To You, 3 Years From Now
On Friday 23rd September students and staff gathered together for Kent’s Diamond Garden Planting Event hosted by the Sustainability Team at Kent. Kent’s Diamond Garden is a three-year project encouraging biodiversity at both our Canterbury and Medway campuses whilst celebrating the University of Kent’s upcoming 60th Anniversary in 2025. This aim will be supported by planting 300 fruit trees on the Southern Slopes of the Canterbury Campus, creating an orchard students, staff and the public can enjoy.
It will also provide a complex habitat that we do not already have on campus, to boost biodiversity in the area. Because orchards are mosaics of trees, grasses, shrubs and wildflowers, they support a wide range of wildlife. As fruit trees age quickly, they create the perfect habitats for invertebrates and birds, such as the lesser spotted woodpecker.
Dr Devin Finaughty from the School of Anthropology and Conservation represented the Division of Human and Social Sciences and the Division of Natural Sciences told us ‘The site is at the southern slopes of campus, accessible to the public and the vision is for it to be a wild orchard.’ He planted two trees – one cherry and one pear to represent the two divisions.
Students also joined alongside the divisional representatives, including incoming first year BA Human Biology and Behaviour students, who will be able to watch fruits of their labour grow over the three years they are studying at Kent.
Co-creation is at the heart of the project. The orchard space will incorporate distinct features, suggested and chosen by students, and will represent the six divisions. These could include seating areas, performance spaces, quiet areas, and anything else you can come up with. How should we make use of the space for HSS? Email sustainability@kent.ac.uk with your ideas!
We look forward to watching the orchard grow and sharing the space with students, staff and the wider community.