The Sanctuary Garden

The drawing below is of two gardens: The Sanctuary Garden is the large blank green canvas and the upper drawing is the garden at Grow West Fife. The drawing helped to design new bed layouts with the help of the volunteers.

Grow West Fife’s garden area is about 2800sqm and in 2025 the volunteers grew 2000kg of vegetables which were distributed to pantries, kitchens and shared with volunteers and visitors!

East Neuk Market garden started with 2 acres, which is about 8100 sqm, and their methods allow tonnes of organic vegetables to be harvested every year.

The Sanctuary Garden has around 7125sqm, similar to East Neuk Market Garden and 2.5 times the area of Grow West Fife, giving us the space to expand and grow vast amounts of vegetables that we will share far and wide.

Our volunteers are making a positive impact on the state of the garden. Thank you!

We’ve hired a transit van for Monday 10th November: The steel we may get some money as scrap metal and the rest of the waste will be recycled. More of the rotten timber was burned and it’s made the place look significantly neater.

Halfords have donated bicycle boxes that will be used when we make raised beds.
Buy a bike for Christmas so we can have the cardboard box!

Mar Scaffolding donated scaffolding poles that will be cut into short lengths and used as foundations for the new polytunnel.

It was a valuable trip and we all not only learned something new, but enjoyed the walk around with Tom. Everything he has learned over the years he was willing to share with us. Suppliers and technical information about tools, seed trays and watering tape as well as simple tips on how to be more efficient, critical when you have a small workforce. It has given us food for thought when it comes to planning the new The Sanctuary Garden.

Having spent many happy days in their fields, Grant can personally vouch for their ethical and organic methods. Soil biome is key to their success as they feed the soil with seaweed, compost teas, foliar sprays and compost they make themselves.

If your passing the Bow House near St Monans on a market day, Tom and Connie will have a veg stand and it is worth trying their produce! If you’re in their area, they offer a CSA veg bag scheme that is incredibly popular.

East Neuk Market Garden started in 2019 and has been developing and growing ever since. They have an incredible team and recently joined forces with another market garden and have big plans for the future.

The Tower Burn Halloween Event, organised by Dunfermline Greenspace in partnership with the Patons of Dunfermline, West Fife Woodlands, and the City of Dunfermline Heritage Group, transformed the historic Tower Burn Trail into a spooky wonderland on October 25, 2025.

The Sanctuary Garden had a decorated pop up stand highlighting volunteering opportunities the garden, plans for 2026 and giving away apples, pumpkins and treats!

Hundreds of visitors, including more than 230 at the cave alone, braved the decorated glen for a “truly magical day”. Dunfermline Greenspace foster the connections to the land and wildlife amid the revitalized greenspace. The event showcased the ongoing transformation of this once-neglected woodland into a vibrant community hub, with plans for more gatherings ahead.

The whole report is here

Here are a few tools you may not have come across.

JM Fortier has his top 30 tools for 2024

• Paper pot planter is expensive but interesting
• Drop seeder based on standard sized seed trays
• Tilther bed prep to include amendments
• Broad Fork and a slightly lighter design Here is another design
• Flame Weeder I have an X300 that needs to be serviced this is Wheeled option
• Jang Seeder – Curtis Stone is worth a look. East Neuk Market Garden have a three wheeler Jang.
• In the past we have used 1.2m beds, however in the US market gardens, it appears they use a bed width of 30” (75cm) and here is why .Curtis Stone Market Garden Institute (blog) Video
• Quick cut greens harvester makes salad quickly Cutris Stone does a test Knife vs Harvester

Our Sanctuary Garden is buzzing with progress, thanks to our incredible team of dedicated volunteers.

The new 12x6m polytunnel is in storage, the foundations will be going in shortly and be erected in early spring after the winter storms ready for the start of the growing season.

We’re also actively pursuing funding to bring the following projects to life:

• Community Sharing: Distribute 15,000 vegetable seedlings and 20 cubic meters of high-quality compost to local community gardens, schools, and individuals.
• Storm-Proof Polycrub: Install a Shetland-designed Polycrub, built to withstand winds up to 120 mph.
• Water Solutions: Bring mains water to the shed for drinking water and set up a rainwater collection system.
• Composting Toilet: Install a composting toilet.
• Solar Power Upgrade: Add a small solar and battery system to reduce reliance on mains power.
• Shed Roof Replacement: Replace the 30-year-old onduline roofing on the shed.
• Site Levelling: Rent a mini digger – a task too big for shovels and volunteers alone.
• Secure Hen Enclosure: Install Heras fencing with a gate to keep our hens safe.
• Efficient Mowing and Hauling: Acquire a ride on mower to cut grass and pull a small trailer

With our volunteers’ hard work and these ambitious plans, The Sanctuary Garden is set to thrive as a sustainable, community-focused space. Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for supporting our green mission!

In less than 2 weeks, with the help of our incredible new volunteers, the garden has been transformed. Using our donated brush cutter, the overgrown, bramble and nettle filled garden has been tamed, to a degree. Removing all the old raised beds will allow a machine to get in and do some leveling. The effort and hard graft put in by the volunteers is remarkable and the atmosphere has been positive surrounded by lots of laughter.

We’ve open volunteering days on Monday and Thursday from 10-1pm until it gets too cold and dark. If it’s pouring with rain, the volunteering day is probably cancelled as we don’t have the poly tunnel up yet.

After 2 years of neglect, here are some before and after photographs.

The garden will be open on Mondays and Thursdays from 10:00 until 13:00 in October 2025 for prospective volunteers to see it’s current state and have an opportunity contribute to what happens next. The Sanctuary Garden has been neglected for a couple of years, my journey has been one of learning in other community gardens. Please be aware; the garden is very overgrown, the ground uneven and there is no toilet facilities or running water. (yet) Google has a pin on the map and the post code is KY12 0TQ. Photos below show the road entrance. There will be tea, coffee and biscuits on offer.

I hope you can make it.

Since February 2025 I’ve been working as full time gardener at Grow West Fife, a beautiful walled garden in the grounds of Blair Castle near Culross.

The volunteers have made changes and incredible progress over the year, focusing on increasing production and creating a market garden with nearly 2000kg of organic produce harvested and shared with local pantries, their own GWF kitchen and volunteers.

Airtable has been used to record volunteer numbers, planting and harvest data resulting in incredible reports that have been used to update trustees, funders and volunteers.