Task Reports

Constructing paths around the apple store.

Volunteers continued the task of preparing the hew hardcore area outside the apple store. They transported four tonnes of hardcore from the site entrance to the orchard, before and laying and compacting the hardcore in the area dug out the previous week. 

Volunteers worked really hard today to dig out the foundations for a new hardcore area around the apple store. This will make the ground more robust in bad weather and safer in periods of heavy use such as Apple Day, or with school groups. Other tasks included weeding and tidying/ renovating an old raised bed.

We sowed a variety of wildflower seed harvested mainly from Bowling Park Community Orchard and the UNR. Volunteers also sowed sweetcorn, tomatoes, beans and leafy crops such as spinach and chard, as well as weeding and tidying the site. 

We  sowed some wildflower seeds   in the meadow and planted wood anemone and dog violet plugs in the woodland and cleared  and weeded the site. 

Winter tasks for the orchard include pruning fruit trees and soft fruits, coppicing, transplanting plants and hedge laying.

If you would like to join us please  meet us at the orchard, or be at Culture Fusion ready to set off by 10am, we will be travelling by minibus if it is back from the garage, or walking if not. 

If you would like more information please get in touch. 

We added some crush and run  to our prepared revetment area by the pond platform and defined paths in the woods, to reduce straying from them and erosion of the woodland.

We  prepared an area around a new pond platform and created paths in the woodland.

Volunteers did a fantastic job pruning the hedges around the orchard and preparing a sunny area for planting with hops. We also started clearing some Flag Irises that had firmly taken root, out of the pond. 

This was our second visit to Northcliffe pond this year. We dug out enough silt and mud from the pond to clear a large channel and allow a small waterfall to run at either end of the pond where it meets the stream.  We barrowed the silt to the banking of the woodland and spread it in as natural a way as possible to break down into the woodland soil. Fortunately the weather stayed fine for us as we carried out this at times strenuous task. 

Volunteers worked really hard to  complete the  meadow management and pond clearance tasks, leaving the site prepared for the winter months. We did some pond dipping and saw newts,  damselfly nymphs and a leech among other things. Our recent new volunteers have shown flair for using scythes, so we got the task completed in good time manually.