Tree Planting in The Community Orchard

Our second very successful tree planting morning was held today in the COCO (Conderton and Overbury Community Orchard).  We had to cancel the planned session last weekend as the ground was so frozen the nursery's couldn't get the trees out of the ground.  The forecast didn't look great but we pressed on and stayed dry all morning.  It total we planted 35 trees, a mixture of perry pears and cider apples, (not that we are all alcoholics you know), but it was traditionally this kind or orchard.  Varieties included Judge Amphlett, Blakeney Red and Moorcroft (perry pear) and Tom Putt, 10 Commandments and a few other cider apples. In the past the farm workers would have been paid in cider and they would have had a daily ration, so orchards were planted up to maintain this staple requirement.  

It was a great opportunity to meet up and spend a couple of hours chatting and getting some fresh air as well as contributing to the local landscape and providing interest and a wildlife benefit for the generations to come.

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.

Pears for your Heirs

Last week we started our programme of fruit tree pruning in the Conderton Orchard under our Higher Level Stewardship Scheme Capital works programme.  The orchard has had little attention for a number of years and the trees are very old and fragile, but really in need of some TLC to preserve their lives (and as a habitat) for as long as possible.  As this orchard is being used by COCO (Conderton and Overbury Community Orchard) I though that we would target those trees that were potentially unsafe and those that were already dead. 

After the dead trees had been re-modelled, the timber that was cut off, was left next to the trees. This meant that it would continue to provide a habitat for bugs, insects, beetles and fungi that were already present in the wood.  This re-modelling was aimed at making the trees more stable in high winds so that they would remain upright as long as possible.  Where wood was removed, say from a branch leaning right over, the stump was trimmed with a 'Coronete' cut to make it easier for insects to access the dead wood, as shown below. 

After the most urgent trees were trimmed up Tim and Simon from Treeessence (who did our pollarding earlier in the year), moved on to some of the living trees.  Again we were targeting those that had lots of top growth making them vulnerable to wind damage.  We have done 50 trees this year and we have the same amount to do for the next 4 years, so we should re-invigorate the orchard over this time scale.  It really is a great project to be involved with.  In the New Year we will be helping COCO plant some Perry Pears to provide fruit and wildlife for all of our heirs.