Govan's 'Unexpected Garden' will bring Glasgow community together

“It’s just been abandoned, I found it right here on the street,” he beamed, in surprise.

“That’s lovely – we can plant it in the garden.”

This is just one of many little moments of joy surrounding Govan’s newest community garden, which will transform a former timber yard at GalGael, the landmark boatbuilding and community support charity, into a growing and learning space for local people.

Another is that this Unexpected Garden – one of 13 announced as part of the Dandelion creative programme running across the country – is helping GalGael get back to its roots.

“GalGael started as the Pollok Free State, an environmental justice movement in the 90s, and that has always been central to how we see ourselves,” explained David.

“Because we are in the city, we don’t have much access to green space or growing space, and while we have had the timber yard for eight years, we have never had the opportunity to develop it in a way that would allow people access to it, to eat together and celebrate together.”

He added: “Over the pandemic, we all realised how important it is to have that kind of outside space to be able to do that, so being part of Dandelion is a good fit for us.

“As well as creating the growing space, we are also developing an adjacent green space and it’s great to see that urban/rural vision finally being realised.”

Pollok Free State was a campaign to protest against the construction of the M77 extension on the south side of Glasgow in the mid-90s.

Ultimately, the campaign was lost, but a community was born, and GalGael was created to give people purpose, skills, support and compassion.

In addition to building boats, the charity’s work has expanded and its themes of community-led regeneration, cultural and maritime heritage, traditional skills and social justice mean it is engaged in a wide range of activities and events.

The new Ibrox Terrace garden, which backs on to GalGael’s workshops, is the next step, and will host a programme of events throughout the summer for the whole community to enjoy, culminating in a harvest event in September.

In addition to spaces for growing food and socialising carved out amidst the greenery, a wooden boat will be upcycled and upturned to create a welfare cabin and tool-shed, while an outdoor kitchen aims to help people rediscover traditional methods of preserving food and creating herbal remedies.

It will also be home to the first ‘Govanhenge’, with an installation of 13 wooden posts representing the 13 sacred plants of the pre-Christian, Celtic calendar.

“We’re calling them the Govan Dozen,” smiled David.

“There’s a nice link, too, to the fact that there are 13 Unexpected Gardens across the country.

“What we found was that as well as planting for food, people were keen to include plants for use, such as willow, flax, and dye plants.

“The idea is that the garden will unfold as the summer unfolds, and it will be shaped by the people who use it, rather than us just saying – here’s a garden, come and look at it.”

Commissioned by EventScotland and funded via the Scottish Government, Dandelion is Scotland’s contribution to UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK.

In addition to Dandelion’s Unexpected Gardens, which will also feature a special Floating Garden on the Forth and Clyde Canal, leaving from Glasgow in June, the programme will include two free festivals, in Glasgow and Inverness, and hundreds of harvest celebrations across the country in September.

Details of the programme were unveiled yesterday, and include the Cubes of Perpetual Light – part art installation, part farming science project – which will visit schools, gardens and towns in a bid to inspire conversations about growing food sustainably now and in the future. 

As well as growing thousands of plants, specially designed ‘show cubes’ will come together to create striking musical installations featuring artists such as Craig Armstrong and Claire M. Singer, while four musical growing cubes carried on cargo bikes will travel around Scotland in August.

The cubes will make an appearance in Govan later in the summer, but for now David and the team at GalGael are starting to bring the new garden to life.

“Our genuine hope is that it will allow us to reach more folk in Govan, to engage with them in a different way – we have traditionally been associated with boatbuilding and woodwork, but this allows us to broaden out what we do,” added David.

“We want to create a tangible, long-lasting legacy for Ibrox and Govan.”