Orchard update – Sept 2023

After giving the plum trees a serious prune in April this year, we were a bit worried about how they would do this year and are not expecting a great crop. However, they have surprised us by being covered in blossoms. The photo above shows the Wilson’s early tree with a Monarch butterfly on it. The other plum tree is also now in blossom.

Apple trees are just starting to flower so we have sprinkled some Neem granules around the base of the apple and pear trees to try to deter the codling moth. We also made a cocktail of molasses, apple cider vinegar as per this video from Organic Edible Garden to attract the male moths so we’ll see how many we catch this season. We haven’t done this before so not sure how successful it will be but it’s worth a try.

Tulips, daffodils and other bulbs have been bringing some beautiful colour to the orchard and we’ve been preparing tyres around the boundary of the orchard in which we will grow more herbs and flowers. We usually grow courgettes in the tyres but this year we are expecting a drought so may try to keep all vegetables within the garden space to reduce the workload for the watering gang.

All of the grapefruit trees produced huge numbers of fruit this year. We’ll be looking to prune the trees soon. The Abyssinian banana grove is expanding and the leaves are proving very useful in the garden for covering plots and when they dry up, they are cut up for the compost.

The seagrass/sand pile that has been sitting for a couple of years now is slowly being excavated and the sand/seaweed mixture moved over to one of the bays inside the garden. The kikuyu grass had been enjoying it but now it’s time to make use of it. It’s hard to cut up so much kikuyu so it’s been turned into a hot compost pile which will then be added into the other compost gradually as it breaks down.

Garden update Aug-Sept 2023

The garden thrived over winter with mild temperatures and no frosts. Seedlings were a bit slow to come up though so all of the crops we normally have during winter are only just becoming ready now. Lettuces however did very well throughout winter and are only just now starting to flower and go to seed as the warmer weather comes. The photo above shows volunteers Helen and Gilles at the August working bee inspecting the broccoli plot.

The heavy rain meant that the bottle covers we normally use to protect new seedlings like broccoli and cauliflower could not be used because the rain caused soil to splash up over them making them opaque to sunlight. Quash was also not helpful because with all the rain, it didn’t last long enough. So, instead, we used a border of dead leaves from the macrocarpa, which are very prickly and that seemed to deter the slugs and snails long enough for the plants to get going. We also put borders of netting around some of the plots and then removed them when the plants were looking strong enough to survive.

Beetroot, cauliflower and broccoli are now ready to eat and celery isn’t far behind. The asparagus has started putting up spears, garlic is growing fast and the red onions are starting to look good too.

We’ve been busy pulling out old crops and clearing weeds so that we can prepare more plots for summer crops. After clearing them and adding compost and sheep pellets, we are covering them with Abyssinian banana leaves to keep the nutrients in. Even when the leaves dry out, they are protecting the plots from drying out and weeds.

Fruit tree pruning 2023

None of the fruit trees in the community orchard were pruned in 2021 or 2022. In 2021, we had an amazing crop of apples and pears but the apples had a lot of codling moth in them. Plums were OK as well. However, in 2022, we got no plums at all, possibly due to a cold snap that happened just as the trees were in full blossom. The apples and pears also did not produce any fruit. So, we decided that we should prune the trees this year.

The plums were pruned on 8 April by following advice from Kath Irvine of Edible Backyard as per her videos, first determining the shape (vase in this case) then the framework and finally how to prune the individual branches. Kath’s advice was clear and easy to follow but the plum trees did look very different at the end and I was a little concerned that I might have gone too far. However, the trees had got very tall and were at risk of damage from people climbing them and shaking them as most of the fruit was very high up.

The photos below show the plum trees before pruning. As you can see, there were many branches that were just going straight up and many that were very spindly.

The photos below show the trees after pruning. They do look a bit strange (like aeroplanes) but hopefully will recover and do well.

We pruned the apple and pear trees a week later on 15 April and this time we were lucky to have the guidance of one of our volunteers Ollie, who came down and instructed us in how to go about it. We had to prune the height back as well as many of the internal branches as well as removing any diseased or damaged branches.

The photos below show 2 of the apple trees and one pear pear tree before pruning. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

The photos below show how two of the apple trees looked afterwards. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

These photos show the pear trees after pruning. Click on the photo to see a larger version.