Parkwood Springs Forest Garden
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The Forest Garden is a beautiful, calm space, which is much loved by the local community. The bench overlooking the garden is a favourite stop for many people. A short time spent looking at the fruiting trees and listening to the birdsong brings a measure of tranquility in a busy and often confusing world.
The garden was set up around ten years ago for the City Council by Tim Shortland. He worked with volunteers, turning a derelict allotment site into a garden modelled on the structure of young natural woodland. The local multifaith community were involved from early stages, and the garden has a tree celebrating this. Over the years, the monthly work session in the garden has became a significant part in the lives of many of the Friends of Parkwood Springs. Recently we have welcomed involvement from GoodGym, and enjoyed their energy, enthusiam and good ideas. A Forest Garden aims to be a self-sustaining ecosystem of useful plants. Working with nature means that the garden is resilient and does not need a huge amount of maintenance. To maintain soil fertlity we have nitrogen fixing plants, including two majestic italian alder trees, planted at the top of the garden so that the rain can wash the nitrogen down through the garden, feeding the soil as it goes. There are fruit trees: apples, cherries, plums and pears. There are currants, berries and herbs. We have a kiwi arch, and grape vines. The local community make good use of the fruit - it is there for all to share. We welcome everyone who would like to come to the garden, to help with the maintenance or just to enjoy it. For more information look on our Facebook page where we keep people up to date with developments at the Forest Garden. |
The garden in 2017
Volunteers working in the garden 2019
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