Sunday, April 3rd
Today was the day that the concept of the community garden was introduced. On the third and final day of the 9th Grassroots Gathering, which brought together activists from all kinds of campaigns and community struggles from all over the country, the first workshop was held for what would become the Dolphin’s Barn community garden. The workshop was facilitated by Dunk, who spotted the patch of land that has now become a community garden. At the time it was just an disused, overgrown area  behind a factory, hemmed in by the canal and a row of houses. And so it happened that about twenty of us sat around in a circle by the canal at Dolphin’s Barn and shared our ideas for what the rough patch of land could become.

The discussion was a very worthwhile, and could have continued long into the evening. We heard from people who had previous experience of such gardens. Tom and Darren told us of the success of community garden they had started in Belfast. Their experience showed how the project can take on a life of its own as a diverse number of people get involved, so that you can return to the garden to find that more work has been done but you are not sure by whom. They also gave plenty of practical advice on how best to plan and carry out the project. Claire??? and ___ from Cork also gave us a picture of how this kind of initiative could succeed. They gave a good example of how to get the community involved. In their Mandala gardens? in Cork, they got local schools involved and had children planting trees with them.???

Then Dunk got together an email list of people who were based in Dublin and might be willing to help to make the idea a reality. We agreed to meet again soon to break ground for the first time.

Tuesday, April 12th
This evening the community garden was opened. At first things did not look so good: it was lashing rain, and we were divided in ones and twos. We were wondering if anybody was going to show up. But none of us were put off by the weather, and our perseverance paid off. In the end, when we all managed to find each other, it turned out to be an invigorating night. Despite seeming to be knee deep in wet grass, we planted three hazel trees and two willows. There were new faces and lots of messing and laughter. We did some singing and we did some planning.

Later we went to Richard’s house for a cup of tea and some biscuits. Everybody was excited about the new project, and we imagined how things could look in three years’ time. We thought up a few items we needed to get in the future, and agreed to meet up on Thursday evening at around 1830 for night two at the garden.

Thursday, April 14th
Tonight was another dull but productive day. This time we began to clear grass for what we hoped would eventually become a vegetable bed. We cleared a long space and dug up the earth, turning it over and clearing out most of the stones and roots from the soil. Then we made a row about 12? feet long, which we planted entirely with Rory’s spuds. In the future we can plant more rows for more planting. We also found a bike this evening, under the undergrowth.

Afterwards we went to Seodín’s house. Throughout the month of April, Seodín very kindly offered her house for use by groups as a meeting space. We went along after a hard days digging and dreamed up lots more plans for the future of the garden.

Thursday, April 22nd
This evening was a lovely warm day, and we planted scallions, onions, garlic, forget-me-not seeds, parsley, rosemary and thyme. We laid down carpet, cardboard and wooden planks as ‘mulch’ in between what we had planted, to block sunlight and discourage the growth of weeds. We have cleared a space beside these rows where we can have a seat in between our digging. Stew brought along some lovely food for us to share.

By now the garden has really started to take shape. A bigger space has been cleared beside the potato bed and another row has been fully planted. We also have a set of tools which we have left in the garden, so that anybody can come along and do a bit of digging and planting.

We also gave out letters to the local residents to let them know what we are doing, so that they can contact us if they want to give us any feedback.

Tonight we also had a visit from two Gardaí. They are based in Kevin St. Garda station and were responding to a call from a local resident, who notified them that there were people over by the canal. They were very pleasant and reasonable. I  asked them at one point if there was any difficulty with what we were doing, and they said that there was no problem. They came over and had a chat to us, and then went on their way when they saw what nice people we were.

Tuesday, April 26th
This evening after a quick bit of digging in the garden, a few of us went to Seodín’s house where there was to be a night of discussion about indymedia. Indymedia Ireland is the website where most of the initial reports about the garden were published. We had a good discussion about how best to publicise the garden in order to bring more people on board and get in touch with the local community. We also had a lively discussion about all the possibilities for the garden, and a few of us were able to answer questions about the garden from people who hadn’t been there yet.