Springtime in the orchard

A glorious morning in the orchard for our working party today.

3 way orchard visit - 15th May

On Sunday, 15th May we'll be visiting Baslow Jubilee Community Orchard and Tideswell Community Orchard, before welcoming members of those groups to Bradwell Community Orchard. Members will be aware of this from recent e-mails, so please do get in touch if you'd like to join the visit.

Spring in the orchard

Despite some recent frosty mornings, spring has definitely sprung in the orchard...

January - time to wassail!

Today's working party saw a hardy group of seven turn out to undertake some pruning. We also applied a grease band to all the trees to stop moth caterpillars climbing into the trees in the spring. And, as it was our January working party, we also wassailed the orchard in the hope and expectation that our labours will be fruitful.

Apple Day at Dick's Yard

Many thanks to all those that helped out in any way for yesterday’s Apple Day. It was a great success with lots of interest from villagers and visitors alike. 

We made just over £170 from the sale of apples, jams, chutney, herb pots, delicious crumbles, tray bakes, cakes and the ever popular freshly pressed apple juice. Demand was so great that we had to go back to the orchard to pick even more apples for juicing.

We had a great display of many of the orchard apples thanks to all those that picked and stored the mountain of apples we harvested this year. There are still plenty of apples in the orchard which can be picked as they ripen in the coming weeks. 

Many thanks again for everyone’s hard work. 

Apple Day!

Join us to celebrate Apple Day this coming Saturday:

Saturday 16th October 2021

12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m.

Come and celebrate Apple Day at Dick’s Yard (by the traffic lights)

See, taste, and buy many different types of apples; bags of apples from the Orchard for sale; enjoy a glass of freshly pressed apple juice; homemade cakes, jams, and jellies for sale.

Calling any local beekeepers!

We have had bee hives in the orchard almost from the day the orchard began. These have been looked after by a couple of different beekeepers over the years, and more recently we have hosted some hives on behalf of another beekeeper. She has now moved on, and so we currently have no hives in the orchard. Space for hives is at the top of the orchard, and the orchard can accommodate up to five hives. So if you are (or know of) a beekeeper who would like to put hives in the orchard, please get in touch!

Harvest, and Apple Day on 16th October!

At our last working party, we were busy harvesting apples, plums and damsons in readiness for Apple Day. There are still some trees where the apples are not quite ready yet, so there will be more apples to enjoy before long. We'll be marking Apple Day this year on:

Saturday 16th October 2021

12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m.

Come and celebrate Apple Day at Dick’s Yard (by the traffic lights)

See, taste, and buy many different types of apples; bags of apples from the Orchard for sale; enjoy a glass of freshly pressed apple juice; homemade cakes, jams, and jellies for sale.

Late summer tidying in the orchard

The grass has been cut (and, just as importantly, raked up). More yellow rattle seed has been sown, and the area marked off. This should weaken the grass over time.

 

August in the orchard

Despite our earlier misgivings, most of the trees in the orchard have at least some fruit, and some are very well laden.

Court Pendu Plat, a very old French variety which has always been a rather small tree, has never borne so many apples.

The orchard is generally looking well. Today's working party was busy summer pruning and starting to harvest the apples from our Beauty of Bath trees.

Bradwell Gala

A big thank you to everyone who helped make our stand on the field at Bradwell Gala today such a success!

Wild flowers in the orchard

Happily, the orchard has a wide range of wild flowers but recently we were pleased to support the village wildflower project by setting aside an area where plants could grow on to be transplanted around the village at a later date. Melanie has kindly sent us a couple of photos of this work in progress.

Extra working parties on Saturdays

This year, the grass has grown exponentially and we've had a further infestation of tent moth caterpillars. We've therefore scheduled a couple of extra working parties. These are on Saturdays in addition to our usual working parties on the second Sunday of the month, and the next two are on Saturday, 24 July and Saturday, 21 August.

June working party and Midsummer picnic

Our June working party was kept busy strimming and cutting grass round the trees, reducing the number of fruitlets (well, where there were any) and looking for any tent caterpillars. Regrettably, we found a few, and so we're having an extra working party this coming Saturday, 19 June, to carry on from where we left off on Sunday. 

A few members also joined the working party for the midsummer picnic in the orchard.

May working party

Spring may finally have sprung... quite a few trees are showing the impact of the recent frosts through April, but there's also a fair amount of blossom to be enjoyed, with more hopefully to come.

April working party

Many thanks to all those that turned out for the April work party last Sunday. We were very lucky with the weather which was quite mild and sunny. It was great to finally be able to get together safely and resume working in the orchard.

Paths have been mown/strimmed back into the grass and the orchard is looking very well cared-for. There are flowers peeping up all over – primroses, celandine, wild daffodils, dandelions (of course!) and even signs of yellow rattle starting to grow which is great news. The new wildflower areas were cut back and prepared to give the flowers the best chance of being successful. 

Most of the trees are in bud, and leaves and early blossom should  be appearing soon. Seaweed meal has been applied around all the trees and compost spread around most of them. The soft fruit bed was weeded and chicken manure pellets scattered around the bushes. 

A thin green ribbon has been loosely tied around trees to identify those that have been allocated to individual members to look after. If anyone else would like to have one or two trees to look after, please let us know and we’ll get them allocated. 

During the lockdown, some new tree stumps have been placed around the picnic area, replacing the plastic crates. The crates have been retained to give us a little bit of extra height when trying to net the trees etc.

The old pallets and rotten wood which had been piled near the compost clamps were taken to the fire area and burnt.  There were loads of fallen twigs from the large ash tree which were collected up and also disposed of on the fire. The warmth of the fire was very welcome when we stopped for a break but the swirling smoke which seemed intent on attacking each of us in turn was less so!

The orchard is looking in good shape so far - which is great news considering the issues we had last year. Many thanks to all of you who came and helped out individually during lockdown. I’m sure that the good health of the trees now is down to the extra care given by so many of you over a number of months.

Hopefully things will continue on a positive note for all of us and we can have a successful harvest this year.

Take care all.

Working parties to resume

In line with current Covid restrictions (and in common with other voluntary conservation groups) it has been agreed that our work parties can now resume, subject to Covid guidelines listed below. The next BCOG working party will therefore be on Sunday 11th April from 10am at the orchard site off Michlow Lane. 

Key tasks for the work party this time are: 

• Check for and remove caterpillars from all trees
• Apply seaweed meal around the fruit trees and soft fruit
• Spread compost around the fruit trees after seaweed meal has been applied
• Weed soft fruit bed
• Spread soil from molehills 

Useful tools will be:

• Garden fork
• Wheelbarrow
• Trugs 
• Trowel and hand fork
• Rake

If you can make it, please come along. And just a reminder of the rules we need to adhere to so that we can safely enjoy working in the orchard  as a socially distanced group, once again.  

No-one should attend work parties if they feel unwell or if anyone in their household has symptoms of Covid-19

• Social distancing of at least 2 metres must be strictly adhered to by all work party attendees
• Work back to back or side by side rather than face to face
• Members must bring their own tools and equipment. No tools or equipment should be shared
• Members must bring their own food and drink for break times
• Tasks will be assigned to specific people at the start of the work party to reduce the number of people mixing
• The lawn mower and strimmer are to be wiped down with antibacterial wipes before and after use. Only Steve Taylor and David Harson are permitted to use these machines
• If anyone begins to feel unwell during the work party they must go home as soon as possible
• If anyone develops symptoms of Covid-19 after the work party, please inform Bridget as soon as possible
• If First Aid is required during the work party, try to assist at a safe distance from the casualty. Where possible advise the casualty what to do themselves

January working party

Updated

We have decided that the working party scheduled for this Sunday, 10 January 2021, should not go ahead. We would hate for anyone to be put at risk so for now we will suspend all work parties again until further notice.

Happy Christmas

Despite the pandemic, St Barnabas Church has once again hosted a Christmas tree festival, and the orchard was delighted to take part again. We wish everyone a very happy, peaceful and safe Christmas.

December working party

We have decided that our work parties can resume, in line with other voluntary conservation groups. Our next BCOG working party is Sunday 13th December from 11am at the orchard site off Michlow Lane. Please note that we will start one hour later than usual as there is less to do in the winter months.

Key tasks for the work party this time are: 

• Weed soft fruit bed
• Prune shelter belt especially near compost bin
• Spread soil from molehills 
• Prepare ground near seating area for wildflower planting

Useful tools will be:

• Trowel and hand fork
• Trugs 
• Secateurs
• Loppers
• Shears
• Garden spade
• Rake

If you can make it, please come along. And just a reminder of the rules we need to adhere to so that we can safely enjoy working in the orchard  as a socially distanced group, once again.  

• No-one should attend work parties if they feel unwell or if anyone in their household has symptoms of Covid-19
• Social distancing of at least 2 metres must be strictly adhered to by all work party attendees
• Work back to back or side by side rather than face to face
• Members must bring their own tools and equipment. No tools or equipment should be shared
• Members must bring their own food and drink for break times
• Tasks will be assigned to specific people at the start of the work party to reduce the number of people mixing
• The lawn mower and strimmer are to be wiped down with antibacterial wipes before and after use. Only Steve Taylor and David Harson are permitted to use these machines
• If anyone begins to feel unwell during the work party they must go home as soon as possible
• If anyone develops symptoms of Covid-19 after the work party, please inform Bridget as soon as possible
• If First Aid is required during the work party, try to assist at a safe distance from the casualty. Where possible advise the casualty what to do themselves

November working party cancelled

In line with the new restrictions that come into force from Thursday, we have decided that the November work party should be cancelled. There’s not much that needs to be done at this time of year but if any member fancies spending a few minutes in the orchard there are a couple of things that could be done at any time:

• Weeding of the soft fruit bed 
• Pruning the shelter belt near the compost bins

Hopefully we’ll be ok again to have the December work party, but please watch this space.

October colours

Today's working party continued with autumn tidying, and picking the remaining fruit. It hasn't been a great year, sadly; a combination of late frosts, caterpillar infestations and the weather oscillating between hot and dry in the early part of the year and heavy rain later has all had an impact. Ironically we've had more pears than probably ever before, but totally unusable - all split, small and hard. Plenty of colour to enjoy in the medlars, though!

Looking tidy in the orchard...

Steve and David have mown the orchard, and many hands made light work of raking up the grass - a big thank you to everyone involved. And the compost bin is full too!

September working party

 

Sunday's working party saw various tasks being tackled in the orchard, from weeding and pruning the soft fruit through to extending the space for our espalier trees. Woodhenge is coming on nicely...

Few trees have much fruit this year, sadly, due to late frosts. However, Ellison's Orange and, seen here, Pitmaston Pineapple do have a few apples on them.

Working parties to resume

We are resuming our (outdoor) working parties from Sunday, 16th August, 10:00-12:00 in Michlow Orchard.

Obviously we need to look after each other and abide by the Covid-19 guidelines, and we have carried out a risk assessment. In particular, if you are thinking of coming along to any working party, please read the guidelines on the "Forthcoming Events" page carefully. 

Wet, wet, wet...

Bridget went up to the orchard earlier this week and thankfully most trees are looking a lot better than they were. The rain has obviously been a big help and the application of seaweed will also have been very beneficial.

Many thanks to those of you that have been removing the tent caterpillars. They had spread to almost all of the apple trees so the orchard has taken quite a battering from them. Bridget didn’t notice any on the pears or stone fruit trees. Over the past couple of weeks she has removed 4 trugs full of caterpillar-infected leaves and we know others have been doing the same. Bridget only found one tree with ‘tents’ so fingers crossed that we’re on top of them now.

Many thanks, too, to those of you that have volunteered to look after specific trees in the orchard. We have 47 trees in total and there are still a number of trees that have not been ‘adopted’. If you would like to volunteer to keep an eye on one or two trees while we are unable to hold work parties, please let Bridget know.

As would be expected given all the problems we’ve had this year, only a few of the apple trees have any fruit – and then just a handful on each tree. Some of the pear trees have measly looking fruitlets but let’s see how they develop.

Turning to the soft fruit, there are gooseberries on the bushes, some of which are ready for picking now so please help yourselves. The blackcurrants, red currants and white currants are all doing well and should be ready in a couple of weeks or so. The rhubarb is probably done for this year. It suffered in the drought so will be recovering well now we have the rain, building up reserves for next year’s crop.

We will not have anything from the stone fruits this year unfortunately. The disease, frost and drought were too much for anything to develop.

When Ellie joined Bridget in the orchard the other week, she suggested some tasks that we may want to consider once we’re back to regular work parties. Hopefully we’ll soon be back to those work parties, having a break around the seating area and catching up with all the local news!

May update...

Bridget popped up to the orchard yesterday to see how things are. The temperature was 19 degrees at midday but it felt cooler than that as it was cloudy and breezy. Many thanks to those of you that have been weeding the soft fruit bed, cutting the paths through the grass and varnishing the wooden signs. It all looks lovely.

Much of the blossom has gone now but the quince blossom (see top photo) looks lovely hidden in the dip at the far end of the orchard. The hawthorn bushes are covered with May blossom and the elder trees in the shelter belt have started to flower too. The espaliers are all doing well and even the Court Pendu Plat now has leaves!

Some of the trees suffered frost damage from the other night but we’re sure they will recover. We think we have lost most of the cherry fruitlets though, and some gooseberries, but the bushes still have a lot of healthy fruit growing so we should be ok for a good harvest. The red, white and blackcurrants are all doing well and more rhubarb will be ready for harvesting soon.

It does look like we have problems with some of the trees. The 3 pear trees all seem to have pear leaf blister mite. The books say that this should not affect the harvest significantly but we should treat the trees against this mite in the winter

The damson has an infestation of aphids but I don’t think this will cause any real problem as it’s growing well.

Something seems to be eating leaves on a few of the trees – in particular the original Egremont Russet and the Victoria plum. Bridget didn’t see anything obvious but we have some lacy looking leaves! Some trees have some kind of a powdery mildew on the leaves, including the Lord Lambourne and particularly the Ribston Pippin which looks a bit sickly unfortunately.

The wild flowers are springing up all over  the field – lots of buttercups, Jacobs Ladder, cow parsley, purple clover, vetch and meadow saxifrage. It is especially pleasing  to see lots of Yellow Rattle again which has started to  flower. It is noticeable that the grass is much shorter in the areas where Yellow Rattle is growing, which was one of the reasons we chose to sow it.