Fruitful Scotland, Scottish Orchards, SEER Rockdust from Scotland

Hiya
Here are some excerpts from three sources of information that inspire the Lynnside Community Garden committee:
• Fruitful Scotland – Celebrating Scotland's Fruit Trees
Edited by John Hancox, this is a new publication by Scottish Orchards that celebrates "the resurgence of fruit growing and the interest in Scottish varieties old and new". Its slogan is FRUIT FOR ALL FOR EVER!
This may be a steep claim but we like to aim high.
To subscribe or advertise, call John Hancox on 0778 606 3918

Pear Blossoms in Deane Gallery Garden, Edinburgh, April 2004

• Scottish Orchards
John Hancox and his committee have been rolling out this initiative across Scotland to encourage communities and children to plant for a fruitful future.
Its aims tick lots of the boxes that the Lynnside Community Garden project has been pursuing, i.e.
- To promote planting and maintaining new and established orchards in Scotland
- To maintain and develop knowledge and skills and provide learning opportunities
- To help preserve the heritage of Scotland's orchards by establishing a national mapping database of orchards and fruit varieties.
- To encourage sustainability and biodiversity and improve the local environment
- To create markets for locally grown fruit
- To promote healthy eating and access to local fruit at affordable prices
- To promote planting of fruit trees into design of rural and urban environments
The patron is John Butterworth. Membership is free; donations are welcome.
In this context, the Lynnside Community Garden project has already received the donation of a cherry tree – thank you, Sarah! While we clear the garden grounds and decide exactly what goes where, the sapling has gone into a big pot and will be planted in a suitable spot later on.

We will be happy to receive donations of fruit trees – apple, pear, plum varieties that do well in this area. Please contact Graham or Margaret by leaving a comment on this blog.

Pear Blossoms in Deane Gallery Garden, Edinburgh, April 2004

• SEER® Rockdust®
According to their leaflet, Camera and Moira Thomson, founders of the SEER Centre, have "pioneered the use of SEER Rockdust to remineralise the Earth's soils and provide healthy, chemical free solutions" to soil and water pollution. Organic soil fertility is boosted by natural volcanic minerals and trace elements from 420-million-year-old, freshly ground, untreated volcanic rock blended from various Scottish quarries.
The product has been trialled at the SEER Centre in Highland Perthshire. The use of Rockdust has produced delicious, nutritious, healthy fruit, vegetables and flowers in difficult growing conditions.
Graham has been using the product to see if these results can be reproduced in our Lynnside Community Garden.
If you want to try for yourself, why don't you get your bag of Rockdust from Cakebread's Garden Centre off the Soroba Road in Oban.

The first strawberries harvested today from plants growing right next to the Lynnside Community Garden.