The easing of the lockdown restrictions in July allowed us to start our communal work mornings, although all members maintained social distancing. We were able to continue weeding the forest garden and fruit beds and grass cutting continued.
We now have a butterfly trail for our younger members and visitors to explore. All they have to do is search for the butterfly pictures, but where are they hiding?
Members have continued to visit the orchard throughout the summer and we were delighted once again to be included in the Garden Trail organised in aid of the Community Centre.
The open spaces allowed us to plan a route around the orchard enabling our visitors to visit safely. Some or our families even brought a picnic and made the most of their visit.
As usual, we had lots of help from our members, a big thank you to them.
Despite all the upheaval of the recent months we have still managed to carry out all of the jobs in the orchard whilst following Government guidelines. The orchard has been a peaceful breathing space for our members.
Grass has been cut, the fruit tree and soft fruit beds have had a much needed weed and the Forest Garden Project has continued.
Our wild flower meadows are in full bloom again. The plugs planted by the Rainbows and Brownies several years ago are also thriving.
The blossom on the fruit trees have survived the cold nights and windy days and made the most of the warm spring sun.
Photos courtesy of Zam Tea.
The warm weather we have been enjoying recently has encouraged our fruit trees to blossom. The scent of apple blossom fills the summer evenings. One of our members recently took a stroll around the orchard to photograph the trees in bloom.
Photos courtesy of Zam Tea
The Orchard has survived another winter safely and the trees in March began to show welcome signs of Spring and possible warm days to come! The catkins on the nut trees began to show and rhubarb is always one of the earlist fruits to appear in the Orchard.
The orchard is a haven for wildlife and we often come across visitors during our work sessions.
Despite the damp, rainy October we have been experiencing, we were lucky to have a sunny morning for our annual apple picking and juicing day. Despite the poor crop of apples we were able to pick enough to share with the orchard members and produce some bottles of juice.
Although the apple crop may have been disappointing this year we have had a bumper crop of hazel and cob nuts.
Lanchester Community Orchard 