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.
Making progress
Our last work day (4th September) was very productive. Many thanks to everyone who came and helped. We had 8 people working hard. A new volunteer, Ayla helped dig up potatoes planted to use the ground while we get ready for planting in the winter. We hope to see her again at another work day (and hope you enjoy those potatoes)!
Our grafted trees are growing well too - so well that their tags needed adjusting, as the girth of their stems had grown so that the tags were squeezing the bark.
We have a community day on Friday 17th September when Wates Living Space will be coming to the community orchard to work with us on laying a path and fencing. The fencing which will be used to plant some of the grafted trees.
For some photos see the Work Days page.
Our grafted trees are growing well too - so well that their tags needed adjusting, as the girth of their stems had grown so that the tags were squeezing the bark.
We have a community day on Friday 17th September when Wates Living Space will be coming to the community orchard to work with us on laying a path and fencing. The fencing which will be used to plant some of the grafted trees.
For some photos see the Work Days page.
Work Day Saturday 4th September
We will be having a work day from 2 pm on 4th September in preparation for having the path and fencing work done the following week. Do come along if you can spare and hour or two.
Apple Day Celebration October 16th
OTAGS will be hosting an Apple Day on October 16th from 12-3 pm. This is a new event which we hope will become regular, with apple tasting and juicing (using our new apple press). After the success of the See More Trail at our Open Day in August we will be running another See More Fruit Trail as a way of encouraging people to walk around the site - with a series of fruity clues to entice them.
Fruity pies and cakes (baked by plotholders) will be sold along with the usual refreshments.
As always we need people to help make this happen. If you'd be interested in helping on the day please get in touch debbie.ellen@gmail.com!
Where: Seymour Grove Allotments, Warwick Court, off Kings Road (next to Kings Road Primary school), M16 0JG.
When: Saturday October 16th 12-3 pm.
Fruity pies and cakes (baked by plotholders) will be sold along with the usual refreshments.
As always we need people to help make this happen. If you'd be interested in helping on the day please get in touch debbie.ellen@gmail.com!
Where: Seymour Grove Allotments, Warwick Court, off Kings Road (next to Kings Road Primary school), M16 0JG.
When: Saturday October 16th 12-3 pm.
Open Day - 14th August 2010
Old Trafford Amateur Gardeners' Society is holding an Open Day on Saturday 14th August at Seymour Grove Allotments, celebrating National Allotments Week. Come and see the orchard!
Our gates will be open from 12-3 pm . You can find us on Warwick Court, Off Kings Road, Old Trafford, M16 0JG (Warwick Court is beside Kings Road Primary School)
On offer on the day:
Seasonal produce donated for sale by plotholders (subject to availability given the dry conditions this season - so come early!)
Home made cream teas, with allotment jams
Car Boot Sale
"See More" Trail for kids
Take a walk around our allotment site, see how our gardens grow
Find out about the Community Orchard - get involved!
Enjoy some quiet family time in the fresh air
All proceeds from the day go to Old Trafford Amateur Gardeners' Society to run the allotment site.
Our gates will be open from 12-3 pm . You can find us on Warwick Court, Off Kings Road, Old Trafford, M16 0JG (Warwick Court is beside Kings Road Primary School)
On offer on the day:
Seasonal produce donated for sale by plotholders (subject to availability given the dry conditions this season - so come early!)
Home made cream teas, with allotment jams
Car Boot Sale
"See More" Trail for kids
Take a walk around our allotment site, see how our gardens grow
Find out about the Community Orchard - get involved!
Enjoy some quiet family time in the fresh air
All proceeds from the day go to Old Trafford Amateur Gardeners' Society to run the allotment site.
June and July work days
We have organised two more Community Orchard work days in June and July. If you haven't been down yet it would be great to see you. Also, if you have family or friends who are interested in growing fruit who might like to get involved in the project please let them know about the work days - as we want the project to be open to people who live locally.
Dates for diaries:
Saturday June 19th 2-6 pm
Saturday July 3rd 2-6 pm
NB If its pouring down then we won't be there. If in doubt, give me a call on 07960 713 018
Directions: plot is in the far right hand corne of the allotment site. Access is via Warwick Court gate, off Kings Road (next to the primary school). If the gates are shut please ring me and I'll come and let you in - 07960 713 018.
Progress is being made; during the last work day (well on the Sunday as the Saturday was rained off) we worked at taming some of the long grass and a particularly dedicated volunteer spent hours digging out all kinds of rubbish from the bottom end of the orchard (9 wheel barrows to be precise, from an area about 3 ft by 13 ft), taking advantage of a skip provided by OTAGS for the whole allotment site that weekend.
We have also planted some crops in the top half of the orchard where the ground has been dug numerous times, removing the mass of bindweed and couch grass. Also, a couple of dedicated volunteers have been offered some space for one growing season to use ground that would otherwise have lain fallow prior to planting trees there next winter.
Hope to see some of you on the orchard soon!
Dates for diaries:
Saturday June 19th 2-6 pm
Saturday July 3rd 2-6 pm
NB If its pouring down then we won't be there. If in doubt, give me a call on 07960 713 018
Directions: plot is in the far right hand corne of the allotment site. Access is via Warwick Court gate, off Kings Road (next to the primary school). If the gates are shut please ring me and I'll come and let you in - 07960 713 018.
Progress is being made; during the last work day (well on the Sunday as the Saturday was rained off) we worked at taming some of the long grass and a particularly dedicated volunteer spent hours digging out all kinds of rubbish from the bottom end of the orchard (9 wheel barrows to be precise, from an area about 3 ft by 13 ft), taking advantage of a skip provided by OTAGS for the whole allotment site that weekend.
We have also planted some crops in the top half of the orchard where the ground has been dug numerous times, removing the mass of bindweed and couch grass. Also, a couple of dedicated volunteers have been offered some space for one growing season to use ground that would otherwise have lain fallow prior to planting trees there next winter.
Hope to see some of you on the orchard soon!
Orchard News
Debbie was invited to speak at the Garden Organic Annual General Meeting on Saturday 22nd May. She told people about the community orchard and the meeting was very interested in our hopes and aspirations. There was a lot of interest shown in our efforts to grow trees from scratch, a process known as grafting.
This is what is done if you want to be sure to create a tree with the same characteristics as another. So for example, you have a tree on your allotment plot that is disease free and very productive, but you don't know what it is, as the tree was already there and not labelled. To make a new tree you graft (join) a cutting from the tree you have with the rootstock of a disease free plant to make a new tree. Using rootstock like this means you'll be sure to get trees that are a suitable size for your location.
In March 2010, we held a grafting workshop at our allotment site and made around 60 trees. Some were taken by participants to plant elsewhere, but the majority were planted out on the orchard. By early May most had taken - which means we have lots of trees to plant along the fence line as horizontal cordons in November-March.
29th May Work Day
The Saturday was a bit of a wash out - but a few of us made a day of it on Sunday instead. There was a skip on the allotment site and we dug out 9 wheelbarrows worth of rubbish, rubble, glass, and metal from the bottom end of the orchard. Its a bit like an archeological dig - you don't know what is going to be discovered next!
We hope that the worst of the rubbish has now been removed and future work days will be about tackling weeds instead. Watch this blog for details of up and coming work days.
This is what is done if you want to be sure to create a tree with the same characteristics as another. So for example, you have a tree on your allotment plot that is disease free and very productive, but you don't know what it is, as the tree was already there and not labelled. To make a new tree you graft (join) a cutting from the tree you have with the rootstock of a disease free plant to make a new tree. Using rootstock like this means you'll be sure to get trees that are a suitable size for your location.
In March 2010, we held a grafting workshop at our allotment site and made around 60 trees. Some were taken by participants to plant elsewhere, but the majority were planted out on the orchard. By early May most had taken - which means we have lots of trees to plant along the fence line as horizontal cordons in November-March.
29th May Work Day
The Saturday was a bit of a wash out - but a few of us made a day of it on Sunday instead. There was a skip on the allotment site and we dug out 9 wheelbarrows worth of rubbish, rubble, glass, and metal from the bottom end of the orchard. Its a bit like an archeological dig - you don't know what is going to be discovered next!
We hope that the worst of the rubbish has now been removed and future work days will be about tackling weeds instead. Watch this blog for details of up and coming work days.
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