A colourful and well maintained community garden open to anyone. People can come along to help look after the garden and harvested vegetables are put out for people to take away. Community groups can request a raised bed for their members to look after. The adjacent church regularly puts on coffee mornings where refreshments are available.

Cared for by:
Acomb Methodist Church

Things to help out with here:
Planting vegetables and flowers. Harvesting crops etc

The space around the church has mature and young trees, a wildflower meadow and short cut grass. One Oak in particular is several hundred years old.

Cared for by:
Heslington Church

Informal parkland, divided by an asphalt pathway that links Foxwood with Woodthorpe. Mainly grassland edged on 4 sides by mature trees. A wildflower area is under development and snowdrops appear in late February followed by daffodils in spring. Sloes and blackberries appear later in the year. No swings or slides for children but there is a single goal post. Some park benches have been provided by Foxwood Residents’ Association.

Cared for by:
City of York Council and the Foxwood Residents Association Volunteers

Things to help out with here:
Litter picking, pruning, nettle & bramble control
Volunteers meet at Foxwood Community Centre garden, Saturday mornings 10:30 till 12:30 mid March to mid October

Fulford Community Orchard is what remains of the old orchard that originally belonged to Naburn Hospital. Many of the trees were planted some ninety-plus years ago. When the hospital was demolished in the 1980s to make way for York Designer Outlet the orchard was neglected and uncared for. Later saved from development, over fifty trees have survived (a mixture of plums, damson, pear and apple). They have become the basis of a community orchard for Fulford.

There are volunteering sessions here in the afternoon of the second Sunday of every month to manage the meadow area.

Cared for by:
Friends of York Community Orchard

Things to help out with here:
Fruit picking and site management

A small area of woodland of mixed trees including fruit trees and also a wild flower meadow. Used by the local schools for Forest School and by the local community. The Friends organise events throughout the year and always welcome new volunteers.

Cared for by:
Friends of Danesmead Wood

Things to help out with here:
Litter picking, maintenance of footpaths, maintenance of specific areas such as wildflower meadow

We have extended the embrace of Holgate community Garden to the green known as Holgate Dock (historically it was used to “dock” animals being herded to market in York) where, working with the children of St Paul’s Primary CE School, we have planted a perimeter of 8 fruit trees (3 plums, 3 dessert apples, and 2 crab apples) underplanted with a wildflower sward, as well as underplanted the established cherry trees on the Northern perimeter of the green with herbaceous perennial wildflowers, such as primroses and red campion, and a succession of thousands of native spring bulbs: snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), dwarf daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), and English bluebells (Hyacinthoides nonscripta).
Dogs are not allowed in this space.

Cared for by:
Holgate Community Garden (voluntary group of local residents)

Things to help out with here:
Apple and plum picking, litter picking, scything…

Holgate Community Garden came into being in Spring 2014: a community effort to transform a neglected park into a vibrant, life-enhancing space for anyone to come enjoy and for the community to have the opportunity to grow edibles and participate in gardening.

If you were to visit the garden today you could expect to see a jubilant, pollinator-friendly garden, all organically managed, with year-round interest and a wide variety of edibles grown in 6 new raised beds; flowering climbers rambling up new pergolas with lots of bird feeders frequented by long-tailed tits, blue tits, and robins; lots of nasturtiums, giant artichokes, and sun flowers; a herb and currant bed in its seventh year of establishment; a south-west facing wall with six-year-old espaliered apples and a variety of raspberry canes; 8 young fruit trees dotted through the garden (a plum, a gage, and several heritage apple varieties); the “Babby Oak” tree planted by local school children in the heart of a very small wildflower meadow entering its third year of establishment; and lots of children playing on new play equipment or picking and eating fresh herbs and veg, often making creations to proffer at their improvised cafe “The Ginger Cat” (named after local cat Ziggy, a regular at the garden)—collection and deliveries available from the window of the stationary wooden train.

Cared for by:
Holgate Community Garden (voluntary group of local residents)

Things to help out with here:
Weeding, watering, planting, raking, litter picking, pruning, scything…

Drop in Sessions:
Last Sunday of every month 3-4pm

Edible flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables have been growing here since 2011 and the soil is getting better and better as the seasons go by! Everyone is invited to taste a leaf or pick something to take away when it is ripe and ready to go. The bed is well harvested and we are delighted that people just take a little, leaving food for others to enjoy later.

This larger triangular bed opposite the Black Swan pub was converted to growing vegetables by Edible York in March 2011, having previously been a shrubbery. It was taken on following the success of the first Barbican Beds in 2010.  In 2011 other beds were created. You can read about the early days at Peasholme Green in this article in the York Press

Anything growing is there for picking – wait until ripe and take small amounts from several plants.

Volunteers meet at the bed Wednesdays 5.30 – 6.15pm. Everyone is welcome regardless of gardening knowledge. Support, gloves, and tools will be on hand – enthusiasm is the key ingredient!

Bootham Stray is an important part of the historic landscape of York and a link to the surrounding farmland. There is a great sense of space but the busy Wigginton Road, cutting through the stray, makes this a piece of countryside in the city.

There is more than 100 acres of grassland, with large parts grazed by cattle.`

Cared for by:
City of York Council