Want to get to know the gardeners who work together to grow tonnes of fruit and veg in Dundee’s Camperdown?
The country park is home to a community garden known to Dundee Campy Growers members as the “vegetarium”.
And while that may sound like something from a science fiction novel, here members learn, improve their health and wellbeing, and most importantly grow in the city space.
They spend around 250 hours a month growing fresh fruit and veg, before giving it away for free.
The group has just scooped a £57,707 windfall from the Dundee Climate Fund for their project, “food for the future”.
Our video shows some of the Campy Growers at work and digs into how they are trying to feed the people of Dundee for free.
‘Vital’ to grow our own food in Dundee
Ellie Twist has been volunteering with the Dundee Campy Growers for the last few months.
She says: “It’s really good to be part of something that’s growing so quickly.”
As you can see in the video, the 21-year-old showed me the sort of thing she gets up to on her volunteering days.
We spent some time removing hypernicums out of a garden patch so it can become a veg garden for feeding the community.
I may have struggled a little with tugging the roots out of the dirt (no laughing, please) but I’m not a seasoned gardening expert like Ellie.
Like many other young people, Ellie is “concerned” about food scarcity.
She added: “Having community gardens and having spaces where people can grow their own food is vital.”
Funding ‘such a great boost’ for Dundee Campy Growers
Nadège Depiesse is the project development worker with the Campy Growers.
She told me how the volunteers donate the food they grow locally. This includes the half a tonne of produce they gave away to families using the nearby playpark last year.
“It is such a great boost to know that people voted [for us],” Nadège said.
“People want this project to work, so that’s great.”
Conversation