BUDDING young horticulturalists from a Greenock nursery are growing for gold with help from an environmental organisation.
Pupils and staff at Wellpark Children's Centre have joined forces with Inverclyde Community Food Network (ICFN) as the nursery gets set to develop its own garden.
Julie Anson and Alice Paul from the network are helping children, parents, and staff learn how to 'grow, cook, and share' their own produce.
Children have been learning all about growing different types of plants and finding out about looking after the environment.
Lynne Logan, senior early years education and childcare officer, says revamping an area of ground to the rear of the nursery is an important part of what's to come.
She said: "We want to transform the space into a fully-fledged garden which the children can visit regularly.
"Inverclyde Community Food Network came in to talk to us about it and have really helped.
"We want to bring this area back to life and make it a proper area for learning."
Lynne and the nursery team have applied for funding from the network and from Invergrow to help with the transformation.
When Julie and Alice visited the nursery, boys and girls got the chance to plant their own colourful blooms in pots they had decorated just in time for Mother's Day.
They also learned a bit more about growing their own vegetables.
Alice said: "We're trying to make growing your own part of daily life for youngsters.
"We want them to pass everything they're learning onto their families, so that growing, harvesting, and cooking their own produce becomes the norm.
"It's such an important thing to be learning about."
Rachel Gibb, equity and excellence lead at Wellpark, is hoping to introduce cookery classes which will show parents how to make healthy meals using vegetables grown by the youngsters.
Alice said she hopes news of the gardening activities will spread through word of mouth and will generate even more interest in 'growing your own'.
She added: "Getting out into the garden is very therapeutic for people of all ages so we want more people to get involved.
"The more we do things like this, the more word gets out.
"It's really easy to get things growing.
"Nature takes care of itself."
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