Feb and March Work sessions in 2012

February and March are busy times for orchards in development.  We've organised some work sessions as follows:

Jobs and dates

Constructing apple arches in the middle of the orchard                Sunday 19 Feb and/or Sunday 26 Feb
Do further prep of ground for trees (esp. by the bakery wall)      Sunday 19 Feb and/or Sunday 26 Feb
Plant trees and other fruit on the orchard                               Sunday 4th March and/or Sunday 18th March

Because its often frosty first thing these sessions will run for a couple of hours from 12.30-2.30 - as hopefully by then the temperature will have improved some.
 

We can't promise to have any hot food for sharing, so please bring something with you for lunch.

 

If you're thinking of coming along for the first time please call or email so we can let you know if we cancel the session due to weather conditions.

 

Email: orchard49 @ otags.org.uk

Call: 07960 713 018

Hope to see you there.

 

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.

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.

January Work Days

We are planning to have three work days in January to get trees planted. We will be on the orchard on 22nd and 23rd January between 11 and 2 pm and again on 29th January between 11 and 2 pm.

Laura Mackay is making soup for the 22nd/23rd January sessions, so do come along. If the weather is very poor please give Debbie a call on 07960 713 018.

By way of inspiration, here is an artist's impression of the orchard - we need your help to make it so. Thanks to Julie for doing this great artwork.

Autumn Progress

Its been a while since anything was written here. There has been a flurry of activity on the orchard plot, thanks to Community Payback. There was a team of people helping to clear the plot over a period of 2 months. This has made a huge difference and leaves us with more than half of the area dug over once. There is plenty more digging to be done, but the really hard work has been done on part of the plot. This means we will be able to plant trees in the tree planting season should we get good news on our funding bid. We expect to hear next week, so fingers and toes crossed.

Thanks to the Community Payback team for their work.