Tranent Wombles case study: a forest garden for Foresters Park

Who are we?

Tranent Wombles began during lockdown to tackle the issue of litter and flytipping with a mixture of organised group and individual litterpicks. Since then, we have collected over 5500 bin bags of litter and have started taking action to make Tranent more biodiverse and wildlife friendly.  This has included adopting patches of mown grassy areas from East Lothian Council and planting them up for both pollinators and people.  We’re a community group of volunteers living in Tranent, and we work with other organisations and businesses to give the town a bit of environmental TLC.

What’s our Forest Garden?

Following the success of the Pollinator Parklet and the Saloo Bed on Lindores Drive, the Wombles identified a relatively unused patch of green monoculture just along the road at Foresters Park and approached East Lothian Council.  The Amenities Department were as helpful as ever listening and adding to our ideas and we then teamed up with the Heugh Community Garden and East Lothian Play Association to make a successful application to the Tyne and Esk Rural Communities Development Fund to develop a forest garden, work with schools and purchase bins and litterpicking equipment.  We named the project ‘The Green Belters’, and we also received funding from the Area Partnership’s Fa’side Climate, Travel and Sustainability group. 

Forest gardens are a dense and diverse but low maintenance type of planting, usually involving food production, and we thought this might work here.  It would make a small contribution to increasing Tranent’s tree canopy cover (at 16%, the second lowest cover in East Lothian after Prestonpans).  And growing fruit and nuts would also be a useful resource and link to our rich fruit-growing history.

Then…                                                      

 

And now…

How did it happen?

We started with a public consultation event onsite and agreed a design.  With the Pollinator Parklet’s log stump edge being so popular for children to walk along, it was decided that a longer log stump path should feature, as well as an accessible path and somewhere to sit.  A willow tunnel leading to a wildflower meadow was also planned.  For the planting, we went mainly for locally supplied native varieties of trees, shrubs and herbs.  Strawberries, primroses and sweet violets were planted for edible ground cover and local varieties of apple were chosen, such as East Lothian Pippin and Bloody Ploughman. 

Planting for Biodiversity and Amenity

Working with East Lothian Council (ELC), we adopted two small plots on Lindores Drive and named them the Pollinator Parklet and the Saloo Bed. The Parklet was a triangle of unloved land with loads of potential – covered in patchy grass with stone walls on 2 sides. The Saloo Bed was a brick bed that had been left to get full of weeds and was a magnet for litter and anti-social behaviour. ELC were fundamental in helping us prepare the Parklet for planting for rotavating the site and removing the stumps and laying our beautiful path that takes you through the Parklet.

Pollinator Parklet

We purchased tree ‘whips’ from the Woodland Trust and herbaceous perennials from MacPlants. The following trees were chosen as they provide pollen, berries and nuts over the calendar year:

 – Blackthorn produces creamy-coloured flowers and blossoms around March.

 – Crab apple trees grow sweetly scented blossoms in April to May.

 – Rowan’s creamy-white flowers emerge from May to June.

 – Hawthorn produces white flowers that appear from around April to June.

 – Dog rose has large pink or white flowers that blossom from May to August.

 – Hazel trees grow yellow male catkins and small bud-like female flowers.

Lots of people were involved in planting these up. In spring 2023 Wombles volunteers planted trees and flowers with an emphasis on native species to encourage bees and other pollinators. We have a beautiful bench that is enclosed within a natural arbour.

Our Planting

Saloo Bed

The Saloo Bed (so called because of its position between the Salvation Army Shop and the public loos) was designed in a naturalistic style to provide an oasis of calm in contrast to the busy adjacent thoroughfare along side. We wanted to create a garden which would complement the majestic birch tree growing behind the black security fence using plants which would establish quickly.  It was important that plants used were robust, drought tolerant but fragrant and beautiful to look at.  

List of plants:

  • Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
  • Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
  • Purple Sage (Salvia officanalis ‘Purpurascens’)
  • Yarrow (Achlliea ‘Moonshine’) 
  • Aliums
  • Feverfew (Tanacetum Parthenium) (Donated)
  • Climbing spinach (Donated)
  • Globe Thistle (Echinops bannaticus ‘Taplow Blue’)
  • Gay Feather (Liatris Spicata ‘Floxistan Violet)
  • Turkish Sage (Phlomis Russeliana)
  • Lungwort (Pulmonaria angustifolia ‘Azurea’ )
  • Corn Flower (Centaurea ‘John Coutts’)
  • Firehorn ‘Orange Glow’ (Pyracantha ’Orange Glow’) (Donated)

Volunteers

The Tranent Wombles rely on a hard-working, resilient bunch of volunteers. Volunteers that come in all ages and from all over Tranent. Some volunteers help every week, some less often but all of them get involved as they want to make a difference to the town they live in. Sometimes its hard work being a Womble but all of us find it rewarding and are proud of the difference we make.

Volunteers get involved with litter picking, planting, visiting schools, committee meetings, fundraising, looking after our website, telling stories about our changing world…it’s a long list! If you have a particular skill you think could help us please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you. Why not email us at tranentwombles@gmail.com

Funders and Supporters

We are really grateful to all our funders, fundraisers and sponsors for all the kind donations. Thanks in particular go to Iain Wood Engineering for our wonderful Wombling Free bench, Derek and Alastair for the log stumps from North Esk farm, Caledonian Horticulture and MacPlants for discounted plants. The Heugh Community Garden volunteers made the arbour and helped lay the stumps. Thanks to the Fraser Centre for their support and encouragement!

The next generation!

Tranent Wombles are linking with local primary and secondary schools and are passionate about linking with the next generation. We have supported litter picking in school grounds and spoken to children and young people about the importance of looking after our town and our planet using storytelling as the medium to engage.

We also had a poster design competition – one of the results is below. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s fantastic!

Our very own Womble (and Church Eco-Group member) Russell has used his storytelling skills at the Heugh Community Garden.

We have worked closely with the East Lothian Play Association (ELPA) and carried out activities alongside their successful Spark in the Park events at Lindores Drive. This has allowed children to get involved with planting and explore our Parklet – our stumps are a wonderful play resource as well as providing a bug friendly home!

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