden's competition. Well done everyone!  And thank you to Tina and the judges for all their hard work pounding the pavements to examine Marchmont & Sciennes' best gardens. 


The prizes were presented last Saturday by Graeme Smalley who used to run the Warrender Park Road post office. He and his wife were the kind donors of the Smalley Quaich which went to the overall winner.

Category	Winners
1 (East-facing)	Cindy Cunningham, 21 Livingstone Place
1 (East-facing)	Mr G Costello 23 Livingstone Place
1 (South-facing)	108 Thirlestane Road
1 (South-facing)	Rosemary Robertson 145 Warrender Park Road
1 (West-facing)	Hala George 36 Marchmont Crescent
2 (North-facing)	Ann Dickson 18 Warrender Park Crescent
2 (North-facing)	Katharine McCulloch 3A Warrender Park Crescent			Smalley Quaich winner 2011
3 (Window boxes)	Anne McCoubrey, 6 (1) Roseneath Terrace
4  (Wildlife)	Barbara Smith 15 Livingstone Place
5 (Updated)	Susan Oswald 53 Warrender Park Road
6 (Landscaping)	Julie Odell & Tim Day 8 Marchmont Crescent
6 (Child-friendly)	Emma Tracey 1 Roseneath Street
6	Melany Jackson 17 Marchmont Crescent
6 (Tall planting)	Mrs Hughes 22 Roseneath Place
6 (Raised beds)	Ruth Miller 13 Arden Street
6 (Topiary)	49 Thirlestane Road
6	Ian Thomson 38 Arden Street

Putting good fruit to use: Abundance Edinburgh

Abundance Edinburgh is a group of people interested in putting to good use fruit that would otherwise go to waste and organise associated events around this.They harvest fruit from gardens, do some foraging and have also picked apples at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital's orchard. Some of the fruit is given away (for example, last year some went to the Grassmarket Project) and some is used to promote seasonal and local food (for example preserving workshops and a public apple pressing event). They have some equipment including several apple presses (thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council).

They're looking to spread the word about their activities both to get more people who are interested in picking fruit and using it but also to reach out to people with fruit trees that aren't able to harvest them themselves or who have too much fruit than they know what to do with. For more information why not get in touch with Valla Moodie or subscribe to their announcements or discussion groups.

Changes to Garden Waste pick-up dates

The garden waste recycling service will move to new pick-up dates from December.  Garden waste wheelie bins will be collected every 4 weeks during December, January and February.

You can find out when your garden waste will be picked up by:

·        entering your post code at www.greenboxday.co.uk

·        e-mailing waste@edinburgh.gov.uk

·        telephoning 0131 529 3030.

For those with real Christmas trees to recycle, please cut your tree into 5 feet lengths and place it beside your garden waste bin on your January pick up date

Regeneration of tenement common gardens in Marchmont

Contributed article by Fiona Savage

The buildings in Marchmont are almost exclusively four-storey early Victorian  tenement buildings and are mainly pink sandstone in a Scottish baronial style. Behind these building lies a substantial piece of land which can be up to 5 acres in size. This land is divided up into common gardens. This term common gardens is often misunderstood.  These gardens are only common to those who own them!

Some ground and basement properties that have their own private garden do not necessarily have access to the common garden owned by the stair. Again title deeds need to be checked.

There is an increasing interest in regeneration of gardens. However before embarking on such a project some research and clear consultation needs to be undertaken.

Under the Tenement (Scotland) Act 2004 the maintenance of a tenement garden or back green should be shared by all owners in the block UNLESS it says otherwise in the title deeds.   READ MORE...

A G E N D A for meeting of the Community Council on We 8 Sep at 19:30

The next meeting of the Community Council will be held on September 8th at 7.30pm in St Catherine’s Argyle Church Community Hall, Grange Road


At 7.30pm: Marchmont and Sciennes Gardens and Garden Issues


Speakers:
* Edinburgh Garden Share Scheme - Mandy Rathjen*
* Green Banana Gang - Anne Leith
* CEC Parks Dept - Mike Shields.


This part of the meeting will be chaired by Cllr Mark McInnes.




Normal Business from 8.30


1. Minutes of the meeting of 9 June (corrected draft) and matters arising


2. Police Report : questions


3. Sub Groups
    a. Planning Group (Sarah Sandow; inc response to SESplan)
    b. HMOs Group (Ann Laird)
    c. Parking Group (Susie Agnew)
    d. Events: Garden Competition (Tina Cumming)


4. External Meetings
    a. Neighbourhood Partnership (Alastair Philp)


5. Any other business
    a. Christmas Tree Lights Ceremony
    b. City of Edinburgh Budget consultation meeting on 23 Sep


All who live or work or are active in the area are welcome.  Hearing loop available – please request in advance

gardens competition prizegiving 2010

Some photos from this afternoon are on the MSCC Facebook page and can be accessed (even without a Facebook account).


A fuller report will be published later. [Update (20:23, 7 Sep 2010: see below]


Thanks to all the judges and in particular Tina Cumming for organising and Monica Higgins for writing such fine descriptions of the winning gardens!


Update (20:23, 7 Sep 2010): List of winners

Front gardens (East, South, and West-facing) & Winner of the Smalley Quaich 2010: Sindy Cunningham, 21 Livingstone Place

North-facing front gardens: Neal & Angie Rayner, 36 Warrender Park Road

Hanging baskets and containers:  Jan Gaffney, 61 Spottiswoode Road

Wildlife-friendly gardens: Dan Sutton, 11 Meadow Place

New gardens: Rosemary Robertson, 145 Warrender Park Road

Other commended: 

• John Palmer, 14 Marchmont Street 
• Jola Jurasinska, 45 Spottiswoode Street
• Mystery Neighbour, 108 Thirlestane Road

Other commended (Window boxes):           

• Elaine Henry, 35 Lauderdale Street
• Theresa Dixon, 34 Thirlestane Road
• Jane Ramsay, 43 Thirlestane Road
• Mrs McDonald, 47 Thirlestane Road
• Anne McCoubrey, 6 Roseneath Terrace

Update (20:00, 9 Sep 2010): Citations for prizes (courtesy of Monica Higgins, Head Judge)

Forthcoming meetings of the Marchmont & Sciennes Community Council

The meeting on 8 September will be a panel led discussion about local projects concerning gardens and back greens.  It will feature presentations by:

* Mandy Rathjen - Edinburgh Garden Share Scheme
* Anne Leith - Green Banana Gang

* Mike Shields - CEC Parks Dept

The meeting will be chaired by Cllr Mark McInnes.

The meeting on 13 October will explore issues arising from shared tenemental living in our diverse community. Three speakers, with special knowledge and understanding of the issues, anxieties and pleasures of `tenement life' will make short introductory statements about their organisations. There will then be an opportunity for questions and discussion.  The three speakers will be

• Jennifer Jones from the Licensing Department
• Derek Brown from Homeworks
• Richard Pontet from Edinburgh Stair Partnership

The meeting will be chaired by Cllr Ian Perry.

Both meetings will start at 7:30pm and will be held at St Catherine Argyle Church Halls, 61 Grange Road.

MSCC Front Gardens and Containers Annual Awards 2010

After a decade-long hiatus, the Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council Front Gardens and Containers Annual Awards are returning this summer. 

Any garden and/or container clearly visible from the pavement will be considered. The walkabout judging will take place in July, and there is no need to enter the competition - as long as your garden or container can be seen, it will be eligible for consideration for an award. 

The categories are:

1. Front gardens (East, South, and West-facing)
2. North-facing front gardens
3. Hanging baskets and containers
4. Wildlife-friendly gardens
5. New gardens
6. Other commended gardens

There will be awards in each category, and there will also be an overall winner, who will be awarded the Smalley Cup (generously funded by our retired Postmasters, Graham and Jean Smalley).

All of the award winners will be presented with their certificates and a small prize, donated by Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council, at the Church of the German-Speaking Congregation in Chalmers Crescent on Saturday September 4th. Good luck and happy gardening!

Edinburgh Planning Guidance: Consultation on Gardens and Designed Landscapes

Gardens and Designed Landscapes contribute in many ways to the value of the historic city centre, suburbs and rural hinterland of Edinburgh. A wide range of types of designed green space contribute to visual and natural diversity and provide valued recreational assets.

A draft Edinburgh Planning Guideline has been produced to advise on good practise when considering development or alterations to gardens and designed landscapes. This is now the subject of a consultation.

Comments may be submitted by email to naturalheritage@edinburgh.gov.uk and should be received no later than 16 October 2009. A summary of consultation responses will then form part of the final report to Planning Committee later in the year.