Resource Centre
Orchards
Orchards are one of a range of compelemntary uses not covered by the legal definition of a statutory allotment. Any site selected for such a project should have a genuine surplus of land; in other words, one that can accommodate the project whilst retaining sufficient plots for current and future plotholders. It is important to follow the necessary legal procedure for any complementary uses of statutory allotment sites, otherwise the land could lose its legal protection. Please see ARI factsheet 'Project Allotment' for further details. 'Growing in the community' also deals with this aspect of allotment regulation.
Allotment Forestry
A really useful website created by the local woodlands initiative - a community project working with gardeners to increase the use of local woodland products in the garden and allotment. The intro to the site says: "Britain’s gardeners have for centuries used locally grown wood for all manner of uses. The Rustic Gardens they created established a style born out of necessity that is appreciated today for its naturalism and intrinsic good environmental sense. A sad fact of gardening in Britain today is that it is easier to buy a Chinese ‘twig’, in the form of bamboo, than a locally grown hazel ‘twig’ to support runner beans. Our individual actions as gardeners may seem small and insignificant but cumulatively they have a massive power to do good or harm. Britain’s woodlands can provide many products for the garden that are currently imported from places where forests and forest peoples are threatened. By using home-grown wood products we create new rural jobs, protect British woodland wildlife, at the same time as reducing damage to the rainforests." The site provides loads of resources to help plotholders and associations source or grow and use their own woodland products including peasticksand beanpoles plus lots of plans and factsheets for building all sorts of useful structures - fencing, trellis, benches etc. Well worth a visit!
113Apple Day
Apple Day is an annual celebration of apple, orchards and local distinctiveness, initiated by Common Ground in 1990 it has since been celebrated each year by people organising hundreds of local events. Why not join in? Apple Day is a way of celebratin ...
113ARI factsheet: Project allotment
A guide for groups and agencies working on allotments.
113Common Ground Book of Orchards
Explores how orchards continue to shape local culture from custom to kitchen and urges us to value old orchards of tall trees for their delicate ecology and local distinctiveness. Scores of examples demonstrate how, in town and country, Community Orchards provide wholesome food, wild life havens, arenas for communal celebration and inspirational places where the development of orcharding knowledge across generations and ethnicity can flourish. The result of more than a dozen years of campaigning, this book presents a positive survival plan for orchards in which everyone can take part. Includes 50 photographs of west country orchards. They show how people have worked with nature to create great richness and beauty. Contents: Local Distinctiveness, Community Orchards, Saving Orchards, Planting New Orchards, City and Country, Orchard Fruits, Sharing with Nature, Inspiration - arts, crafts, poetry, customs, recipes, Apple Day, Produce, Passing on Knowledge - education formal and informal, An Apple a Day - health, Everyday Tasks - maintenance, Appendices include a Gazetteer of local varieties, useful organization, courses and publications, nurseries, fruit suppliers, funding sources. Price £18.95.
113National Orchard Forum
The National Orchard Forum was established in Autumn 2002 being seen as a desirable way of enhancing the effectiveness of local orchard groups by: pooling information and expertise from around the country by providing a channel for addressing iss ...
113The Agroforestry Research Trust
The Agroforestry Research Trust is a non-profit making charity, registered in England, which researches into temperate agroforestry and into all aspects of plant cropping and uses, with a focus on tree, shrub and perennial crops. The site also includes in ...
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