Dobbies’ Livingston store is inviting local residents to cast their vote and help local charities get growing.
The garden centre is looking for people to pick a good cause to be named Helping Your Community Grow winner for the store.
The West Lothian charities have the chance to create or refresh a community space with Dobbies’ support, and the garden centre is now asking locals to help narrow its shortlist down to one winner for its Livingston store.
This year’s initiative has welcomed nominations from schools looking to enhance their gardens; charities supporting the most vulnerable members of the community proposing sensory gardens; and community groups and clubs looking to create a garden space where they can grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Calderwood Nursery is a new to the area, striving to educate children from a young age on the importance of nature and how they can grow their own produce from seeds. Staff are looking for Dobbies’ help to provide equipment for the children to use, alongside seeds and starter plants.
Livingston Community Shed is a community group of pensioners who have a passion or gardening and DIY activities. With Dobbies’ support, the group hope to revamp and maintain the community gardens in Carmodean and Ladywell.
There was a notable increase in the number of entries from groups looking to grow their own this year. This follows research from Dobbies and Censuswide (commissioned in March) that found 66% of Scots plan to grow their own fruit, vegetables and herbs this spring. Tomatoes are set to be the most popular crop for this year, closely followed by potatoes, strawberries and carrots.
The winning group for Livingston will receive advice, gardening products and plants from Dobbies’ horticultural team. Dobbies’ own-brand peat-free multipurpose compost, recycled and recyclable containers, UK-sourced plants and safer pest control products are among the many products the garden centre will donate.
Notably, the project that receives the most votes from all Dobbies stores will be the national winner, receiving extra funding and support.
Graeme Jenkins, CEO of Dobbies said: “We were overwhelmed with the response to our Helping Your Community Grow initiative and have seen a significant increase in nominations, with over 800 applications for 2023.
“A huge thank you to everyone who nominated their project for our Dobbies’ Livingston store to support. It’s now up to the public to select the winner – our Livingston team are very much looking forward to seeing who this will be.”
To find out more about the Helping Your Community Grow shortlist and to cast your vote, visit Helping Your Community Grow | Dobbies Garden Centres
Votes are open until Tuesday, April 25. There is only one vote per person. The project with the most votes will be the winner. The project with the most votes across the UK will be the national winner.
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