eleanorthegardener

Rainbows, Brownies and Guides hunt for bugs and plant some trees!

On Tuesday 18th June and Thursday 20th June, the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides paid a visit to help with some planting and to hunt for bugs.

The Rainbows took part in a bug hunt finding slugs, snails, frog hoppers and an unusual scorpian fly.

They then planted a brambley apple tree with the help of Steve Bailey. They are planning a return visit to check that how much it has grown.

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The Brownies followed the Rainbows and helped to plant two more brambley apple trees. They also did some amazing team work and planted 156 wild flower and herb plugs into larger pots ready for planting out in September. Their final job was to plant herbs in the forest garden.

The Guides visited on Thursday evening and planted two crab apple trees. They finished the evening around a campfire, toasting marshmallows and singing songs.

Glorious wild flower meadows

If you have a few spare minutes please call into the orchard to enjoy the glorious wild flower meadows. There are carpets of colour all around the trees to be enjoyed. Look out for yellow rattle, clovers, buttercups, vetches, plantains and grasses.

April showers bring forth Mayflowers!

The rain and a little bit of warmth during April and May has allowed the wild flowers in the orchard to blossom. Vetch, Speedwell, Wild Red Cover and Lesser Stitchwort are creating a carpet of flowers under the trees. Well worth a visit, especially on a sunny day.

Planting our new Fig Tree

We have recently planted a Fig Tree in our new Forest Garden. Fig trees need their roots contained or they won’t produce a good crop of figs. A bucket was sunk into the ground and stones put in the base. Figs need a warm, sunny spot to grow and the forest garden is in an ideal position. It will be interesting to watch the fig tree grow over the next few years and to pick our first crop of figs!

Spring Time

The orchard is now beginning to blossom with the slightly warmer weather and longer days. The fruit trees are producing blossom and some of our Spring flowers are appearing. The Marsh Marigolds in the ditch are a splash of yellow.

It’s not all work!

Our latest work morning was held on a chilly but sunny April morning. It was too damp to start the grass cutting, however, there was plenty of weeding to do in the fruit beds and new forest garden.

Please don’t think that it’s all gardening though. Coffee breaks are a good time to get together and someone usually brings along something home baked to share. This time it was cream scones and Jostaberry Jam, made with Orchard jostaberries from last summer.

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If you enjoy gardening and home baking why not join us on our next work morning to find out more. Please see the ‘What’s on’ section of our website for the work morning dates.

Earth Hour March 30th 2019

earth hour 2019 We were not quite so lucky with the weather for this year’s celebration of Earth Hour! However, the rain stopped and a still evening with not wind meant that we could sit out around the brazier. The skies were mainly cloudy, but towards the end of the evening, the clouds began to thin and we could see some stars.

Our young orchard members had a brilliant time running around with their tourches enjoying the experience of playing in the dark. They were really interested in the star gazing and very knowledgable.

As usual, there was some lovely food to share and mulled cider. Thanks to all who joined in to celebrate Earth Hour 2019.

If you would like to find out more about Earth Hour then please visit the website by clicking here.

BBC 4 Apples: British to the core

A few weeks ago, horticulturalist, Chris Beardshaw presented a programme devoted to apples. He uncovers the British contribution to the history of our most iconic fruit and sees how 20th-century British scientists helped create the modern mass-market apple. If you missed this or would like to watch this again then please click on this link. BBC 4 Apples: British to the core.

You can also read an article based on this programme if you click on this link, British to the core

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Installation of our new information board

As part of our grant application, we wanted to create a welcome board to help our visitors make the most of their walk around the orchard. A huge thanks must go to several of the orchard members who led this part of the project. This involved consulting all members about the design, gathering information and quotes and designing the board. The board was made by the Lion Mouth Community Interest Company and thanks to them for the good job they made of the mounting.