Have you ever wanted to breed a new apple variety? It might seem like a daunting task, but if you have a few low-cost items, a lot of patience, and a fair bit of space, it’s something many of us could do.
James McDuff from Ystwyth Valley Apple Breeders explains how: www.youtube.com/watch?v=84CP...
Three young boys in primary school uniform stand around a young fruit tree in their school grounds. They are all wearing gardening gloves. One of the boys is watering the tree with a red watering can.
A group of primary school children walk along a path through the school grounds, following a little girl pushing a wheelbarrow filled with red watering cans.
Aftercare is a crucial part of orchard management for trees to have the best start. We can tell St David’s will have an impressive orchard in no time thanks to these young gardeners! 🍏 Huge thanks to Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation and The Julia Rausing Trust for funding these tools.
A group of primary school children in blue school uniform crouching and sitting around a metal wheelbarrow filled with red watering cans. They are smiling.
Every budding orchardist needs a good set of tools, and children at St David’s Catholic School in Swansea couldn’t wait to try out theirs! 🧤🌱 With gloves on and wheelbarrows at the ready, the children are taking great care of their new orchard, watering the trees with our project manager, Kate.
A large group of people stand in an open green space. It is early spring and there are no leaves on any of the surrounding trees. A person in a green The Orchard Project hi-vis jacket points to a location in the distance.
Manchester project manager, Joe, helped the local community plant new fruit trees at William Wroe Meadows. This is an exciting restoration project working towards nature recovery on a site which previously had a mature orchard. 🌿 #CommunityOrchards
This is a wonderful way to protect young trees if there is no risk of damage caused by grazing deer or dogs looking for the perfect stick to chew. In other environments with higher risk of tree damage, you may need more robust metal tree guards. Would you try this type of tree guard in your orchard?
Joe sourced these sustainable materials, with coppiced Hazel from an ancient woodland in Stroud used as the stakes, and Willow from the Somerset levels woven to create the barrier. The school also have their own Willow garden if they want to add to the structures in the future!
A willow and hazel tree guard.
The Orchard Project guiding primary school children how to make a tree guard from willow and hazel.
Using more natural materials in orchards can be a beautiful and sustainable way of protecting young trees. Children at The Gates Primary School in Bolton created hurdle-style tree guards around their newly planted trees with our Manchester project manager, Joe.
A man in a puffer jacket and bobble hat holds a young tree while a boy helps to move soil into the planting hole.
Three boys in black jackets grinning at the camera while planting a tree with a mural in the background.
A young girl moves mulch around a newly planted tree with a mural in the background.
We spent a wonderful afternoon planting a new #communityorchard at the Calder Street Oasis in Govanhill, Glasgow with children from nearby Holy Cross Primary School and Hollybrook Academy.
It's great to see communities come together like this to make a difference 🍏
📷️ Image 2: L Vroomen
A group of people outside in early spring stand around a table and observe buds on pruned branches.
A group of women pruning a fruit tree in early spring
A gorgeous spring day at Down To Earth in Swansea. We had a brilliant time working with this social enterprise's staff team, taking them through hands-on tree care, orchard surveys and management plans. #CommunityOrchards
Yellow lollipop grafted onto an apple tree branch with grafting tape with a pink one in the background higher up the tree
Yellow lollipop grafted onto an apple tree branch with grafting tape
Pink lollipop grafted onto an apple tree branch with grafting tape
We’ve taken it upon ourselves to graft a new variety of fruit tree that will provide sweet treats all year round, and we’re proud to announce the results! It’s sweet, bite-sized and you can even have a 🍒 and a 🍋 on the same tree like this one - what's not to love?
#CommunityOrchards #AprilFoolsDay
Here, here! Never enough room for the many benefits of orchards 😅
Gorgeous 💚
Black and white headshot of actor Mark Rylance, smiling
Pink apple blossom on a tree
“English apple blossoms always lift my spirit. My grandfather dreamed of having an orchard when he was a prisoner during WW II; it helped him to have hope and survive. Apple trees & orchards are not just for fruit, they are for our mental health and our joy all year long,”-our Patron, Mark Rylance
Grey plate with bread on and assorted foraged spring greens on top
🌱 We're big fans of adding foraged foods to our lunches at The Orchard Project! Education manager Jo's spring green finds for today's meal included wild garlic, land cress, shasta daisy, ox eye daisy, fennel, apple mint and chives 😋 #FoodForests #CommunityOrchards
🙌
Woman in a blue outfit snuggled into a dug out pond, smiling in the sunshine
Does the arrival of today's Spring Equinox make you feel like this? 💚
Student Hannah couldn't resist creating a nest in the earth while digging out a new wildlife pond at Mayow Park in London last year. We loved the sheer joy in this image so much, we just had to reshare it!
#CommunityOrchards
There are many people like us already working to make the UK's food system more resilient, but we need to do more to join up the dots. Find out why we're supporting proposals for a Good Food Bill: www.theorchardproject.org.uk/news/the-goo... #CommunityOrchards
@foodfoundation.bsky.social
🍏 We’re looking for a Development Programme and Network Co-ordinator to work with our growing network of freelance orchard consultants.
More details and to apply 👉 www.theorchardproject.org.uk/about-us/job...
Deadline: 23 March.
#CommunityOrchards #GreenJobs #EnvironmentalJobs
We normally have a mix of hazel, hawthorn, crab apple etc. 😊
Volunteers planting the native hedge.
Volunteers with spades planting the native hedge.
Volunteers adding tree guards to newly planted fruit trees.
Volunteers have added more fruit trees to Kenfig National Nature Reserve in Wales, led by our project manager, Witchhazel, and freelance orchardist, Mary. The team also planted a native hedge to help increase habitat value in the area and act as a windbreak. #CommunityOrchards
Kate with students.
Great to see Pengelli School Eco Club and School Council joined by volunteers from the Friends of Golden Grove Park and their local councillor to plant the Golden Grove Orchard with Swansea project manager, Kate. #CommunityOrchards
Hope it didn't put them off coming back again 😅
Front cover of a book - Gardens that can save the world - with a view of plants from above on it
Inside of a book with photos and text
We're proud to be featured in this inspirational collection of garden projects that are making positive change in the world: Lottie Delamain's Gardens That Can Save The World @dauntbooks.bsky.social
That was a rhetorical question, right?!
Chris definitely knows his tools! He was a great collection 😊
Group of people looking at tools on a mat on the ground
#Edinburgh project manager Chris showed local volunteers how to care for their orchard, on an old bowling green site in Prestonfield, which included the best tools to use for pruning.
Check out our guide if you're pruning this week 👉 www.theorchardproject.org.uk/guides_and_a...
#CommunityOrchards
Haven't come across that one - will check it out - thanks!
Thanks for thinking of us - we can't help in this instance unfortunately though 🙏
Dr Elaine Ingham in front of a microscope
On #IWD26 we pay tribute to Dr Elaine Ingham, groundbreaking US microbiologist and pioneer of the regenerative agriculture movement, who died last month. Her approach to #soilhealth influenced how we teach & plant our orchards today
👉 www.theorchardproject.org.uk/blog/iwd-tri...
#CommunityOrchards
With your impressive collection, we wouldn't know where to start either 😅