How the Killaloe-Ballina Community Garden started

The Killaloe Ballina Community Garden, KBCG, began life in late 2010 under the umbrella of the Killaloe Resource Centre, with tutoring from Jim Cronin an organic gardener and owner of a superb garden in Bridgetown. Records from the time show that there were 29 registered members, not including their partners. Some were DIY gardeners; some had organic experience but most were a bunch of hands-on interested beginners.

We had 10 beds, growing spinach, beetroot, beans, peas, potatoes, leeks, onions, garlic, cauliflower, cabbages, carrots, parsnips, sprouts, fruit bushes and strawberries. We operated a rotation system.



In order to raise funds in 2012 we had a pre-Christmas car boot sale in Scariff raising €110 it was great fun. St Patrick’s Day 2013 cake and plant sale raised €268, not the best day for fund raising! In August 2013 we had a fantastic turnout and built our shelter. The men’s shed group made us some benches still in use today. In 2014 we had a quiz night at the Anchor Inn and raised €510, the same year we pitched our tent outside a member's home on a busy, sunny Sunday in May and raised €451 plant and cake sale. BBQ funds raised €165. Another member sent a begging letter to the court funds and we were awarded €250.

Jim Cronin was on board for the few years but then we were on our own to develop the garden further. We have had our ups and downs, for years we thought we were going to lose the garden completely; the council were undecided on the garden participation within the grounds of Bane Field. After some years the issue was resolved and with the assistance and help of the Scariff Community Garden our future is secure. Regrettably during that time we lost some fantastic volunteer gardeners.

Our future is now secure; we have recently been awarded funds towards fencing and erecting a small secure storage shed on site, thanks to the efforts of one of our members.

We continue to grow, and thanks to some wonderful hands-on gardeners, the demand for plots has increased.

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March 2025

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