Bowling Park Community Orchard

We had a productive day the orchard, encouraged by the occasional warmth of the sun and a feeling of spring (in truth these moments were short lived, the wind was fairly bitter and we needed to keep busy to be warm).

We completed almost all of the winter pruning of the apples and pears, with the exception of checking the trained fruit for any disease or damage that will need removing. A few of the trees have areas of canker, and we took the decision to remove a branches from Kidd’s Orange Red and Peasgood Nonsuch, as much to see how they respond as they both have disease in the lower trunk that we cannot remove. A few of the trees, in particular the Allington Pippin and Winston are very crowded. They have a growth habit of lots of twiggy branches. We removed a fair few branches but on our next visit we guess it will be hard to tell that we had done anything.

Blackcurrant, redcurrant, gooseberry, rhubarb and strawberries were planted in beds. Encroaching plants were removed from the boundary near the Egremont Russet and the cornus was cut back at the top of the site.

The last of the stored apples were distributed and we talked about the orchard’s forthcoming 10th birthday, which we will formally celebrate at blossom time on 3rd May.

Today we worked with 11 volunteers.

Today we prepared the site for the forthcoming Apple Day 2012. There was much work to be done. This included cutting the grass areas, digging over the the vegetable growing beds, replacing the post for the shelter's sail, cutting hedges, constructing the compost bins and harvesting. Check out the harvest record. Luckily there was 24 people on site at one point, so the tasks were divided amongst us and we got down to the work. At the end of the day the work had been largely completed and the site was ready to host another apple day event.

Today we worked with 12 BEES volunteers and 8 from Forest of Bradford.

Click here to see other photos of the day.

Today was the day to enjoy the tree blossom in the Orchard.  It is a picture to see fruit blossom in full bloom. And today although it has been better we were treated to a good display. Unfortunately the cold weather made us less appreciative. Nevertheless, two groups from Bradford College, two from Bowling Park Primary, a group from a community orchard near Settle and the BEES volunteers enjoyed the day’s activities.
The college groups prepared and sowed seeds in two of the growing beds. Then they joined in an art activity, which was to make picture inspired by the day which will be made into an outdoor collage. The school groups carried out a minibeast hunt, pond dipping and planting seedlings in the vegetable bed. The group from Settle enjoyed the site. Meanwhile the BEES volunteers, started constructing new compost bins, summer pruned, weeded areas and mowed the grass. All of which improve the site. Being an open day there was plenty of homemade cake for the visitors.
Today we worked with 15 volunteers.
Click here to see other photos of the day.

Many people braved the rain to enjoy Apple DayApple Day 2011 was another successful event. Despite the inclement weather - rain most of the afternoon with gusts of strong wind that were a challenge for the gazebos - the event was busy with initial estimates of around 400 visitors.

Horticultural questions ranged from 'how do I plant my apple tree?', 'Can you help me choose which to buy - an Egremont Russet or a Blenheim Orange?' (BO chosen as it will give a longer harvesting season when taking into account the other trees on the plot), to 'I've moved into a house and cut down an old apple tree, is this alright?' (I'm not sure what answer was given!). Martin was also able to help us with a few issues we have in the orchard, from a badly diseased Fiesta (and Lane's Prince Albert) to overcrowded trees that need restrictive pruning. The guidance Martin has provided will be added to the management plan for the orchard for the forthcoming year.

A banner for the orchard was made as part of the art activities, along with badges and purses using old bottle tops, apple wood and juice cartons. The more foolhardy had a go at apple bobbing, as if they weren't wet enough already. The longest peel produced an extraordinary result - 3.8m (I think). Whilst the apple used was admittedly large it was the technique that impressed - a knife was used to score the apple before peeling. The 'peeler' was from Oregon, USA. We are obviously being taught the wrong things in school.

Plenty of cakes, salads and hot savoury meals were consumed and diners were entertained by local band The 309's. Fresh juice was pressed from apples donated by Bradford Fruitshare, and about 20 varieties of apple were on sale. Unfortunately Yorkshire Orchards suffered frost this year so had no apples, however we purchased fruit from Park Fruit Farm in Essex who have consistently high quality fruit which is produced in an wildlife friendly orchard.

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped on the day - without whom we could not run the event - and who worked hard in advance to make chutney, jam and food for the cafe.

 See more photos here