The committee needs more people to help host events so children can get closer to nature
VOLUNTEERS are desperately needed at Roath’s community garden if it is to stay open throughout the coming year.
Mackintosh Community Garden, a rare patch of green space in a densely populated area just off City Road, opened its gate for the first time this year last weekend.
But Sas Ryan, chair of the garden committee, warned that without more volunteers, the current opening hours were under threat.
“What we really need are regular volunteers who can become key holders. They don’t need to be keen gardeners, even if they could just do one Saturday a month it would be really helpful.”
Last year, the garden hosted several seasonal events and welcomed local infants’ schools and youth groups like Rainbows and Brownies.
“The firepit is pretty new, last year the kids used it for toasting marshmallows at Halloween which was really nice,” said Ms Ryan.
“One of the infant schools had a minibeasts topic, so they came here and had a look around.”
Situated behind Mackintosh Sports Club, the garden is accessible by Arran Street, or through the bowls club. Each raised bed is named after an area of Cardiff. Garlic sprouted in the Roath bed over the winter months.
Along with the firepit, the garden has a small fruit orchard, a pond, and a polytunnel – a large metal framed, plastic structure which acts as a greenhouse.
“When we got funding for our polytunnel, we decided to save money by putting it up ourselves.
“There was a series of YouTube videos with instructions on how to do it, but we realised pretty quickly that even though the people in the videos said it was easy they kept changing clothes, so it clearly took them a bit longer,” said Ms Ryan.
Funding remains an issue for the garden. Ms Ryan is trying to secure some money so the trees overhanging the pavement can be cut back. In the recent storms, branches have snapped and fallen, and the concern is in future that they will hit a person or car.
“It’s a bit of a challenge. Pollarding trees is definitely not as sexy as something like building a polytunnel, so companies are less likely to give us money,” said Ms Ryan.
One way money is made available to Cardiff’s green spaces is through the Welsh Government’s Section 106 clauses. These are financial agreements between developers and councils to make sure building projects also benefit the community.
Nearby resident Melissa Cracknell volunteers at the gardens. “It’s a really nice place to come on a Saturday morning, you can chat to some nice people and obviously do something good for the community too,” she said.
Ms Ryan is realistic about the future of the garden, “Our first aim is just to keep this place open, but in an ideal world we would love to have a lot more events here. It’s always fun welcoming the younger kids,” she said.
- Mackintosh Community Garden is currently open every Saturday from 10am to 1pm, if you would like more information look at its Facebook page.
