Aileymill Nursery joins Food Network on gardening scheme

Inverclyde Community Food Network is working closely with the children and staff on planting lots of fruit and vegetables.

Together they are hoping to grow a fantastic range of produce which will make snack time more exciting and give the youngsters a chance to learn more about gardening.

Aileymill Nursery early years education and childcare officer Caroline Gillan said: "The children are showing a great interest in the garden, they love coming out here and getting their hands into the soil and learning more about it.

"We have a wee gardening group every day.

"It is great to have the Community Food Network Team on hand to give us some more guidance and it means we can get the best out of the space we have. Getting outdoors is so important for the nursery."

She added: "This gives the children something else to explore and they like to learn more about where their food comes from. We are hoping to grow peas and beans and we can use the food at lunchtimes as well.

"We have our own compost and last year we managed to grow our own food."

Caroline has a team of tiny assistants to help with the endeavour, including Brodie Gill, four, who also helps her to brush up after a day's gardening.

Inverclyde Community Food Network is working closely with nurseries across the area, with co-ordinators Alice Paul and Julie Anson encouraging the little ones.

Julie said: "The children at Aileymill are brilliant and love learning more about their garden."

The network are also pitching in at the pre-five centres at Glenbrae, Hillend and Larkfield to work with the children there. The outreach project, funded by Belville Community Garden, was set up to support food growing and sharing and to cut waste.

The network was also represented at the Kilmacolm Agricultural Show over the weekend to promote community gardens and help people learn how to grow at home.