Spring at Pen Dinas

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It was a stunning spring day in the Newtown garden today, a perfect moment to reflect o how far we have come in the 18 months since we started the garden here at Pen Dinas. Bees were humming around the spring flowers, blackbirds busy building nests and blossom was everywhere on the new fruit trees. One of the very last few of the micro allotments plots was taken up today and everywhere there was signs of hard work.

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The last 18 months have been a constant hard work by the whole team here and it is on days like today that all that hard work really pays off. We received visitors as well day for discussions on some of the lessons learned so far and on strategies for starting similar ventures in other towns. The incredible edible movement and other community led growing initiatives have caught the imagination of many communities.. but in each place there is a different set of challenges, a different set of resources and different set of opportunities.

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Later this month we are running a 5-day, how to design a community garden course in Llanfyllin.. using the same process we used to design the Newtown garden. Part of what we are now working on is to turn the experience of what we have learned here into courses and workshops where we can spread the learning and can assist other groups to achieve the same kind of results.

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A key part of the project is to be able to replicate and spread the ideas and central to that is the plant nursery where we are propagating lots plants for sale and for use in other garden projects we are involved in. We are especially interested in perennial fruiting and herbaceous plants which we can use to attract pollinating insects, support biodiversity and of course produce food for ourselves.