A labour of love. Once established, this gift promises to be an amazing, sustainable oasis for people and wildlife alike.

Even with the spot of rubbish in the bottom left hand corner of the picture above, this landscape looks wild and beautiful. However, lurking beneath the lush green was tons of rubbish and rubble. Nature is amazing. A former Scout’s ground, the land was unloved for many years by man, yet still home to wildlife such as foxes and beautiful (if destructive - we have to find a balance!) rose chafer beetles.

I have been gifted an opportunity to get involved in a project that aims to re-purpose this fallow, fly-tipped parcel of land, working with the community and nature to transform it into a sustainable, wildlife-friendly habitat, to be enjoyed by all. A community orchard and permaculture garden.

I think it’s brilliant that the local community will have the opportunity to share in its creation, maintenance, beauty and most significantly in future years, the harvest! I feel blessed to have been able to contribute at the very start of the project. Whether or not I am able to see it through to the very end, I’m already satisfied that I’ve been able to make an impact and help get the ball rolling.

The allotment society has a few extremely generous and supportive members who are keen to see the dream come true. We have had support from The Orchard Project, who have provided education, design advice, £400 funding and five fruit trees. In addition to The Orchard Project, fruiting trees and bushes have been donated by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), Tree Conservation Volunteers (TCV)/Mayor of London, and The Woodland Trust.

Kent & Stowe, Niwaki, Spear & Jackson, Chiltern Seeds and Immediate Media (BBC Gardener’s World Magazine) very kindly sponsored our first fundraising raffle. Amazing! There is more fundraising to be done.

We have a draft design, which will be tweaked as we learn more about the land.

It’s going to be a slow burn but I am just thrilled that work has started.

This is what’s been achieved on the land so far:

First pass clearance, cutting back brambles, churning soil, felling dead trees and pruning back others
Rubbish removal. We have removed van-loads. There’s a way to go yet!
Fruiting trees and bushes have started arriving. Planting will not start until Mid to end February so many have been ‘heeled in’ i.e. planted crudely (roots protected) in temporary positions.

What’s going to happen next?

We’ll need to find a way to reduce the woody and vegetative ‘waste’ pile. It’s not waste really. The bulk of it is just in the way. Some of it will be retained to serve a wildlife habitats. The aim is to create woodchip and compost from the rest.
Once the rubbish removal is complete, we are going to cover the entire space with ‘clean’ carboard, which will help control weed regrowth - the ‘Cut and Cover’ approach.
Next, planting positions of trees and bushes will be confirmed and marked out as per the design.
Then, finally, WE’LL GET PLANTING! This will be done in phases.

First pass clearance, including rubbish removal, complete

It’s all looking very brown and muddy at the moment. I daresay that it actually looks a lot worse than it did when we started! Much of the verdant green (weeds!) is gone. I can no longer say that I can’t see the wood for the trees! Speaking of wood, we have uncovered 3 majestic oak trees on the plot, which we will, of course, be keeping.

The site is probably going to look pretty rough for the first 2 years or so. After that, I believe the transformation will be evident and, importantly, sustainable.

Here are a few more pictures of the journey so far : )