First Trees Planted in the COCO

Today was the first ever planting day for COCO (Conderton and Overbury Community Orchard) and what a great day it was.  It started as a crisp sunny morning with brilliant blue sky and a light frost on the ground.  Derek and Gordon gave everyone a quick demonstration of how to plant each of the trees then armed with a map everyone grabbed their spades and set off in different directions to make a start. 

We started with 18" deep hole, filled it with a compost to act as a fertiliser, planted the tree, firming down the soil all of the time to ensure there are no air pockets.  After that a small stake was banged in next to the tree and a small strap attached to hold it firm.  More compost was applied, as a mulch to keep the weeds at bay and finally a plastic tree guard put around the tree to protect it from voles and mice.  It was wrapped up with a 6' mesh guard to stop sheep and deer nibbling the growing points then it was 'job done'.

10 cider apple trees where planted (5 'Ten Commandments' and 5 Tom Putts) and 16 perry pear trees (5 Blanckney Reds, 5 Moorcrofts and 6 Judge Amphletts) all within an hour and a half.  It was a great community effort, helped by the weather, but a great effort by everyone involved.  A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered, it's great to know the community spirit is alive and well in Overbury and Conderton.  After the planting some investigation of the new JCB was required by the engineers among us.

Pollarding Willows

One of the important roles we have as land managers in the countryside is to look after the trees around the farm.  Willow trees are part of the traditional landscape in this area and grow well in the wetter areas of the farm.  From time to time they require a bit of a hair cut as you can see from the picture above.  This tree is a bit overdue a trim.  Allowing these trees to grow tall can make them unstable when it is very windy, which can cause them to split off and fall down.  That in itself is dangerous, but the tree can then be exposed to disease entering the trunk through the split wood which may kill it.  These trees provide a great habitat with holes in the trunks which make for very good nesting sites and providing very early pollen supplies for emerging insects after hibernating through the winter.

We would usually be able to pollard the smaller trees with our own staff but when they get this big we need to call in the experts.  Here is Tim, suitably dressed with climbing gear bringing down the limbs of the tree one by one until just the two main trunks are left.  Simon and Tim are very skilled and soon safely brought the tree down to it's desired height.  The guys had a great day pollarding several of these massive trees.

Graham was on hand with our JCB loadall to help clear away the brash, ready for burning, and the cord wood (which we will dry out and use in our farm wood burners in a couple of years) . We have to move all of the material away from the stream as it can flood during heavy rain and these would very quickly dam up the stream further down.  The majority of the cord wood will be stacked in the field, away from the stream, to rot down over time to provide food and homes for many insects, fungi and small mammals.

Orchard Planting

Phase 1 of our Orchard Restoration has begun!  After a very hectic couple of weeks organising, planning and re-planning we have finally planted a few orchard trees.

For this first year we have chosen some 'Off The Shelf' varieties grown in Worcestershire as a starting point.  As a result of some research, in conjunction with John Clarke from The Kemerton Consservation Trust, we have chosen to plant the following apples: -  Adam's Pearmain, Ashmeads Kernel, Blenheim Orange, William Crump and Worcester Pearmain.

This year 50 trees are to be planted in two orchards around Conderton.  Once the spacing had been figured out (this came from Rob at FWAG's Orchard Report-see previous blog 20th Jan 2011) and the stakes hammered home the trees and tree guards are erected.  They should support and protect the trees for the next 15 years or so.  The main pests will be sheep and deer, rubbing and trying to graze through the mesh, and voles nibbling the bark on the ground.  Squirrels could also be a problem we will need to watch out for.  

A mixture of soil and mushroom compost is returned around the root balls.  This combination should provide a breakdown of organic matter that will provide nutrients for the young trees.  This organic matter should also help retain moisture for longer periods of time through the summer.

A generous helping of bark chipping has also been applied within the tree guards to stop grass weeds from competing for moisture and nutrients

I guess in reality once the trees are planted the hard work will begin.  There will be annual pruning to encourage the trees to grow upwards and out from the top of the guards.  This pruning won't start for another 12 months or so which will allow a little bit of time to read up on the subject and maybe even get some training!  For the time being though we can assess the trees development through their first year and look forward to some tasty eating and cooking apples in the years ahead!