You may find these links useful. This page is very much a work in progress. If you have ideas for possible additions please suggest them via the comment option at the bottom of this page or send them to Norman at gfaawebhelper[at]gmail[dot]com.
Allotments in Aberdeen is Aberdeen City Council's portal to information and advice on local allotment policies and sites and provides contact information for Pat Wilson, our primary point of contact at the Council.
Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens supports, represents and promotes community-managed farms and gardens across the UK.
Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden here in Aberdeen help with the garden in all sorts of ways and host a very interesting series of lectures throughout the year.
Garden Organic (formerly HDRA) aims to research and promote all aspects organic gardening.
Gone to Seed is a joint project between Tarland Community Garden (part of Tarland Development Group) Cromar and District Horticultural Society and Aboyne Garden Club.
Henley-on-Thames Allotment Association offers a lively introduction to many aspects of allotment growing.
National Allotment Society offers campaign information, growing advice and a library of resources and downloads.
National Gardening Association is a Texas-based national leader in garden-based education offering a rich collection resources including a very useful plant guide.
National Vegetable Society is an open membership charity for allotment and kitchen gardeners.
Plant Heritage (National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens) claims to be the world's leading garden plant conservation society and has a local branch in Grampian and Tayside.
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society or "Caley" promotes an supports all aspects of gardening and horticulture in Scotland and membership is open to all.
Royal Horticultural Society in their own words, a UK charity established to share the best in gardening and driven by a simple love of plants and the belief that gardeners make the world a better place.
Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society seeks to promote and protect allotment sites, preserve and advance gardening skills and green living.
Scottish Gardeners' Forum seeks to link Scotland's gardening organisations and act as a portal to information sharing.
Slopefield Allotment Association here in Aberdeen, have an attractive site with newsletters, photos and community activities for their members.
Torry Allotment Holders site offers an interesting collection of news items, photos, videos and links.
Trellis aims to support health through horticulture and claims to be the place to come for know-how about therapeutic gardening – the art of using gardening to help people take care of their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.
Aberdeen Forward is a limited company and charity, which was set up in 1999 to fund and support local waste minimisation and recycling projects. They promote green living and projects that aim to improve quality of life in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Greenspace Trust is a joint initiative between the City Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission to enhance the natural environment around Aberdeen.
Buglife in their own words are trying to save the small things that run the planet and they offer all sorts of information on insects, including how to attract them to your allotment.
Clean Up Scotland, a part of Keep Scotland Beautiful is a mass engagement campaign which aims to build community pride and make Scotland the cleanest country in Europe.
Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens a registered charity which supports, represents and promotes community-managed farms, gardens, allotments and other green spaces, creating green opportunities for local communities.
Garden Organic offers advice on all aspects of their work including: organic growing, heritage seeds and plants, healthy communities, education, policy and campaigning and their demonstrator gardens at Ryton.
Green Times is a publication from Aberdeen City Council which highlights green actions and projects from the city.
Greenspace Scotland has a wealth of green ideas and information and a regular email newsletter.
Greener Scotland is a portal to Scottish Government's advice on living greener.
Home Advisor offers comprehensive advice on home composting and sustainable gardening.
It's Your Neighbourhood offers advice on how to build community participation, environmental responsibility and gardening achievement.
James Hutton Institute and Hutton Soils. The former's research aims to connect land and people and the latter offers a soil analysis service.
Keep Scotland Beautiful is a charity which aims to make Scotland green and clean by promoting sustainable environmental projects.
North East Biodiversity is a partnership to protect and enhance local biodiversity through planning, and projects.
One Seed Forward is a novel community growing project based here in our area.
Resourcing Scotland's Heritage provides an excellent start to researching fundraising activities and projects.
RSPB aims to help biodiversity and bird-friendly environments and offers advice on greener gardening.
Scottish Education and Action for Development (SEAD) aims to tackle the causes of poverty, social injustice and environmental degradation.
Waste Aware Scotland offers advice on composting and other waste reduction strategies.
Allotment Life is FaceBook Group with a knowledgeable, lively and friendly community.
Allotments and Gardens is a fascinating and extensive hobbyist site run by the Harrisons, a husband and wife team. Their growing guides, linked resources and book lists are especially impressive.
The Allotment Gardener site has loads of articles on how to grow fruit and veg, personal blogs, and advice on starting up.
Beechgrove Garden needs no introduction, but their fact sheets are a wonderful source of locally relevant know-how.
Been, there, dug that… got the wellies is a promising new personal blog from a new plotter.
Gardeners' Question Time from Radio 4 needs no further explanation.
Gardiners' World Blog – Allotments offers regular posts on allotment growing from a team of growers.
Grow your own fruit and veg site linked to the popular magazine with a long list of growing guides and other goodies.
The Guardian Lifestyle Allotments Section publishes monthly articles on all aspects of allotment owning and growing.
Of Plums and Pignuts is a wonderful resource for those interested in forest gardening and growing perennial vegetables, written by a local (Aberdeen) gardener and allotment holder.
Ben Reid Garden Centre and Nurseries is a local, family-run firm that supports a host of local gardening projects and charities, including giving GFAA donations from time to time. They know what will thrive locally and they grow their own plants. You are sure of a warm welcome and excellent advice and their prices are very competitive. They are Norman's first port of call and a favourite of many other GFAA members. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Chiltern Seeds offer a different take on flower and vegetable seeds and their free Veg Book makes for a very interesting read, containing traditional and new varieties.
Dobies (not to be confused with the Dobbies Garden Centre chain) is our GFAA seed supplier of choice and we are a member of their Garden Club Scheme which brings plotters and volunteers 40% discount on seeds and 10% discount on everything else, when bought using our unique code. In addition to an excellent catalogue (copies in the Octagon) they have very useful growing and planning guides. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Mantis is a UK-based supplier of a wide range of garden equipment and machinery and offers a nice collection of seasonal gardening advice notes.
Nutley's Kitchen Gardens is Vinnie's first choice for garden netting for fruit cages and the like.
Polycrub manufacture super-strong polytunnels and are based in Shetland.
Thomas Etty, Heritage Seedsman has a very nice alternative selection as spotted by Stuart.
Fields in Trust (Scotland) say they work to ensure that everyone – young or old, able or disabled and wherever they live – should have access to free, local green space for sport, play and recreation.
Green Infrastructure is a Scottish Government programme that exists to make places for people by improving the urban environment. There current funding opportunity closes April 1 2016.
Skipton Building Society kindly provided us with a £500 grant in 2016 through their Grass Roots Giving Scheme and has a valuable set of links to free resources on their main site.
Tesco Bags of Help offers £8/10/12K grants to community organisations. GFAA were fortunate to win a grant of £12K for our Outdoor classroom and community garden developments in 2016.