Loch Lomond Homes and Gardens has had a great response to its offer of using a large greenhouse free of charge to anyone who fancies planting and nurturing fresh produce to help those in need.

The garden centre, located just outside Balloch, is providing everything the volunteers need, including tools, soil, compost, seeds and plants.

Since news of the initiative first appeared in the Daily Record, general manager Thomas Callaghan has been contacted by people wishing to take up his offer. 

He said: “We’ve got this space and it really isn’t being used. It’s a shame it’s sitting there empty.

“So we posted on the company’s Facebook page asking the community if there were any projects that would benefit from using the greenhouse.

“And one girl, Claire Chilcott, suggested the foodbank, which I thought was a great idea.”

Thomas put the idea to the owners  – the Shaw family from Dunoon – who agreed to go ahead with the scheme.

“We could have broken down the greenhouse and sold it but I thought it would be better to make community use of it.

“The idea is that people volunteer to come up and nurture, feed and water the plants that we have bullied our suppliers into giving us.

“I’ll be asking them to supply tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries and that kind of thing free to us to pass on to the volunteers to grow.

“There must be keen gardeners in the area who could make the most of this.

“We will supply soil and compost, seeds and plants. They will want for nothing.

“We’ll even make sure they have all the tools they need and the growing media they need to work with.” 

Thomas can be contacted on 01389 752947.

Pictured: Thomas outside the greenhouse. (Picture courtesy of the Daily Record)