COMMUNITY ORCHARD PLANTING UPDATE
Community orchard planting update
The planting of the community orchard will take place on the morning of Thursday 21st March. During the day, the children from Sheepy School will carry out the planting of the trees starting from around 9.00am until around midday. Everyone is invited to come along to help with the planting or just to have a look and find out more about what’s involved.
The orchard will comprise ten fruit trees, including different varieties of apple, pear and other trees with edible fruits. At the start, the trees will be only about 1m (3-4 ft) high but over time will grow to a maximum height of 4m (14 ft). The young trees will have wooden stakes beside them to give them support and a ring of mulch at their base to provide nutrients and protection. A guard will also be placed around the base of the tree trunk. After the trees have been planted, more secure metal tree guards will be installed to give added protection to the trees. The installation of the guards will take place about a week after the tree planting.
Why are we having a community orchard? Parish Councils, Schools and other community groups are being encouraged to plant community orchards in public open spaces. The reason for this is that orchard trees offer benefits to the community and the environment. From a community perspective, the orchard offers educational opportunities, improved well-being, a chance to try a range of different fruits and social opportunities. For the environment, it helps protect our heritage varieties of fruit tree, increases biodiversity and contributes to tackling climate change.