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Low carbon growing tipsParticipant diaries

Before and after: a garden transformed

By 16th July 2017No Comments

When I moved to Tayport a few years ago the back garden of my house was what might be described as ‘traditional’- a fair-sized lawn with a flower border round it.  To me, it seemed a ‘good’ garden until I became a volunteer at Tayport Community Garden.  As I worked with PLANT it soon became evident that my garden could be so much more productive for, not just me, but the wildlife I shared it with.

before

The first thing I did, after the Tayport Fruitfest in the autumn of 2015, was to plant five fruit trees and, hey presto, my garden became an orchard.  I learnt that the criteria for qualifying as an orchard is to have the minimum of five fruit trees and I was thrilled that my garden was put, literally, on a map of orchards in Scotland.

The second task was to intersperse my flower borders with soft fruit bushes.  Having one big patch for the fruit didn’t appeal to me; this way I have my colourful flowering plants and my black and red currants.

Finally, I gave over a third of the lawn to a vegetable patch.  PLANT was a great source of advice and help, on what to plant, and when. So far this summer I have enjoyed peas and potatoes; parsley and mint.  So much more productive than grass!

veg

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Kathleen

I grew up on a farm in the NE of Scotland so have always had a close affinity to land and growing my own food. As a family we ate only what was in season and preserved fruit and vegetables if there was a glut. I am still passionate about cutting air miles on the food I eat. I’m lucky to live close to the Tayport Community Garden and pop in regularly for advice and produce.

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