Our greenfingers “Backyard Nature” project, aimed at growing food on un-used land around St Ives, was a very successful project and the group formed are still active and involved.
In March St Ives Community Foodshare received funding from Clarion Futures for the ‘Backyard Nature’ project to plant fruit and vegetables in various areas around town. This project funded meetings in the Core building at St Ives Community Orchard with lots of tea, cake and discussions. It also funded the build of a greenhouse and shelter in Tregwary veg garden to capture water essential for planting.
Three previously unused plots around St Ives were identified as areas to work in with permission from Livewest Housing Association.
An active group of volunteers formed where children were welcomed and enjoyed the activities and the group teamed up with a few volunteers from St Ives Community Orchard who had recently leased Carnellis & Tregwary land from Livewest.
An enthusiastic group of volunteers got stuck in at the end of March, spending time chatting to those who lived close to the site, planning what was best to do in each area of land, clearing a huge amount of rubbish from all 3 sites, preparing the land and planting.
- A patch in Penbeagle where lots of raspberry canes were planted.
- Carnellis, a beautiful secret garden, with 2 established apple trees, thick hedges and some fruit bushes. The group spent some time there clearing a huge amount of fly-tipped rubbish and clearing the brambles off the apple tree and look forward to creating a wonderful forest garden in this space with lots of perennial vegetables.
- Tregwary patch – It’s been so exciting to see the transformation of this area of land in a short period of time thanks to the hard work of volunteers involved. Livewest had initially cleared all the brambles early January but there was initially a lot of hard work involved in removing bramble roots, embedded rubbish and stones to create vegetable beds. There was a lot of soil sieving to remove all the stones and plastic. A compost pile was created and various vegetables planted. The soil is incredible, as people have been chucking their garden waste in there for years, so everything grows so well. A rain-harvesting shelter and a basic greenhouse with gutters to collect water were built. There is a mud kitchen where the children love playing, and there are plans to add a bench for garden users and local residents to rest and watch the activities.
All are welcome to get involved, working the land, growing vegetables and sharing the harvest.
Contact us if you’re interested in getting involved. Children are very welcome to join in too.
