This summer, Fife Council’s Leisure and Cultural Services will be transforming public planting spaces in the Kirkcaldy area.

A new project titled EATS (Edible and Tasty Spaces) is being initiated to use public planting beds and transform them into a seasonal mix of bedding, herb and vegetable plants, in partnership with SAMH (the Scottish Association for Mental Health). It is hoped that the success of this project will encourage other organisations to understand the horticultural value of vegetables and herbs in their traditional planting designs.

SAMH is a national mental health charity, which runs a service at Barnet Crescent, Kirkcaldy. The Evergreen service provides work experience opportunities in horticulture for people with mental health problems. SAMH will grow the plants and volunteers will plant and maintain the beds.

Charlie McMillan, Director of Operations at SAMH, said“SAMH runs several green space-based services across Scotland, and we constantly see the benefits that working outdoors and learning horticultural skills have for people’s mental health. Successfully growing plants from scratch can be a huge boost to people’s confidence and self-esteem, so we’re really pleased to be involved with this project with our partners at Fife Council”.

Scott Clelland, Parks Team Leader said, ‘The approach is to increase the understanding of sustainable planting with a mixture of traditional bedding and vegetable plants. This new and innovative project we believe adds an interesting dimension to the traditional delivery of bedding displays. It also promotes the local agenda regarding the production of locally sourced food’.

The locations for the beds are outside the Town House, and an existing bed located  adjacent to Bennochy Rd traffic lights. Although flowers are still grown in these areas, the beds will also have harvestable herbs and vegetables to create beautiful spaces which also provide healthy, locally grown and seasonal produce for the public to enjoy.

Cllr Neil Crooks, Kirkcaldy Area Chair said “This project contributes to Fife Council’s greenspace strategy which has a vision of increasing access to life enhancing greenspace and creating Edible and Tasty Spaces will be a great example of this”.

For more information visit www.fifedirect.org.uk/greenspace.