A photo of garden beds, shed and polytunnel

Starting in 2015, PLANT‘s main focus has been on the Tayport Community Garden, creating a community growing space where organisations, groups, families and individuals of all abilities can work, learn and socialise.

Funding from Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund has allowed us to help Tayport residents tackle climate change by reducing our carbon emissions through growing more food locally, reducing waste and working directly with households through Carbon Conversations.

Climate Action Fife – Climate Friendly Gardens

PLANT is working on a new project to promote the development of climate friendly gardens in Fife. Working with partners across Fife, including Greener Kirkcaldy, CLEAR in Buckhaven and Methil and EATS in Rosyth, PLANT will co-ordinate the project from its base in Tayport.

This project follows a pilot project based at PLANT in 2020-21 which was managed by Angela Houghton. The project will run until April 2027 and is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Project Development Worker Gillian Fyfe will lead the project for PLANT.

The project will share good practice on gardening in ways that reduce carbon emissions. Workshops and events focusing on climate friendly gardening topics and techniques will be held regularly and on-line resources will be made more widely available. As part of the project four gardens across Fife are being developed to be climate friendly with the progress shared as widely as possible. The gardens – two in Tayport, one in Kirkcaldy and one in Methil are all very different and will present a range of challenges. The gardeners will be supported by project staff and will share the highs and lows of making their gardens more climate friendly and climate ready.

A Fife-wide campaign to plant a Fruit Tree in Every Garden in Fife will run until 2027 with the aim of promoting home growing, access to food and individual action to combat climate change.

Climate Action Fife Development Worker, Gillian Fyfe

Email: caf@tayportgarden.org

PLANT projects associated with the Garden include:

Carbon Conversations. Helping Tayport households move towards greener lifestyles and take practical action on climate change by reducing their carbon footprints, starting autumn 2018.

Tayport Apple Juice. Since 2016 we use unwanted apples from Tayport orchards to produce long-life apple juice using our own apple press.

Produce Sales. During growing season we hold a produce stall at Tayport Harbour.

Grow and Learn Award. We offer Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society awards for adults with additional support needs.

Young apple trees in blossom

Fruit Tree Walk. A linear public orchard of fruit trees and bushes, with wildflower border and a native hedge, growing along Scotscraig Drive since 2012. You can read all about it here.

A child using an apple press

An annual FruitFest and an occasional SpringFest co-organised with TCT since 2012, celebrating food growing and making a good use of Tayport’s apple harvest.

Garden beds with salad and broad beans

Café Garden. Supplying Harbour Café with fresh produce from the Broad Street tenement garden since 2014 (with space made kindly available by the other tenement residents). This project was closed in September 2016.