Gatehouse volunteers are raging at irresponsible dog owners for allowing their pets to foul a community allotment.
The group of dedicated growers spent two years building eight raised beds beside the Mill on the Fleet.
And the first produce from Gatehouse Kitchen Garden was harvested throughout last year.
But now the area is being soiled by piles of dog poo dumped daily around the carefully tended plots.
Garden volunteer Alex Hodson said: “We have a problem in Gatehouse with people forgetting that picking up after your dog is a legal requirement.
“We just want everybody to be able to enjoy our little garden safely without worrying about dog muck.
“We would like to think people respect Gatehouse of Fleet because it’s a lovely place.
“But obviously somebody is not respecting Gatehouse when they allow their dog to do this.”
Alex added: “We were a group of women – men were invited too - who got together two years ago the week before lockdown.
“This is for everyone in the community – folk can help themselves to fresh organic veg.
“The garden was something we had been talking about on and off for a bit but without a bit of land that we could do it with. Now we have our garden – but it’s being spoiled.”
The site, beside a busy footpath past the mill, currently has unhindered public access.
But now the team is contemplating putting up a fence to keep out polluting pets.
Volunteer Denise Brownlee said: “We are trying to get somebody to put a fence up because of the dog dirt situation.
“But even the people who came about the fence were getting covered in dog dirt. It’s quite upsetting because everybody is a volunteer here.
“We want to make the garden so everybody can come and enjoy it.
“Children and adults can come and potter and folk in wheelchairs too.
“But at the moment we can’t do that because we are thinking of fencing it.”
The grow and pick your own project has no formal funding and uses recycled materials and donations to get by.
People are free to pick the organic greens sustainably on their way past.
“Last year was our first proper year of production,” said Denise.
“We harvested salad leaves, kale, pumpkins, parsley, onions and radishes.”
