Register of Community Forest Gardens

I'd love to see that, spoke with Richard about it at the conference in Manchester. In came up in conversation with some fellow students at CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology) yesterday.

Thats brilliant Felix
I have forwarded your message to four community projects. One in Margate, Faversham, Canterbury and Boughton. I have great plans for a community project but its not ready to share yet.
Thanks Jo

Birchfields Park Forest Garden is in the northwest corner of a green, peaceful and scenic inner-city public Park, near Dickenson Road and Birch Polygon, in Rusholme, Manchester. It is circular, 50 metres in diameter in four arched beds, quadrants in a ring. It’s almost 13 years since this community Forest Garden came to life with the planting of numerous standard varieties of Apple and Pear on M25 rootstock for future high canopy with two Walnut trees, Hazel bushes and various Plums, Damsons, Cherry, Medlar, Mulberries, Raspberry canes, Quince, Gooseberry and Currant bushes. These were followed by edible bulbs including Camassia and Ramsons (wild garlic) the surviving, most robust of perennial vegetables; thornless Blackberries, varieties of Strawberries and mixed donations including Lemon balm and Sweet Woodruff. A south westerly hedge of Elaeagnus ebbingei was soon introduced as were three varieties of Comfrey and many other herbs such as Mints, Oregano, Salad Burnett, Sweet Cicely and Valerian. Sweet Chestnut trees, Loquat, Guelder rose and Jostaberry bushes were added in or near the Garden and expandingly fruitful corner of the Park. Public involvement lies at the heart of the Forest Garden so new volunteers are always welcome: Work sessions take place on the third Sunday of each month, 1 till 3 pm or later, and extra sessions are sometimes held on a weekday afternoon or evening for those unable to attend on weekends or those able to contribute more time. Past events have included a Herbal Workshop, design days, foraging walks and forays into the surrounding area, children’s forest gardening sessions and occasional parties and picnics. Monthly BeeWalks and an annual birdcount are held around this biodiversity hotspot. The Friends of the Park work in partnership with neighbours and the City Council to improve land management around it and increase tree cover in the area.

Hi Jane,

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I was wondering if you could also provide just a few more sentences on how you got the funding and who was involved in setting up your project?

Best,

Felix

Dear Felix
Thanks for developing this Register as I found today, putting the map onto NFGS website with links to online information about each Community Forest Garden. Where did you put (or are you going to put) the fuller information on each of these Forest Gardens?

I find it interesting that it is within the places to visit information where some of the gardens are run commercially/privately in as much as one has to pay to visit. I realise that it would be difficult to do otherwise - we have a meeting on line today & work to do to clarify:

• where the real 'Community Forest Gardens' are
• which Member/partner organisations and practitioners we should promote? and how?

All this in such difficult times for doing anything in communities and open spaces (except walk dogs?!)

Bye for now!

Prestwich Clough has a community FG in public space as does Leaf Street near Hulme Community Garden Centre which has its own too, see https://www.facebook.com/ManchesterPermacultureNetwork/

Thank you everyone for your responses - super helpful!

I'm trying to put together a database of all the forest gardens in the country to spread the Good News. I will do some Google searches to find as many more as I can but If you know of gardens that lack an online presence please do let me know and I will include them.

All the best,

Felix

Hello Felix,

What may well be helpful for you is the Agroforestry and Forest Garden network. This is something put together by Martin Crawford one of, if not the worlds leading temperate climate forest garden expert. He is a busy man but will usually respond to an email. You will find him at the Agroforestry network trust website, he is based in Devon.

Hope that helps

Kind Regards

Thank you Simon!

Hi Felix,

I have a pdf publication produced by the Agroforestry Research Trust https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/about-agroforestry/forest-gardening/ that I can send you. It gives a list of the Forest Garden Network, UK and Europe. It's dated 2011 but may be of interest. If so, please forward your details or route to send a pdf.

Regards,

Richard