Vermont Fruit & Nut Tree Grant 2023
The Vermont Fruit & Nut Tree Grant focuses on increasing access to fruit and nut trees through plantings and related education at select community garden sites across the state. This grant program is a collaboration between the Vermont Garden Network (VGN) and the VT Urban & Community Forestry Program (VT UCF). Additional funding comes from Branch Out Burlington.
Congratulations to our 2023 Grantees:
- Central Vermont Supervisory Union Center for Integrated Permaculture
- Crossett Brook Middle School Garden
- Edible Brattleboro Help-Yourself Gardens
- Folsom Learning Garden
- Hardwick Community Garden and Orchard
- Middlebury Tree Committee
- Middlebury Union Middle School Food Forest
- Mill River High School Organic Garden
- Montpelier Community FEAST Farm
- Thetford Academy School Garden
- Town of Waterbury Community Gardens North
Goals of the Program:
- To support planting fruit and nut trees at community garden sites in Vermont.
- To prioritize planting of these trees at sites serving underserved populations.
- To ensure survival and proper care of these trees through grant guidance, educational offerings, and sharing resources.
- To develop and share success stories and best practices for community fruit and nut tree planting, care and use.
Fruit & Nut Tree Resources
Fruit & Nut Tree Selection Guide
Please review and consider the following guidance prior to applying, when deciding the appropriate species, size, and number of trees for your site.
- If these are your first tree plantings you’ll want to consider starting small, with 2-4 trees.
- Many fruit and nut tree varieties require a pollination pair – 2 trees/site (click here for pollination info).
- Consider your garden’s hardiness zone and match it to the hardiness of the species when selecting trees to plant (click here for hardiness map).
- Fruit tree spacing (above ground and below ground) is another consideration when determining the number of trees that will grow successfully on your site (click here for basic spacing info).
- For additional considerations check out this Site Assessment & Species Selection Worksheet. See below for more resources to guide your project.
Additional Resources for Fruit & Nut Tree Selection, Planting & Care
Websites:
- Upper Valley Apple Corps – Resources
- Tree Fruits (UMaine Extension)
- Fruit (UMN Extension)
- Cornell Guide to Growing Fruit at Home (Cornell Cooperative Extension)
- Back to Basics – Planting Fruit Trees (UVM)
- Tree Planting Guidance (VT UCF)
- Vermont Nursery & Landscape Association
- Fedco Trees – Selecting Plants, Plant Care, Library
Books:
- Landscaping with Fruit, by Lee Reich
- Paradise Lot, by Eric Toensmeier & Jonathan Bates
- The Community Food Forest Handbook: How to Plan, Nurture, and Organize Edible Gathering Places, by Catherine Bukowski
- The Fruit Gardener’s Bible: a Complete Guide to Growing Fruits and Nuts in the Home Garden, by Vermont horticulturists Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry
- The Holistic Orchard, by Michael Phillips
Congratulations to our 2022 grantees! And thank you for all you’re doing to bring more fruit and nut trees to communities across Vermont!
- Barton Community Giving Garden (Barton)
- Bellows Falls Middle School Garden (Bellows Falls)
- Champlain Elementary (Burlington)
- Champlain Housing Trust (Burlington, South Burlington, Colchester)
- Community Gardens at North Branch Nature Center (Montpelier)
- Conscious Homestead (Winooski)
- Edible Brattleboro Help-Yourself Gardens (Brattleboro)
- Feast Farm (Montpelier)
- Great River Terrace Community Garden (Brattleboro)
- Green Acres Community Garden (Barre)
- Guilford Central School Garden (Guilford)
- Highgate Library Community Garden (Highgate)
- Lamoille South Unified Union: People’s Academy & Morristown Elementary (Morrisville)
- Milton High School Garden (Milton)
- RuralEdge: Mountain View Housing & Island Pond Housing (St. Johnsbury, Island Pond)
- Rutland County Parent Child Center Community Garden (Brandon)
- Storyteller Garden – SUSU commUNITY Farm (Brattleboro)
- Vermont Farm and Forest School Learning Garden (Roxbury)
- Willowell Edible Forest Pathway (Monkton)
- Windsor Community Gardens (Windsor)