Glasgow’s food-growing community is embarking on a project to ensure everyone can feel part of growing and sharing fruit across the city.
The Orchard Project and Glasgow Community Food Network have just received funding to enable the creation of a city-wide ‘orchard commons’ – a shared means of caring for trees and harvesting fruit for everyone’s benefit.
Fergus Walker, Glasgow and Strathclyde Project Manager for The Orchard Project (pictured above), says: “We’re imagining a Glasgow where fruit trees are connected through people, skills and shared care,” he said. “A flourishing orchard commons would mean communities knowing where fruit is growing, feeling confident to care for the trees, and working together so more of the harvest is picked, shared and celebrated locally.”
The project’s first phase will galvanise the community leadership, relationships and practical coordination needed to grow this approach over the next few years. Local people will help shape what this looks like, which could include everything from learning new skills to sharing surplus fruit and seasonal celebrations.
It will also support orchard planting and aftercare in areas of Glasgow and Inverclyde where communities have little access to tree cover and quality green space, and are more exposed to challenges such as heatwaves, poor air quality and climate stress. This will include planting new fruit trees, hedgerows, shelter belts and wildlife-friendly planting, helping to create greener, more resilient edible landscapes.
“This exciting project builds Glasgow’s capacity to use and share the massive variety of fruit trees already in the city for public benefit,” said Rod Sanchez, of Glasgow Apple Pressing. “It will help secure more fruit trees for future generations, and also build a culture of looking after these trees and the environment together, and of harvesting and sharing their seasonal bounty. That way of doing things is about looking out for each other too.”
Local Orchard Leaders will be supported to oversee volunteers and build the skills and confidence required to care for these spaces long-term.
“We’re bringing together food rights, tree equity and climate resilience in a very practical way,” added Fergus. “This works towards a vision of greener cities, where people can see trees, live in leafy neighbourhoods, and access good green space close to home. By uplifting local leaders now, we can help bring this to fruition and make the benefits of trees much more visible, useful and fairly shared.”
The work is supported by Future Woodlands Scotland, the National Lottery Community Fund and Glasgow Tree Lovers Society, with further match funding currently being sought to help this community-led network take root across more areas.
If you’d like to find out how you can be part of this exciting project, come along to the in-person launch on Saturday 15 August at the Pyramid at Anderston. Reserve your free place at Glasgow is an Orchard Commons.