The Foodie Bugle Community Edible Garden
The Foodie Bugle Community Edible Garden is a brand new initiative set up to attract aspiring and experienced fruit and vegetable growers and apiarists to come together and create a new, sustainable, organic edible garden, where the harvest is shared equally by the community that planted and nurtured it.
The organic garden is situated in a 1.5 acre plot south of Swindon and the M4 Motorway, in an area designated as being of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, surrounded by North Wiltshire farmland, near the rolling Marlborough Downs.
The aim is to provide an outdoor space for a small community from either a gardening school, or a cookery school, or 2 or 3 families, involving maybe up to 10 like-minded gardeners and cooks to grow all their own food. The journey from seed, to soil, to serving platter will be charted in a series of Blog articles, published in The Foodie Bugle online magazine on a weekly basis, for 52 weeks of the year. Different writers can volunteer to write the Blog, detailing the highs and lows of self-sufficiency, to inspire and inform others who may be trying to do the same.
The Foodie Bugle Community Edible Garden offers the following amenities:
- Excellent, fertile organic soil, with easy access to well rotted farmyard manure and straw.
- A south-facing aspect, with some mature trees for shelter.
- Water taps, hosepipes, rain butts, watering cans.
- All tools required.
- Organic vegetable seeds, many from Otter Farm in Devon, plants grown by Mark Diacono, author of “A Taste of the Unexpected” (Quadrille Books).
- An outdoor (clean and posh) eco-loo.
- Outbuildings for shelter.
- A potting shed.
- Timber framed compost boxes and bonfire locations.
- Plenty of parking space.
- Local wildlife in abundance: ladybirds, hedgehogs, birds, worms, bees, butterflies.
- Mature orchard trees: apples, pears, quinces and plums.
- Native British hedgerows: copper beech, holly, hawthorn, dog rose.
- Perfect siting for beehives.
- A mature walnut tree.
- Excellent walks in the surrounding countryside, wild bluebell and wild garlic woodland.
- Barbeque equipment, benches and tables, picnic area.
- Scores of gardening and cookery books and magazines.
- Peace, quiet and fresh air
- Beautiful views
The cost for using the garden is £20.00 per annum, per group, to help pay for the water charges mainly. Applications will only be considered from honest and genuine applicants who are committed to creating a truly sustainable and flourishing edible garden.
For further information, please send your details (name, address, e-mail, and day-time telephone number) to [email protected] explaining why you would like to take part in this initiative, and what you can contribute to it.
We look forward to hearing from you.
