A new website, connecting the city’s community organic gardens and groups and providing the public with information on such gardens, has been launched.
The Let’s get Galway Growing website - www.letsgetgalwaygrowing.com - was launched in City Hall by Mayor Hildegarde Naughton on Tuesday.
Let’s Get Galway Growing is a network involving representatives of the Ballybane, Ballinfoille, Westside, and Scoil Bríde Community Organic Gardens alongside representatives of the HSE, Galway City Council, City of Galway VEC, and Galway City Partnership.
The website aims to increase awareness of the gardens and to provide information on supports, developments, and events. It is also a resource for the general public which will contain garden locations, opening times, how to get involved, upcoming events, and the various courses offered by the gardens.
Speaking about the website, Margaret Douglas of the Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden, said: “It’s important the gardeners can share their knowledge and expertise in every area from accessing grants to the best deals on plants and seeds and www.letsgetgalwaygrowing.com gives us the chance to do just that.”
“The website offers a means of sharing a common understanding of community gardening,” said Mayor Naughton. “Launching the website shows the networking that now exists between the gardens and means of communicating this to the people of Galway and beyond.”
There are four community organic gardens in the city. The first to have been established was in Ballybane which has been running for five years. The other gardens are Scoil Bhride Community Garden in Shantalla; Ballinfoile Mór (behind Lus Leana ); and the most recent is based on the Seamus Quirke Road in Westside, behind the Westside Community Centre.