TRANSITION Town Wellington’s Sustainable Food Group has been planting fruit trees and bushes around Wellington for about four years now – adding to the town’s existing community orchards such as at Swains Lane Nature Reserve.

Although the trees are still very young, the idea is that these resources will help add to the town’s food security in the future, as climate change has more of an effect on harvests and imports. The aim is to provide free, healthy food for all the town’s residents, helping children learn where our food comes from and building stronger communities as we meet new friends via gardening groups.

Our new project, in an acre site in Rockwell Green, is the most ambitious yet.

We would like to plant lots of fruit and nut trees – these will not only provide a great food source, but will also help take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and are a valuable habitat for wildlife, as creatures that depend on orchards are in decline.

We will use the space below the trees to plant wildflowers and fruit bushes, to provide nectar for bees and butterflies, and berries both for us to pick and birds to eat.

There is a large dip in the field designed to hold floodwater from Dobree Park. We need to keep this clear, but we could plant wild, damp-loving wildflowers here, another habitat that is in decline for wildlife due to farmland being drained for crops.

Sun-loving herbs could be plated on a sunny bank, valuable both for our cooking but also for insects and birds.

It is a really exciting project, with so many possibilities, and could become a great resource for the community, fantastic for wildlife, providing food for local residents, plus a relaxing and beautiful space to spend free time, and a place for local groups to run activities.

We have already been in contact with the Somerset Rural Youth Project and Wellington Youth Centre, but if you are a member of a group that would like to get involved, please contact us via our website, ttw.org.uk

We have launched a survey for you to vote on what trees, bushes etc, you would like planted on site. This is a resource for you, so we’d like you to get involved in the planning stage. The link for this is https://www.

surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VQ52Q29, also found via our website. It will only take a few minutes to complete the ten questions, including deciding on a name for the community garden, over which there has been much debate already.

If you would like to get involved in the practical gardening sessions, they are currently held about twice a month, and will be advertised via the What’s On guide, our website and the TTW Facebook page.

If you would like to see where our other fruit and herb patches are around Wellington, you can check out our foraging map http://ttw.org.uk/free-community-food-map This was created last year and is available to pick up from the library.

This map was a catalyst for us being nominated for a Green Heart Hero award from the Climate Coalition, under the category Inspiration Community Project https://www.theclimatecoalition.org/green-heart-hero-2018

Whether we win or not, it is great to be nominated. We are going to the Palace of Westminster on Monday (March 11) for the awards ceremony.

HELEN GILLINGHAM

Transition Town Wellington

Fruit and nut trees, wildflowers and fruit bushes could be planted at the site at Rockwell Green where work has started.