Photos by David Vallis
On Sunday, the 6th of March Tayport Community Garden held their first planting day.
Around 50 adults and children attended this Mother’s Day special event and helped to plant fruit trees and fruit bushes. Andrew and Teresa, PLANT Growing Coordinators, were on hand to offer advice and make sure that the plants were well spaced and organised.
One hundred apple trees and a fruit hedge of over 200 black currant, white currant, raspberries, blackberries and gooseberry bushes were all given a lovely new home by local residents. Wellies were out in force and the new shovels and tools did a great job. Dave explained the wonders of the new Kelly kettle which worked a treat and visitors also had a go on the surprisingly high speed cargo trike. Thankfully Andrew discovered that the trike has a very wide turning circle just in time to avoid driving through the new polytunnel. The polytunnel will be used for planting as well as providing a great space for workshops on a range of gardening and wildlife topics.
The raised beds will be going in over the next few weeks and a range of community groups will be getting involved to ensure that the garden grows from strength to strength. Louis Forgan from Tayport’s People First was also on site and will be working with the group to ensure that the garden has good access for all.
It is amazing to see the ongoing transformation of this piece of ground into a brilliant community resource. Fruit and vegetables from the garden will be used in the Tayport Cafe and other local venues to reduce our local carbon footprint and help spread the word that growing locally produced food is something we can all be involved in.
Thank you again to all who helped with planting of the fruiting hedge! And thanks to Nicky McIntyre, Earlshall gardener, for a generous donation of currant and goosberry bushes for the hedge.
If you feel inspired to plant some of your own fruit trees and bushes, you may find the tips from our gardening workshop on the topic helpful – here is the workshop report.
If you are tempted into getting involved in the garden, have a look at more volunteering information here, contact us via email on plant@tayportct.org.uk or simply turn up at one of our weekly sessions or events. Next up is a Tayport Community Trust open eventing for PLANT on 24th of March, 6pm to 9pm at the Harbour Cafe – it would be great to see you there:)
You can keep track of what’s on by subscribing to our Facebook Events page (available only for those with Facebook accounts) or visiting Events page on this blog.
Jenny Glen, volunteer blogger
Great blog Jenny – thanks for recording our first practical ‘down-to-earth’ day so well! Jessie
Great article. A good day was had by all.
Great article and had a lovely time.
Great blog and great start – I was well impressed with all that’s been achieved so far – well done all!
Pete