UpMo Community Garden

UpMo Community Garden – Upward Mobility, or UpMo are a charity that support and provide opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and autism. For more than 16 years, they have been combining tailored support services with a curriculum of creative workshops, educational activities and vocational programmes. Upmo’s headquarters are in Leith, where students participate in Visual Art and IT Workshops. Also in Edinburgh is our space in St Margaret’s House, which focuses on Performing Arts, Upmo Retail and Music workshops. They also have sites in East and Midlothian which provide mixed activities.

The charity has two programmes. UpMo Grow and UpMo Eat include workshops for growing and providing fresh produce for their cafes.

As a result UpMo have two established gardens at Gorebridge and Prestonpans. But at the end of last year, UpMo started working on a garden at The Inch, in south Edinburgh. This garden is supported by Inch Nursery and surrounded by garden spaces. These spaces are maintained by community groups, with an aim to promote social gardening and provide produce for the greater community.

The Inch garden is in its early stages, but has recently received a generous donation of topsoil from Harrowden. This soil will be added to the raised garden beds, in which UpMo students will grow fruit and vegetables, and a variety of flowers for wildlife. This produce will not only supply produce to UpMo cafes but also support local food banks.

The UpMo gardens provide an environment for students to learn about gardening. Whilst gardening they also experience the benefits of being outdoors, and surrounded by nature. UpMo are very grateful to Harrowden, who through their donation, are supporting our cause and the local community.