Orchard

We’re developing a community orchard in Ravenscraig Walled Garden, Ravenscraig Park, Kirkcaldy. Our plan is to plant apples, pears, plums, quince, berries, soft fruit and even some nut trees.

Our fantastic team of volunteers has transformed the site – clearing the overgrown thistles and nettles, constructing paths, and getting the ground ready for the trees. We planted the first 50 fruit trees in December 2012.

We always welcome new volunteers and hold regular volunteer sessions at the orchard. The volunteers are currently planting trees, helping to develop our training allotment, and carrying out biodiversity surveys and improvements at the site. We offer training and support to the volunteers – no gardening experience is necessary, but skilled gardeners are very welcome! We’ll arrange a visit to the site for anyone interested in helping out. For more information just email volunteer[at]greenerkirkcaldy.org.uk or come along to one of the regular volunteer sessions.

We’re keen to look after the wildlife on-site – there are some lovely patches of wild flowers, and we are creating havens for bees and other creatures. We’re planning to carry out regular biodiversity surveys – the report of our initial survey is here – Biodiversity Study report – June 2012 (PDF 2.7 MB).

The project is funded by the People’s Postcode Trust and the Central Scotland Green Network.

There are more photos on our Facebook page - thank you to the volunteers (too many to name here!) who took these great pictures!