South Side gardens transformed with help from the Glasgow Times

Ready Steady Grow Pollokshields ran a competition to find homeowners and tenants keen to spruce up their outdoor spaces.

With the help of a Streets Ahead grant of £900, five winners were selected and the work went ahead as soon as pandemic restrictions allowed.

READ MORE: Glasgow group's pledge to brighten up gardens in Pollokshields Hagos

Sinkie, Hinaa Khan, Beth Smith, Katy Hastie and Usman Butt all convinced the panel of judges that their gardens deserved an overhaul.

Beth, pictured with her partner, Steven, said: “I love living in Pollokshields because it is so easy to cycle and walk in to town.

“We moved here about a year ago and our basement flat has a little garden area but it had very little going on. We entered the competition because we thought it would be lovely to have some spring and summer colour, and the garden could become a place to sit out on nice days.”

A number of runners-up, including Ruby and Astrid Redmond, received summer planters to help add a splash of colour to their gardens.

“We are delighted and we’ll put it in our front garden for local residents to enjoy too,” said Ruby.

The idea for the competition grew out of a discussion between Ann Laing, Lucy Gillie and Lisa Peebles, who run Ready Steady Grow Pollokshields.

The group was set up in 2008 to protect local green spaces from inappropriate development and decay. Its first event was held simultaneously in seven areas across Pollokshields, where hundreds of visitors were given free fruit and free planters, pots and hanging baskets filled with bedding plants to help them kick-start their own growing projects.

With support from Glasgow City Council’s Area Partnership and Southside Housing Association, as well as a number of community groups, artists and other organisations, the RSG events have gone from strength to strength.

Last year, after the pandemic hit, the group could not stage its usual June event because of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, so the makeover competition was born.

“Now we are back in lockdown, daily exercise walks have become important again and we hope this has provided some interesting gardens for people to spot along the way,” says Lucy.

Streets Ahead, our community campaign which encourages neighbours to work together for the benefit of all, stepped in to provide funding for plants and compost. Two professional gardeners worked hard to transform the spaces, introducing shrubs, plants and tidying and weeding as required.

The results are fantastic, and the group hopes it will inspire others across the city to do something similar.

Bringing people together in communities across Glasgow is what our Streets Ahead campaign is all about.

The initiative is celebrating its tenth year of supporting projects like RSG Pollokshields, backed every step of the way by our generous partners Glasgow City Council, City Building, CGI and the City Charitable Trust.

Life in our city may have changed completely but Glaswegians still have plenty of heart. Now, more than ever, people are pulling together – and Streets Ahead is here to help.

Tell us how your community is responding to life during the pandemic – and share your stories of the superheroes helping others in need by emailing ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk

Ready Steady Grow continues to support Pollokshields residents throughout lockdown. Recently, it distributed planting troughs, packets of seeds and compost, and it posted helpful videos full of advice on how to do everything from garden mini-makeovers to creating salad boxes.

To watch the video on how to transform a small garden into an easy-to-maintain, beautiful space, visit here.