The Orchard has woken up again and is still providing a space for exercise and fresh. Some of the trees are in early blossom and the catkins in the nut grove have appeared. Hopefully this late cold snap won’t cause the trees any problems!
The orchard proveds a variety of habitats for our native wildlife, but it’s not just the community orchard that attracts the creepers, crawlers and fliers. In the centre of the orchard is the thriving Margery Flatts Allotment Association. It’s not all vegetable growing, a few members also grow flowers. One of the allotment members has had a wonderful display of flowers and was able to catch some of the wildlife they attraced this summer on camera.
It is well worth a walk around the orchard at this time of year. Many of our trees are covered in apples and it is so easy to see how many different varieties of apples we are growning. The apples are all different colours, sizes, shapes and taste! Many are heritage apple trees and most of the apples would not be found on sale in a supermarket!
Hay making is once more upon us! Members meet on a lovely sunny September morning to wield the scyths. The forest garden also received some care and attention ready for the winter.
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.
Lanchester Community Orchard 