Work session 21 July 2014

We were 6 yesterday for the work session.  It was a glorious warm sunny evening to be outside. We had a fair bit of weeding to do due to the OTAGS strimmer being out of action. Damien and Nicklaus (visiting WOOFer from Austria) got stuck on at the back of the orchard pulling bind weed out and tackling the weed growth.

Abi noticed that the raspberry plants which were only planted in March had some fruit on them, so we picked those and shared them at the end of the session.  Debbie also picked some blueberries, these plants are still in pots until we build a raised bed for them where we can use ericaceous compost.  These were also very tasty!

Lots of work done and a group photo taken at the end of the session.  Thanks again to all: Abi, Damien, Debbie, Gemma, Lorna and Nicklaus.

Left to right: Abi, Gemma, Debbie, Damien, Lorna, Nicklaus

Lovely raspberries - some of them!

 Postscript

Last week's session included making a pond - which was great. Trouble was the plant transplanted from a nearby allotment turned out to be poisonous and mistakenly Debbie injested some and was quite poorly as a result... Lesson is, wear gloves when handling plants like Bog Arum. It is high in oxalic acid and even small amounts entering your bloodstream (don't know how it got in my system) will make you very sick.  4 hours in A&E to get checked out isn't a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon!  Here is a picture of the pond and the plant!

Pond and Bog Arum

Yes its small - the Orchard is all about what can be done in small spaces, so its a small pond. Lets see how long it takes for frogs to find it. We also sowed some phacelia and red clover in the area that had been dug.

Work session on 7th July

We were three this evening and got busy with:

• uncovering a mound of manure which had rather a large number of weeds growing in it
• more pruning of trees to encourage fruit buds to form (many more trees to do)
• pruning one of the grape vines (variety Brant for those interested in such things)
• finishing fitting tree protection to the trees on the fruit arch, so the trunks don't get strimmed
• weeding around the base of one of the large trees we inherited
• picking up quince tree leaves - to try and stop blight from re-occuring (Quince Portugal)
• taking some photos of some of the trees.  Mainly (Quince excepted) they are looking great and growing really well. 

Apple: Plot 52

Apple: Ladies Finger of Lancaster

Not all top fruit - Blackberry Chester

Apple: Withington Welter

Apple: Yorkshire Cockpit

Quince Portugal with blighted leaves

Quince Portugal without blighted leaves

 Thanks to Lorna, Pete and Debbie for their time.

Busy Busy work session

We had another busy work session on Monday 30th June. Two new volunteers got stuck into barrowing manure and compost into the raised bed that Pete had made the week before.  Great work by Gemma and Mark. Meanwhile, Debbie and Abi busied themselves pruning and training pear and trees growing around the fruit arch and the cherry trees that are against the bakery wall.

Lorna tackled protecting the trees that were planted to grow over the fruit arch with tree guard material so that they don't get damaged when the grass is strimmed. Oh and Abi also put up some bird feeders. Last but by no means least Claire popped in to say hello on route to the OTAGS committee meeting where she represents Orchard49.

No pics this time, but it was a lovely evening once more. Thanks to everyone!