In partnership with Moulsham High School and Humanities College, the Wilderness Foundation UK is operating a community allotment scheme in our home town of Chelmsford, Essex. Called “Grow Together”, the project is open to all – so come and join us on site – it’s fun and will help you to get fit too!
Our Aims for Grow Together are:
- To contribute socially to the local community, through providing opportunities to engage with nature and our neighbours;
- To encourage local people to enjoy growing their own organic produce;
- To provide a forum for young and old alike to learn about the natural world, through cultivation of food crops, growing wild flowers, grasses and saplings and the study of insects, mammals and aquatic species present on site;
- To establish a respect for, and appreciation of the environment;
This community oriented project has been designed to provide an area of green space for those with no or small gardens and it is our intention to encourage strong community relationships while spreading awareness of environmental issues, organic principles and local food issues, benefits to health, home composting and biodiversity.
We currently hold seven allotment plots at the Melbourne Allotments site on Hobart Close, Chelmsford. These are run by and for the community:
Plot 69: The Heritage Kitchen Garden. We have created a wheelchair accessible garden with a semi-formal theme. At the heart of the garden is a dwarf apple tree, surrounded by a bed of lavender and box hedging. Each corner of the plot provides growing space for heritage varieties of British vegetables and these too are bordered by box hedging. This is an important opportunity for us to play a part in preserving traditional British vegetable varieties that form the basis of our popular fruit and vegetables found on supermarket and greengrocers shelves. Without old varieties of carrots, cauliflowers, cabbage and beans we would not be able to enjoy today’s hybrids. These old varieties still have their place and must be preserved, along side vegetables like the Cardoum.
Plot 70: This is our Artichoke and Asparagus bed. We have transplanted the Jersualem Artichokes from Plot 69 to here to enable us to clear that plot for our new Heritage Kitchen Garden. The artichokes will be growing along side onions and horseradishes.
Both these plots back onto our Willow Tunnel, which has been carefully woven by volunteers into a pleasant backdrop for these two plots. At the back of the plots and immediately behind the willow tunnel, our fruiting bushes can be found.
Plots 89 and 90: We have combined these two plots to create four equal sized and identically shaped beds, which form the basis of our crop rotation system. At the back of these two plots is our tree nursery and willow bed.
Plot 91: This plot is the site of our raised beds and benches (pictured below) which provide opportunities for those people who can’t get down on the ground to also turn a hand to growing their own! The raised beds have also provided
a home for our first crop of hops this year. Beyond Plot 91 our poly tunnel can be found, which we use for growing vegetable crops including tomatoes. We also have two storage sheds at the back of the site. To the right hand side of Plot 91 we are going to create our new Climate Change Garden.
Plots 66 and 93: At the bottom of the allotments site we have our wildlife area. We have a wildflower meadow and beetle pyramid that we built and cultivated by volunteers. Adjoining this is an area that we want to redevelop as a nature pond with dipping platform and bog garden for the study of invertebrates and to create new habitat areas.
We hold regular volunteering sessions on Monday each week from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., which anyone is welcome to come along and enjoy. Wear old clothes, sturdy shoes and gloves if you have them. Under 16′s must be accompanied by an adult and 16-18′s will require parental/guardian consent. It’s all free – tools, knowledge and expertise will be provided. All you need to do is bring yourself and your wellies! We have a disabled access toilet on site, with a small kitchen area where we can make tea and coffee (or on occasion duck out of the rain!) so we really have all you need to get started.
In addition to the Melbournes Project, we hold two allotments plots at Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford and these are being run as a social enterprise by Moulsham High, with students growing plants and produce to sell, generating income to purchase seed and equipment for the following year group to come through and use. This work is tied into the National Curriculum.
If you would be interested in joining “Grow Together” then we would love to see you at one of our open volunteering sessions.
For further information email info@wildernessfoundation.org.uk or call 01245 443073.
For all the latest news from the allotments read our Allotment Diary on the blog pages.
In addition to our sponsorship by Moulsham High, we are also grateful for the support of the following organisations:
