Figure 1: Murieston Community Garden

Murieston Commuity Garden began in 2021 when Murieston Community Council encouraged and assisted a small group of enthusiastic local amateur gardeners to form a relaxing community garden designed for use by 6000 local residents, visitors, local organisations and youth groups in Murieston (Livingston) and neighbouring areas. Permission was granted by West Lothian Council to use half an acre of land next to Livingston South Station and Murieston Community Council arranged planning permission.

In 2021 the garden started life as a plot of rough grass.

Figure 2: The garden started in 2021 as a plot of rough grass

During this first year, a lot of background work was carried out to get things started and keep things running. This included developing a constitution, handbook and safeguarding policy, opening a bank account, setting up a website, and beginning to raise funds.

With very little money initially, volunteers did what they could by manually moving donated sleepers into the garden for raised beds and planting as much as possible with donations of plants and seeds. The first year finished on a high with the first volunteer social event: solar-powered twinkly Christmas lights on in the garden then off to the local bar.

Early funding of £10,000 from windfarm benefits and £11,000 from the Town Centre Fund saw the community garden develop quickly. Since the first raised bed was built in 2022 by engineer volunteers, a secure shed and community noticeboard have been installed, 14 more raised beds have been built from sleepers, and three compost bins have been built from pallets. The gardening volunteers use the raised beds for crop rotation to grow vegetables, some of which are donated to the adjacent community café. 

Figure 3: Productive back garden in June 2023

Further major fundraising success in 2023 included over £26,000 from the Levenseat Trust, £10,000 from the National Lottery, and £7,000 funding from Edinburgh Airport Community Fund. This supported a big project to create a public front garden for use by all in the community. The front garden includes 8 disabled-friendly raised beds, 2 areas of ground-level planting, a 6 m curved bench, a pergola, paving and paths on an area of approx. 1/6 acre.

There are approximately 20 volunteers who help on different days. After the build was complete, they worked hard to fill the beds with soil retained from excavating the paths, then dug in compost to enrich the top layer.

Figure 4: Planting the front garden in September 2024

The icing on the cake was £1,500 from the Parks4Life Community Fund. This allowed volunteers to purchase a variety of rabbit-proof trees, shrubs and perennial plants to fill the space and bring the garden to life. A white-barked birch, three flagpole cherry trees, an amelanchier tree and a magnolia were planted to give the garden height. Additional planting has taken place in Spring 2025 but still needs to fill out.

Figure 5: The garden in April 2025 (from the same viewpoint as Figure 1)

The volunteers aim to provide a fantastic facility for the local community to use for social events and as a general outdoor meeting and socialising space. Being immediately adjacent to Livingston South Station, it will also provide a pleasant waiting place for travellers. Since the beginning, the group have taken part in Keep Scotland Beautiful’s ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ programme and enjoyed have their progress acknowledged.

However, the garden is not without its challenges: there is no road access, no power supply and no water other than the valuable rainwater harvested from the shed roof. And there are lots of rabbits who don’t understand the term ‘rabbit-proof’! The group are on a learning curve about what plants can survive.

The group are planning an opening event for July this year once everything is planted, but the garden is already in blossom and many of the community of 6000 residents already come in and enjoy a quiet seat and a chat with friends.

Looking to the future…

More is needed.

The volunteers are in the process of installing 2 greenhouses, but further funding is required for drainage in the back garden before they can build more raised beds and install planned paths and seats in the back garden. Improved rainwater harvesting and distribution to provide a more reliable water supply is also becoming a priority, and they’d love a tree seat around the birch in the front garden to provide more socialising space.

Follow the progress of the garden on their Facebook page.