What's growing at Bertha Park?
Pull up a chair. There's room at the potting bench.
This Week's Planting
Things sprouting near you this month. Turn up, get your hands dirty, eat something good.
- Saturday 12th AprilCommunity Litter Pick
We're meeting at the school gates at 10. Bring gloves if you've got them — we've got spares. Last time Eilidh's labrador ate someone's sandwich and we still filled 40 bags. Tea and seed cake at the hub after.
- Wednesday 16th AprilSeed Swap at the Potting Bench
Bring packets you won't use, take ones you will. It sounds simple because it is. Saoirse runs it with the calm authority of someone who has grown 47 varieties of tomato. Her Cherokee Purples are extraordinary.
- Saturday 19th AprilCommunity Garden Work Day
We've got four new raised beds to fill. Bring a trowel if you have one. Mohamed is bringing his barrow and Kirsty is bringing shortbread. All skill levels welcome — beginners get the fun jobs.
- Sunday 27th AprilChildren's Sunflower Planting
Every child who comes away goes away with a pot, some compost, and a sunflower seed. We track them all summer. Last year Hamish's grew to 2.1 metres. He is seven. He was devastated when it stopped.
The Community Plot
We started in someone's living room in 2020, wondering why we didn't know our neighbours. Now there are a few thousand of us. We have raised beds, a seed library, a composting rota, and a running argument about the best way to stake tomatoes. It's going well.
Bertha Park is a new neighbourhood in Perth, which means we're still deciding what kind of place we want to be. Lots of young families. Lots of dog walkers. A surprising number of people who know things about growing vegetables. We're learning from all of them.
Every family that plants something puts down roots.
We're not formal. No committee, no membership fee, no laminated rules on the noticeboard. There's just us — people who live here — trying to make something worth coming home to.
Most of what we do is very small. A pot of seedlings left at someone's gate. A WhatsApp about surplus courgettes. A child's sunflower photographed every week and posted to the group. Small things compound, it turns out. Like compost.
Overheard at the Allotment
Things people said when we weren't expecting them to say things.
“I moved here last March not knowing anyone. By June I had seedlings on my windowsill from the swap, a bag of courgettes from next door, and three new friends. The allotment is where it all started.”
Priya Dunkeld Road“I've lived on Adamson Avenue for thirty years. I didn't think I needed a community garden. I was wrong. I've grown more vegetables and had more conversations in the last year than in the previous decade.”
Gordon Adamson Avenue“The kids come every Saturday. My daughter has a plot the size of a bath mat. She treats it like it's Kew Gardens. She knows every plant by name. She's eight.”
Fiona & Ali Berthapark View“We don't have a garden. The allotment is ours. We brought seeds from Kerala — methi, bitter gourd, drumstick. They all grew. The neighbours were fascinated. We brought extra.”
The Nairs Burghmuir RoadDig In
Getting involved doesn't require experience, commitment, or especially green fingers. It just requires turning up.
- Come to the garden Saturday mornings, 10 until noon. Bring a trowel if you have one. We have spares, and we have biscuits, and we will put you to work in the gentlest possible way.
- Join the seed library We have over 80 varieties. Borrow seeds at the start of the season, return a few packets at the end. Run on trust. Works remarkably well.
- Bring something you know A recipe, a cutting, a technique, a variety you love. The garden grows faster when everyone puts something in. Mohamed brought methi. Now everyone grows methi.