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| Apple - Burr Knot - Cordon Tree |
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| Apple - Laxton Superb - growing as a bush tree |
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| Apple Minshull Crab - cordon (its not a crab apple). |
Showing posts with label Cordon trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cordon trees. Show all posts
Open Day - 19th August 2012
OTAGS held an Open Day on Sunday 19th August. There were Scarecrows to see as well as pizzas from the new Cob Oven... and of course Orchard 49 to visit. Sadly we didn't have a brilliant day for it. But we were there and here are some photos I took of some of the trees that we grafted ourselves in 2010. You can see that they are with fruit. Two are being grown as cordon trees - trained to grow in a small space. In our case along the path fence line. Equally they could be grown along a sunny wall in your back yard.
We are very much learning about how to train the trees. So you can see with the minshull crab cordon we actually have two stems, as it grew that way, so we're letting ti grow along two stems rather than one. Peter Nichol from the Northern Fruit Group is helping us learn how best to train the trees.
Tool Maintenance workshop - 14th Jan 2012
OTAGS hosted a free tool maintenance workshop on Saturday 14th january in the pavilion. The funding for this was part of the Local Food grant from BIG Lottery. The session was facilitated by Mike Carswell from Urban Coppice.
Eleven of us learnt how to maintain tools, from garden shears to secateurs (these were the too most popular items for maintaining). What was surprising to me, was how relatively easy it was to restore a rusty pair of shears if you have half an hour and a few tools. We used three key things; a stiff wire brush, some wet and dry type sandpaper and a general purpose file (these cost about £5 and last for years if looked after).
For the shears, Step 1 was to take the shears apart - which was very straightforward.
2. Vigorously brush the shears blades with the wire brush to take off the worst of the debris (rust, plant material).
3. Take some sand paper and rub to take off more resistant rust (this didn't take long at all).
4. File the bevelled edge of the shears. This was the part that needs the skill/know how as doing it at the wrong angle will damage the sharp edge you're trying to restore. Mike showed us how, but I'm sure there are plenty of videos on the internet.
5. Reassemble the shears and put a drop of general purpose oil into the point where the shears join and work it in by opening and closing the shears.
6. Rub an oily rag over the blades if putting them away for winter.
Mike also talked to us about taking care of tools like hoes, garden forks and spades.
Thanks go to Mike for a great day and to Laura for suggesting the idea, for organising it and for making delicious soup and bread for lunch. Thanks also to Pete Abel for taking the photos.
Eleven of us learnt how to maintain tools, from garden shears to secateurs (these were the too most popular items for maintaining). What was surprising to me, was how relatively easy it was to restore a rusty pair of shears if you have half an hour and a few tools. We used three key things; a stiff wire brush, some wet and dry type sandpaper and a general purpose file (these cost about £5 and last for years if looked after).
For the shears, Step 1 was to take the shears apart - which was very straightforward.
2. Vigorously brush the shears blades with the wire brush to take off the worst of the debris (rust, plant material).
3. Take some sand paper and rub to take off more resistant rust (this didn't take long at all).
4. File the bevelled edge of the shears. This was the part that needs the skill/know how as doing it at the wrong angle will damage the sharp edge you're trying to restore. Mike showed us how, but I'm sure there are plenty of videos on the internet.
5. Reassemble the shears and put a drop of general purpose oil into the point where the shears join and work it in by opening and closing the shears.
6. Rub an oily rag over the blades if putting them away for winter.
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| Mike showing us how before we got stuck in. |
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| Laura filing one of her shears blades. |
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| Mike working some oil into shears after sharpening. |
Mike also talked to us about taking care of tools like hoes, garden forks and spades.
Thanks go to Mike for a great day and to Laura for suggesting the idea, for organising it and for making delicious soup and bread for lunch. Thanks also to Pete Abel for taking the photos.
Sunny November Orchard Work Days
We have had three Sunday orchard work sessions with clear blue skies in November. This has meant we've made great progress with preparation for planting in the winter.
We have the area along the fence line ready for more vertical cordon trees to go in (all apple) and the fence line with the bakery, the area around the fig tree have both been dug multiple times to get to grips with bramble etc.
Its looking good! Check when our next work session is happening on the Work Days page, or email orchard49 at otags.org.uk - we will add you to our mailing list and notify you about sessions.
We have the area along the fence line ready for more vertical cordon trees to go in (all apple) and the fence line with the bakery, the area around the fig tree have both been dug multiple times to get to grips with bramble etc.
Its looking good! Check when our next work session is happening on the Work Days page, or email orchard49 at otags.org.uk - we will add you to our mailing list and notify you about sessions.
Orchard Progress
It occurred to me that there haven't been many pictures of the orchard itself on the blog. Today was a barmy 23 degrees C sunny September day so I took some photos. They can be viewed via this link to our Picasa web album.
When growing young trees you are advised to take any fruit off the trees in their early years, so that the trees develop a strong root system. So, when you look at these photographs there isn't much to see, fruit wise. Hopefully though you'll see significant progress in how the orchard looks. We've lots of work still to do but we're getting there.
Here is a photo of the sign Trisha made for us.
When growing young trees you are advised to take any fruit off the trees in their early years, so that the trees develop a strong root system. So, when you look at these photographs there isn't much to see, fruit wise. Hopefully though you'll see significant progress in how the orchard looks. We've lots of work still to do but we're getting there.
Here is a photo of the sign Trisha made for us.
New Path and Fencing
On Friday 17th September OTAGS community orchard volunteers worked with Wates Living Space NW to lay a path and construct fencing for the orchard. We were lucky to have great weather on the day. For more on this see the Partnership Working page and the photos of the various stages of this job.
Thanks to all who took part.
Thanks to all who took part.
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