Finnieston’s organic community garden opens its doors to members all over Glasgow

Finnieston’s community garden celebrated its open day on August 17 , and all Glasgow residents are welcome to join and muck in at the garden.

Just yards away from one of the biggest paths to the city centre, G3 growers work on their inner-city organic fruit and vegetable garden. Memberships were open only for those living in the G3 area, but the garden now welcomes applications from residents across the whole of Glasgow.

Stepping into The Back Garden is stepping outside of the city. The tenements that surround it make an effective sound barrier and screen the garden from the worst of the traffic fumes; one of the main routes to the city centre is just yards away, but you would never know.

The Back Garden is made up of five raised beds, partly to cater for the Black Garden’s disabled members but also because the site’s history had left a legacy of toxins in the ground. One bed is dedicated to herbs, the other four work on a planting rotating system.

There are nine dwarf fruit trees in large pots: three eating apples, two cooking apples, two pears, one plum and a damson. The Back Garden also has its own readymade compost bins, a tool shed, a polytunnel, and a self-built greenhouse.

The self-build greenhouse has a wooden structure, and its poly-carbon roof and walls were originally made from columns of stacked plastic bottles, generously collected by local nursery school pupils.

There is no water access on site, but The Back Garden relies on collecting rainwater access on site. The collected water runs from gutters along the roofs of the shed and greenhouse into six water butts.

In 2011, ‘The Back Garden’ was set up by Annexe Communities, based in Partick, after having obtained a grant from the Climate Challenge Fund. ‘G3 growers’ are its members, with a small committee that oversees the smooth running of The Back Garden. It was officially transferred to G3 growers in 2012.

The Back Garden will also participate in Glasgow Doors Open festival in September. This year’s theme is City in Flux. You’ll hear about buildings getting a forward-thinking climate-friendly makeover, how the arrival of new communities has shaped Glasgow through history, and the vanished streets and wynds that made way for some of the landmarks that we know and love today.

Find out more about the garden here.