Posted under General interest & Meetings & events
Mark your calendars for the Sunday, September 19, from 2 pm to 4 pm for the New Mills Community Orchard Apple Day celebration. There will be a treasure hunt, face painting, stalls, pippin planting, and cakes galore! Fun for the family!
Come join in or just relax in the orchard.
Here you can see a few photos from last year’s Apple Day.
Posted under General interest & Management & Infrastructure & Press
We’re happy to announce that the New Mills Community Orchard has received a Green Pennant Award® as one of the best green spaces in the UK managed by a voluntary community group.
Eligible green spaces are judged based on how well they fit the following criteria:
Read more about the New Mills award here, where you can also vote for Best Green Flag Award® Site.
Congratulations, everyone!
Posted under Flora & Fauna & General interest & Pictures
The orchard is buzzing away with a new apiary managed by “bee man” Paul Wheeldon. We have two hives, both from local suppliers, and both busily occupied. Steve Lewis and the crew from the council very kindly constructed the protective cage around the hives.
The hives are placed so that the bees enter and exit through the side closest to the stone wall. This means that they should fly up and over the hives, and away from the ground.
The bees seem to be settling nicely into their new home, and we’re happy to have them here!
Posted under General interest
Part of our Breathing Places Lottery grant was allocated to buying orchard-related books. Rather than keep these solely for the use of the Friends of the Orchard, we decided to donate them to the New Mills Library (next to the Town Hall). They’re on a dedicated shelf in the library and anyone is free to consult these reference books.
Many of the books are available for purchase through our online Amazon shop.
Here are the books aimed at adults:
Several of these books are also reviewed at Orange Pippin, along with others that may be of interest. Happy reading!
Posted under General interest & Orchard care & Trees & Planting
On a sunny Sunday afternoon in March, we met to plant 29 rhubarb crowns of various varieties. We received a grant from the Mayor’s Charity Fund for these plants (Thank you!) Many hands make light work, so the crowns were quickly set into the ground.
Lots of helpers make fast work of planting rhubarb
While the crowns are still quite small, you can see them as soon as you walk in the gate — just look up to the right, through the willow planting.
Hard at work planting rhubarb
It’s important to remember than rhubarb needs to be left alone for the first year after planting. Roots need to develop before any leaves can be taken; taking leaves in the first year will weaken the plants. Next year, we’ll be able to harvest a few leaves from each plant, and the following year they should be well established.
So remember: Please don’t pick the rhubarb!
Thanks to all the volunteers, and to Steve Lewis and crew for staking the area for us (and for planting crown 30, which was misplaced temporarily!)
Volunteer rhubarb planters
Posted under General interest & Orchard care & Trees & Planting
Over several wintry Sundays in February, members met to learn the art of apple tree pruning. Alan Ruff, a local horticulture expert, very graciously demonstrated how to prune several trees. He then set us to work in groups, putting our lesson into practice.
The following Sundays saw various folks put their training to work. We pruned the apple and pear trees, as well as making a few cautious attempts on some of the other tree fruits. There were several amusing “conferences” — four or five of us looking at a tree together and deciding which branches to prune.
Alan checks our work
While we still have much to learn, we feel more confident than when we started. Thank you, Alan.
In March, Alan visited the orchard again to review our attempts to prune the trees. Visitors from the Bradwell Community Orchard joined us on the walkthrough. The picture above comes from their site — check them out!
Posted under General interest & Meetings & events
The Community Orchard’s owl mascot was officially named on 13 February. “Scrumpy” had his big day when he was named by young Tom, who came up with the name. You can see photos of the event on the orchard’s Facebook page. More pictures are available in Pat Stanway’s online collection.
In gratitude for his efforts, Tom was presented with a copy of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson.
Scrumpy, along with the other wood carvings on view at the orchard, was created by local artist Andrew Frost.
Posted under Documents & General interest & Management & Infrastructure & Website news
Posted under Fruit & Orchards & General interest
There’s an article in The Guardian about the orchard at the National Trust’s Cotehele estate. Click here to read.
Posted under Documents & General interest & Trees & Planting
Scrumpy
If you’ve not visited the orchard before, here’s a location map.
Here’s a full guide (PDF) to the trees at the orchard
