Our Urban Woodland

We had a number of trees on the site before we came along and started adding more. It may seem strange for a community garden that has a focus on food production, to be planting MORE trees on site, but there were good reasons for this.

It was great we secured the site we did, because of the already established and mature trees that are here. There are some really beautiful ones like the above pictured.

This section of the garden, in the above picture, is going to be our woodland, wildlife section. This is why we decided to plant some 400 tree saplings which we were granted from the Woodland Trust. These included Elder, Rowan, Hazel, Blackthorn, Crab Apple and Dog Rose.

Trees are not only important for us here in the community garden, but of course for wider importance. Trees have several roles such as:

Flood prevention

Shelter and shade

Provide for wildlife

Improve our health

Clean the air

Combat climate change

To breath

Find out more about the above list here.

In the community garden, we wanted to expand the area of trees to ensure we had a section we could call the woodland, wildlife area. We hope that over time, as our saplings grow, more and more wildlife will come to the garden. It is important for us to maintain and assistant biodiversity as much as possible, as this not only helps the environment but helps us with our other aims in the garden, such as pollination from bees as one example.

It's not all about us though. We hope as the woodland, wildlife area enhances and develops, we will be able to host specific events in the area. from den building to bug hunting and tree identification.

Why not check out these amazing must-know facts about woodlands. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/04/woods-forests-facts/

Also here is a food chain challenge for the kids. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zbnnb9q/articles/zsphrwx