Posted under Meetings & events
The next meeting of the Friends of the New Mills Community Orchard will be on Thursday 13th May 2010 at 7.30pm at The Queens Arms. All are welcome.
Please note that we are meeting on the second Thursday of the month in May. We usually meet on the first Thursday, but have changed the date because of the election.
The Queens Arms is at on Church Road at the junction with Union Road. Here’s a map.
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!
