We are holding another orchard work day this coming weekend - if you're free it would be great to see you. We will be on the allotment site 12-4 on Saturday 29th May. As its been so dry - and therefore the ground is very hard, we won't be concentrating on digging (unless you are very keen!) but there is plenty to do at the bottom end of the orchard which wasn't worked on much last year.
Hopefully there will be a skip on the allotment site which we can use to dispose of any rubbish unearthed during the day. We'll be tacking bramble that has sprouted (digging it out if its possible), clearing away the remnants of an old building and general clearing of the very bottom end of the orchard which has been used as a dumping ground over the years.
If you're able to spare and hour or two it would be great to see you. If you're just curious to see how things are shaping up please come along - you can see all the trees that were grafted at our grafting workshop in March - most of them have taken - which is very encouraging, as we were all novices at grafting.
Call me (Debbie) on the day if the gate isn't open - 07960 713 018 - and I'll come let you in. You can find us on Plot 49 (past the community plot on the far right hand corner of the site) Seymour Grove Allotments, off Warwick Court, Kings Road (Warwick Court is next to Kings Road Primary School).
Debbie
Grafting News
The 40 trees we created at our workshop in March are almost all growing. I've been surprised by the speed with which this has happened. One of the new trees, a variety called Lord Suffield is also flowering.
I thought this was astonishing, but our local Northern Fruit Group expert, Peter Nichol tells me that its very common. It all depends on the type of wood you have on your scion (the bit you take from a tree and join by grafting with the rootstock). If its got fruit buds on it (rather than growth buds) it will flower - even though its just a twig. We just need to rub any fruit off so they don't grow on.
Other news - we had a work day on the early May bank holiday and got a lot of work done. Some of the twice dug ground is going to be used by volunteers who don't have an allotment to grow a few crops that will be finished by Nov-January when the trees will be planted.
Last weekend we took advantage of a skip on the allotment site and disposed of all the debris that had been dug up (plastic, glass, rubble) - so the plot looks much tidier now.
I thought this was astonishing, but our local Northern Fruit Group expert, Peter Nichol tells me that its very common. It all depends on the type of wood you have on your scion (the bit you take from a tree and join by grafting with the rootstock). If its got fruit buds on it (rather than growth buds) it will flower - even though its just a twig. We just need to rub any fruit off so they don't grow on.
Other news - we had a work day on the early May bank holiday and got a lot of work done. Some of the twice dug ground is going to be used by volunteers who don't have an allotment to grow a few crops that will be finished by Nov-January when the trees will be planted.
Last weekend we took advantage of a skip on the allotment site and disposed of all the debris that had been dug up (plastic, glass, rubble) - so the plot looks much tidier now.
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