Edinburgh community gardens are coming together for a festival celebrating community food growing

Community gardens across Edinburgh are uniting this weekend (16 & 17 June) for the Power of Food festival to celebrate community growing.

Members of the public are invited to visit 23 gardens around the city including in an old farmhouse, a castle grounds, and in disused industrial sites.

Many of the gardens are small and hidden away, so people may not have even realised they existed.

The free festival is offering garden tours, gardening workshops, food, music, storytelling and children’s activities.

Marie-Amelie Viatte, one of the festival organisers, said: “The act of growing one’s own food is powerful and to do it with others is transformational, for individuals and communities. It creates strong social connections around shared positive goals and collective action. It is inclusive and acts against social isolation.

“Community food gardens take all forms, shapes and sizes – they all have a different story to tell. The Power of Food festival invites people to explore their diversity and discover the human stories that shape them.”

The festival is working in partnership with Edinburgh’s Festival of Cycling and Sustrans, which is offering guided bike rides around some of the Power of Food festival gardens.

Find out more about the gardens, the family-friendly bike rides, and the festival.