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Awards and gifts towards garden restoration
2006
Grant of £2,492 from Awards for All for reports on hard landscaping, an interpretation scheme, notices and drawings. A stonemason was employed for major wall repairs. A graphics designer has produced an interpretation scheme and the public notices have been replaced.
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Various grants totalling £6,023 from East Lothian Council Community Environmental Fund have been used for garden equipment and plants. New items have included: compost boxes, a chipper shredder, a work platform system, apple juicing equipment, garden tools and a heritage bench for the Cottage Garden. The rose border has been completely replanted with heritage roses.
2008
Grant of £2,500 from Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural Trust for replanting the Cottage Garden. The original garden was completely excavated with a JCB and a new design was laid out, marked by wooden sarking boards. Two large beds have been planted up, with assistance from Macplants of Pencaitland, and a new bounding hedge has been established. Two crab-apple trees were added.
2008
Grant of £7,144 from BBC Breathing Places to establish a community orchard and wild flower meadow. East Lothian Council staff and many other individuals were involved in stripping, harrowing and replanting the orchard with period apple, plum, cherry and nut trees. Spring bulbs were planted and the area undersown as a wildflower meadow. Interior paths were laid out.
2009
Gift from the Trust's Patron, Kay, The Duchess of Hamilton, specifically to be spent on a rose arch for the Cottage Garden in memory of her late mother-in-law, Elizabeth, the previous duchess.
2010
Grant of £5,287 from Awards for All for the architectural design of a new garden community centre. The garden requires covered space to accommodate the part-time gardener, visitors, garden volunteers, plant potting and equipment. The design by the architectural firm Lee Boyd Ltd. of Edinburgh is for a single-storey building located between the garden and the car park on Sidegate. The building design matches the style of neighbouring buildings and incorporates a small conservatory with entrance from the garden side.
2006-2010
In addition to the above awards and gifts, over the years individuals have donated garden seats and heritage plants. Volunteers have contributed throughout the period in many ways: for example, by helping to rewire most of the boundary walls, removing ivy, preparing plant lists and by general weeding. Groups of Knox Academy pupils have made major contributions by collecting leaves and, in the community orchard, by planting 2000 bulbs and by hay making.