Rye Lane orchard is an off-spring of Octavia’s orchard, a temporary installation by what if: projects using thirty-six wheely bins as planters for fruit trees and meadows outside the Royal Festival Hall. Octavia’s orchard was commissioned in 2013 by the Southbank Centre in collaboration with the National Trust and as part of the Southbank’s Festival of Neighbourhood the orchard was offered for adoption to community groups in London for their own grounds. In response to an application from Pocket Places Peckham, sixteen bins were donated and installed in Moncrieff Place, an bleak public space outside the Peckham Plex Cinema.

Working with a group of volunteers over a period of two weeks new seating¬ was made and painted in red and white stripes, sixteen metal wheely bins were filled with soil, fruit trees were planted and wildflowers sown.

Traditional recipes on how to make quince salami, crab apple pie or Rowan jelly can be found below the corresponding trees encouraging the use of local resources and locally grown food. Peckham was well known for its market gardens until the nineteenth century. Melons, figs and grapes were all grown here. With the lack of refrigeration, food had to be grown close to its final market and Peckham was ideally situated to provide produce for the large London market on its doorstep.

The planted wheely bins can still be found around Copeland Park, forming an enclosure to outside seating and providing a surface for the latest event poster.