In the garden we look to make the most of our resources. Nettles and comfrey are there for the taking and everyone says they make great free fertilizer so we thought we would see how easy, how practical and how productive compost tea might be to make and to put on the garden. We mainly used Joy Larkcom’s book “Grow your own vegetables” for advice. And the RHS book “Science and the Garden” has got a lot of the science behind how it all works. Both of the books are available from PLANT gardening library. Comfrey is a deep-rooted hardy perennial plant that thrives in light shade. It works as ..read more

By Donald Coutts I was brought up on a small highland farm. Our kitchen was often filled with the warm smell of fresh baked bread. Perhaps this happy childhood memory wedded me to the smell and taste of bread. I can sniff out a baker’s in any town or village! I remember walking halfway across Paris to the infamous Poulaine Bakery to buy some of their world famous sourdough bread. I brought the absurdly expensive loaf carefully through customs with great excitement. The next morning my gluttonous deerhound lurcher Brann ate the whole thing, including the rustic paper bag! On my first trip to N ..read more

I have just come back from the Garden with a handful of herbs to flavour my supper, after having a cheeky sit down on Bella’s bench to soak up the autumn sunshine. I’m not going to lie, saying goodbye at the end of this month to my day-to-day involvement with this fab space and its amazing people feels rather emotional after all this time. I’ve just looked up the dates and I can’t believe that I’ve been a part of PLANT since February 2014! That’s a little bit after PLANT formed as a group, but before we saw the Community Garden appear on the map. I still remember joining in at a committee mee ..read more

Above the recording from expert talks on the topic of how climate change is affecting the plants we grow for food which took place on the 22nd of February, and were organised by Tayport Climate Action Group. Session was chaired by Jan Davidson and we heard from the two speakers: Kate Treharne who is the Community Gardens and Allotments Officer for Dundee City Council, a Green Party candidate for the May Council elections and activist with Extinction Rebellion Kevin Frediani, the Curator of the Botanic Gardens and Head of Grounds at the University of Dundee, and 5-string banjo player. Both a ..read more

On 23rd May, Tayport Climate Action Group held an online session on the theme of Em-powering Tayport. This was the second of a series of talks on climate-related issues, with a focus this time on community-based solutions to energy needs. Speakers were Crispin Hayes, an Eco-Consultant who has been involved in Fife Community Renewables Initiative and Nicki Myers from Ovesco, who manages the ‘CommuniHeat’ to create a roadmap for low-carbon heating in the village of Barcombe in East Sussex. There were exciting ideas for the future, a lot of new information, including the importance of the Local ..read more

The summer harvest is in full swing and the Garden Gate stall is getting busier each week. The fruiting hedge has been very prolific this year and everyone’s been enjoying the raspberries, gooseberries, and currants. Janice even made some jam you can pick up on the stall along with all the other produce – on every Sunday, 1-3pm. Our first tomatoes are beginning to ripen and it looks like we’ll have a bumper crop. Our sweet corn is flowering in the polytunnel as well. We are growing using the three sisters method. This is an ancient method developed By Native Americans. We are growing ..read more

The garden is planted up and the crops are coming. Garlic and onions are first out of the ground, the salads are finally pickable after a very slow start and we have new beetroot and baby turnips ready for eating. The blackcurrants in the fruiting hedge and at Garvie Brae are ready – please do help yourself! Broad beans are filling their pods nicely and the courgettes and tomatoes are flowering. The pumpkin patch is planted up with squash and we’re trying some tomatoes there too, protected with a windbrake given the horrendous drying wind that comes through the Garden. In the polytunnel we ..read more

Now in its second summer, the forest garden is bursting with life. At this time of year the gardeners’ main task is to keep a balance between species that may compete for space. Although we follow the principle of gardening with, not against, nature, the principle of “survival of the fittest” doesn’t always come up with the outcome we want. That is why we recently had to cut down a large clump of dockens that were about to set seed to ensure the next generation would dominate the garden. And of course there is the never-ending removal of couch grass to maintain. In other developments we no ..read more

PLANT (People Learning About Nature in Tayport), a sub-group of Tayport Community Trust (TCT), is looking for a part-time Development Worker to deliver an exciting Fife-wide partnership project – Climate Action Fife, of which Greener Kirkcaldy is the lead partner. This ambitious 5-year climate action project has various themes, encouraging individuals, households, community groups and businesses to make Fife a greener and fairer place to live. PLANT takes the lead on developing climate-friendly gardens, engaging with other Fife groups to promote and share good practice. We are looking for an e ..read more

Update by Jan Davidson The new PLANT management committee met in the Larick Centre on the 23rd March, following our Annual General Meeting.  In the event, it was a very short meeting as we didn’t have keys to lock up!  However, we did manage to conduct our main business, which was to appoint a Chair and other officers of the Committee.  Under our Terms of Reference from Tayport Community Trust, we are required to have a Chair, a Treasurer and an Administrator. At the AGM, we had to bid a sad farewell to outgoing members. Margaret Robertson who was PLANT’s hard-working Chair and ..read more