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Community orchard in people's own front gardens

John Devine & Helen Burchell
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
John Devine/BBC Alana Wilson is smiling at the camera. She is standing in a garden in front of an apple tree and children's toys can be seen in the background. She has long, dark hair and is wearing a flowery light blue topJohn Devine/BBC
Alana Wilson hopes people will plant trees so others can benefit from the fruit in the future

A group that could not find the right land for a community orchard is offering free trees for people to grow in their front gardens - for the use of everyone.

Alana Wilson, from March Community Orchard - a Cambridgeshire initiative - said people could ask for a free apple, pear or plum tree from the group.

She said they must have appropriate space in their front garden, as the hope was once they had taken the fruit they needed, others in the town could collect it for themselves - again, for free.

The varieties the group is offering are self-pollinating and should begin to crop in about a year or two, she said.

The Front Garden Fruit Project has just been launched in the Fenland town, but already about 20 people have asked for a tree, said Ms Wilson.

John Devine/BBC A close-up of some apples on a tree in a gardenJohn Devine/BBC
Varieties on offer are heavy-croppers, the group said

"We've tried to set up a community orchard for some time but we had trouble securing land so we've come up with a new idea - a bit of a hybrid community orchard - where we are offering free fruit trees to March residents and in return they give us a bit of space to plant it in their front garden," she said.

"Eventually we're hoping that once the fruit trees are laden with fruit, that they might share some of this with the community."

The varieties on offer "don't need a pollination partner and are very disease-resistant and tend to be very heavy-cropping varieties", said Ms Wilson.

It could take one or two years before the trees produce fruit, but "in future years when you have many, many apples and pears and plums - and you've had enough crumbles - people who've been beneficiaries of the project might be willing to share a crate with the community".

Ms Wilson said the project was bearing the cost of the trees with help from other charity grants, which come in at about £18 each, and the group would help with planting and provide free crates once the trees fruit.

In the future, the group hopes to create a map so the local community can see where to collect fruit for free.

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