Creating apple orchards

Spin harvesting our Peasgood nonesuch apples 2016

This blog tells how we come to have around about 250 fruit trees at Highbridge Community Farm of which more than 200 are apples of over 60 different varieties.

The Pondside orchard was planted in spring 2011 by the author with young trees that had been grown from seed or had been grafted onto M106 rootstocks and reared in his allotment. The author was learning about growing fruit from Mr Philip House, owner of Family Trees Nursery in Shedfield near Wickham. At the time Mr House was in his eighties and was interested in clearing part of his 4 acre site, so he allowed members of Highbridge Farm to come along and dig up some his organic stocks that he had been unable to sell because the trees had not been pruned and so had become mis-shapen. Mr House gave us 70 fruit trees which were planted in the Old Bridge Orchard during Autumn 2011 and a further 90 in Spring 2012 which were planted in the Long Orchard. In these three orchards we have about 60 different varieties of trees. 
Andrew and Mr House at the Farm


We have also been given 20 trees by Eastleigh Borough Council which were planted in Spring 2015 in the Farm Car park. This fruit by virtue of its location will be available to all who visit the farm, but the trees surrounding the car park will enhance the visual amenity of the area. We are installing clay pots by the side of these trees which will regularly be filled with water to ensure that the trees are not stressed in dry periods. The remainder are growing in grassland. In order to suppress competition from weeds we have placed a 2m x 2m piece of mypex plastic around the trees in the Old bridge Orchard while trying to mow down the rows in the Long orchard. Neither method is very successful. The long orchard is very exposed to winds so we have been trying to establish an edible hedge to the West of the line of trees, but due to nature of the exposed site and by grazing by horses in the adjacent field the hedge has struggled.


Since acquiring these trees there have been small changes to our orchards as a few trees have died -generally ring barked by rabbits-, and new varieties of pears, plums, cherries and other fruit trees have been obtained. In all there are now approximately 250 fruit trees. A Fruit group was created in the Autumn of 2014 and this has helped improve the management of these fruit trees.

Scything in the Pond side orchard and Spin harvesting the Peasgood nonesuch apples.2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


A healthy tree


Building a soft fruit cage

Currently the Fruit team are creating a new fruit cage measuring 30 m by 12 m for growing gooseberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants.

We began in September last year by spraying the area to kill couch grass and then covered the site with mypex black woven plastic for 12 months to ensure that all plants died. We have learned that when growing perennial fruit crops it is best to get rid of perennial pernicious competitors such as couch and bindweed before planting, otherwise they will be there among the roots for ever.
This autumn we have heavily manured the site with well rotted cow manure and are adding about 15 tonnes of dry hay which will rot down to improve the fertility of the area. Then we will add some blood, fish and bone which is a fairly slow release fertiliser and some eggshells to supply calcium.   

We are using 2.4 m posts x 73 mm round for the basic structure inserted into the ground every 2.5 m apart. This was done by digging holes 30-40 cm deep with a post digger and then ramming the posts down to 50 cm with a post driver. The holes were then filled with stones and compacted with s sledge hammer and heavy metal pole. Battens attached the posts together along their tops and provided a place to attach the netting to. Then we will add the bird protection netting. For this we are buying a role 50 m x 12 m and will cut it down to 34 m so that we can use it to cover the roof and the ends of the cage. We will be using another role 2 m wide for the sides. The netting will be stapled on to the battens at the top and stapled to boards running from post to post along the bottom. The roof netting will be supported by metal wires running across the tops of the posts, and there will be 5 rows of two posts in the fruit cage which will support the roof at 5 metre intervals.

A single gate will be installed and probably a combination padlock to discourage non-members of the project from taking fruit.  We will then re-cover the area with mypex. This will be done as soon as possible to stop any seeds germinating and growing. The mypex will pass around the posts and extend  about 50 cm beyond the cage boundary to prevent couch grass from growing in. It will be taped together. Holes will be cut through the plastic to plant the bushes and then resealed with the

We plan to water the ground to accelerate the breakdown of the manure and hay before returning the mypex to cover the area. When the manure has broken down we will cut holes into the mypex and plant into it.

I plan to post costs when the cage has been completed, and also a planting plan, but estimate that the total cost will be around £550 for the fruit cage.


Anna and Caroline are wearing masks while spreading the hay to avoid inhaling fungal spores

Organisation of teams

Our current structure has a Steering committee of six and a Team leaders meeting with potentially 25 people present.

The smaller Steering Committee deals with the "boring" items like constitution, insurance, strategy, building plans and management issues.

Tudor -Steering Committee and Team leader 

Jim - Steering Committee and Treasurer 



Andrew - Steering Committee and Fruit team leader

Experienced or expert growers are a small group who decide on the crop rotation and varieties of seed to order. They also are frequently available to give very practical advice to Team Leaders and teams about growing issues.


Penny - Experienced Grower and Team Leader

 

 

 

 

 



Paul- Experienced Grower and Team Leader

Brian - Experienced Grower and past Team Leader,
now A team leader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Team leaders deal with all the growing issues and include 10 vegetable group team leaders, a Fruit group and a Polytunnel leader, A team Site leader, Environment officer, Secretary and Treasurer. 

Andrew - Team Leader

 

 

 

 

 

Kate - Team Leader

 

Jon - Team Leader

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are three requirements for all effective team leaders and each leader must have each skill         

§  Skill in communicating with and managing a group.
§  Sufficient time to devote to thinking about the issues, communicating with the team and leading and training the team by example.
§  Sufficient horticultural knowledge and skills in growing the crops and dealing with some of the basic issues that arise and the humility to ask for help when it is beyond their experience.

If a new leader lacks one of those skills it will soon become apparent. The leader can do damage to the organisation, but fortunately they tend to move on quickly.

Team leaders have tended to stay on their own plots and with their own teams, although team members may move to a different plot if inclined. Team leaders and members feel that they have put effort into improving the soil and developed relationships with their team and so few feel inclined to move to other plots. Team leaders meet together monthly for review and planning meetings and the sharing of information and ideas has helped them to upskill. Expert growers centrally organise the purchase of seed and plan crop rotation

We have found that it is really helpful when the teams are put together that there are a mixture of ages and skill/knowledge levels. Older retired people can come down during the week when younger folk may be tied up with families and work.  They are very useful for making bits of equipment or putting up sheds or doing some of the routine tasks in the polytunnels, like watering. Younger people should have the strength for sustained periods of digging or weeding. Children have always been welcome as what they learn in their formative years will influence them for life.

Team leaders have been encouraged to have regular dialogue with all members. For most team leaders this involves a weekly email, Facebook messages or phone conversation over what needs to be done. Some teams maintain a plastic box on site with a notebook in and leaders and members write there what needs to be done and what has been done. Inevitably members who turn up at peak times such as a Saturday morning or an agreed weekday time will establish the strongest bonds within the team.

However not everyone will be able to attend at peak times for a number of reasons and it is essential to find an effective way of communicating. If a team member seldom or never attends at the same time as the team leader or regular members of the team it can be very frustrating for the team leader. One technique that seems to have been successfully adopted by the Fruit group and some vegetable groups is to give members who can't always make the Saturday or Wednesday group activities their own distinctly different responsibilities: one supervises the raspberry plot, another the gooseberries, a third the rhubarb bed, another the redcurrants and blackcurrants polytunnel, another mows one of the orchards and yet another strims in an orchard. So if a person turns up irregularly they know they have an area and a crop to check on and they can plan what will need to be done in the coming weeks. The members of a team who are more regular can work together on bigger crops like the fruit trees or projects such as fertilising, pruning or fencing.

Another alternative for those who are unable to attend on Saturdays or Wednesdays and be part of a team is for the team leader to find out when the invisible member does turn up and try to fit him/her into a team or an activity that is meeting at that time. Otherwise people who never meet with the group are likely to become less effective in what they do when they are at the farm and potentially more likely to leave the project because they do not benefit from the community social component. For example there are activities on Monday and Wednesday mornings for the A team- those who are retired and who enjoy building or repairing. 

 There are various other responsibilities within a community growing project

1. Site Manager with responsibility for buildings and constructions including sheds, compost bins, water tanks, water supply, supply of refreshments and the tea hut and liason with the farmer.

2. Environment Officer with responsibility to keep the site tidy, bins emptied, grass mown and rats controlled.

3. Update writer who sends out an email once a week with information to all project members

4. Archivist who collects pictures and other memorable information

5. Small team of expert growers who plan together which crops will go where, organise the purchase of seed, produce notes to advise team leaders and their teams and are available for consultation.

6. Tool repair person who replaces broken handles on tools etc.

7. Manure coordinator - responsible for finding horse manure and getting it to the site.

8. Compost maker - responsible for managing our 11 compost bins.

9. Clean pot storage - cleans pots and keeps the pot shed tidy.

10. Food sales co-ordinator - finds out what food is available and whether it is on a team harvest or a pick your own basis and communicates this to members via noticeboards and the Update writer.

11. Water co-ordinator, responsible for filling the IBCs.

David- badge maker

Various small sub committees are appointed to deal with issues as they arise. Usually there is a member of the steering committee, a couple of team leaders and any experts within the project.

 

All Photos in this blog by Wayne Landen







 

Ethos of the farm



General view on a Saturday morning
All photos in this blog by Wayne Landen



 Stakeholders commit to a minimum of 10 hours work per month, in return for approximately 1% of the total produce sold, at roughly 1/3 of shop prices. A stakeholder can be an individual, a couple, a family or two friends. To become a stakeholder costs £10 for a year’s membership.



Planting directly into the soil

This is a Community project, which means everyone is expected to work together in sympathy with each other, in order to build a strong and self-supportive community. We work as a co-operative i.e. in a very positive relationship with each other. A community effort has to have trust, and a certain amount of compromise, as fundamental components. 

Weeding

We do not seek to make a profit, and no-one gets paid for any work on the project.



Hoeing and watering

 We do not sell food to anyone other than stakeholders unless we have a glut which we cannot otherwise shift, but by growing a wide range we hope to avoid large excesses of any particular crop. All produce is shared fairly amongst stakeholders requiring it so sometimes if a particular crop is in short supply, rationing is applied.

 

Keeping everything well organised

We ask that each stakeholder spends a minimum of 10 hours a month cultivating their two vegetable plots, or fruit, along with the team that they have been allocated to. We like members to work together whenever possible as this helps to build community, although stakeholders may attend the farm at any time that suits them. We say: please keep in touch with your Team Leader, check with them what needs doing if you are going when they are not there, and also let them know if you can’t attend for a period of time for any reason.

 



Working between the bean rows

“Work” includes digging, removing stones, weeding, sowing seed and growing on young plants until they are ready to be put out on the plots, planting, harvesting, preparing food for sale and maintaining the adjacent paths. There are many opportunities for stakeholders to contribute to other parts of the community farm project, for example, by becoming responsible for a particular aspect of the project such as publicity or the website etc, as well as becoming a team leader or just by helping around the site, for example, by repairing a fence line or helping another team with an onerous activity. 

 

!0 hours of work per stakeholder produces good results

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Increasing the growing list



Isla with a cabbage

For the second year a team of 4 expert growers was appointed to decide what should be grown on each plot and the space allocated to that crop, the quantity of seed that should be purchased and the varieties that should be tried. Expert growers are available for consultation.

Broad beans


Subsequently each of the ten vegetable teams has been given two to four crops to grow in their area and the areas planted with each crop now more closely reflect the demands of all stakeholders than they did in 2010. So, for example, we aim to grow 8000 leeks, which will each stakeholder to buy about 80 leeks. Some who like leeks may buy more, those who come less regularly will have fewer opportunities and so will buy less. It is a skilled judgement call to know how much of each crop to grow and the area to plant and the expert growers are constantly refining the quantities of seed they need to sow, the varieties they sow and the time they sow. Typically in a year we will now grow around 30 different vegetables and sometimes several different varieties. For example, with potatoes a number of different varieties (some of them quite new) have been trialled. One year we experienced very damp growing conditions and blight destroyed much of the crop. This has pushed us towards growing some of the newer blight resistant varieties.

Lettuces grown in small tunnels
to prevent birds from eating

As well as the development of planting more crops for the winter period, there has been a push to better use the land. As I write in early July the last of the first earlies potatoes have just come out and the team is ready to plant their leek seedlings which should be ready for harvesting in the hungry months of February, March and April.

Pests and Diseases can devastate crops. When possible grow resistant varieties, but this is not always possible or desirable, as resistant varieties are often new and so often more expensive than traditional varieties. We generally steer away from hybrid seeds because of the cost and because you cannot keep seed from plants which have been grown for the following year as the seed will not breed true.

Fennel

Most allotment growers use a 3 year rotation of Legumes, Brassicas and Rootcrops or a 4 year rotation sequence of Brassicas, Others, Roots, Potatoes. However the "others" category at the farm was much larger than the other three categories, so it was further subdivided into 3; legumes, alliums, salads and others. This gives a potential six year rotation. However the placing of the three sub groups "others" in the rotation is not firmly fixed because we are also trying to grow a second crop in a year on some plots -generally overwinter - and so crops have to be fitted in to be planted after others have been harvested. Nonetheless, every effort has been made to ring the changes on each plot as much as possible, consistent with other constraints such as crop timing. It’s not really necessary to adhere to a strict plan as long as there is variety on each plot over time. Attention is also given to the type and quantity of manure, fertiliser or progrow which is being applied to an individual area. 



Sweetcorn being harvested



Courgette varierties





Part of the pumpkin harvest





Onions being dried

Pests and Diseases can devastate crops. When possible grow resistant varieties, but this is not always possible or desirable, as resistant varieties are often new and so often more expensive than traditional varieties. We generally steer away from hybrid seeds because of the cost and because you cannot keep seed from plants which have been grown for the following year as the seed will not breed true. With over 30 species of crop grown and often several varieties of the same species there are inevitably some risks taken and some significant losses. More about successful varieties later. 

Most allotment growers use a 3 year rotation of Legumes, Brassicas and Rootcrops [i] or a 4 year rotation sequence of Brassicas, Others, Roots, Potatoes. However the "others" category at the farm was much larger than the other three categories, so it was further subdivided into 3; legumes, alliums, salads and others. This gives a potential six year rotation. However the placing of the three sub groups "others" in the rotation is not firmly fixed because we are also trying to grow a second crop in a year on some plots -generally overwinter - and so crops have to be fitted in to be planted after others have been harvested. Nonetheless, every effort has been made to ring the changes on each plot as much as possible, consistent with other constraints such as crop timing. It’s not really necessary to adhere to a strict plan as long as there is variety on each plot over time. Attention is also given to the type and quantity of manure, fertiliser or progrow which is being applied to an individual area.

This is how one team have rotated their crops over the past five years: 

Season and Year	Plot 3	Plot 4
Summer 2010	French beans	Runner beans
Winter 2010-11	Fallow	Fallow
Summer 2011	Squash	Carrots
Winter 2011-12		Italian rye grass (green manure)
Summer 2012	Garlic and Jermor shallots	Potatoes: 2nd early Anya
Winter 2012-13		(Pigs)
Summer 2013	Cauliflower Cabbage Cavilo Nero	Onions
Winter 2013-14	Broadbeans
Summer 2014	Broadbeans	Salads: lettuce, spring onions, radishes, fennel
Winter 2014-15
Summer 2015	Main crop potatoes	Summer cabbages , calabrese, cauliflowers
Winter 2015-16

Planting a hedgerow and fruit trees

We tended to concentrate on growing vegetables in our field during the first year because we could not afford to buy fruit trees.

A few of our members gave some soft fruit bushes and herbs which were planted in the area adjacent to the tool hut and social area in the first year. The ground was cleared of weeds first, but persistent weeds such as couch grass, convolvulus and nettles were not eliminated and these have persisted among the roots of these perennial fruit bushes. We have also learned that if fruit bushes are planted they should be planted into clean ground where perennial weeds like couch grass and nettles have been removed. Otherwise you will be forever fighting a battle against them. We have learned that the best way to approach this is to peg down mypex interwoven sheeting on the ground where the fruit is to be grown and leave it for around 12 months or more to kill off any perennial weeds. Then clean stock can be planted into a clean area.



Bank behind the pond before clearing



Bank after clearing

A gift of 450 trees from the Woodland Trust, plus the addition of about another 50 apple tree seedlings in November 2010 enabled us to plant the Foragers hedge to the North of the pond and the Pondside orchard to screen off the Farm yard from the fields. The soil in this area is very gravelly so growth has been slow, but, after five years we are harvesting small quantities of elder flowers and berries, rose hips, sloes from blackthorn, crab apples and apples. As yet we have not enjoyed any hazel nuts, but we have not given up hope.

The fruit trees go in

In March 2011 we began planting young apple trees into an area which had been rough grassland, but had then been bulldozed clear on a sloping South facing bank just behind the pond. These young apple trees, grown by the author of this blog, struggled for two reasons. First they were planted behind the pond which had been created several years early for gravel extraction. The bank behind was also very gravelly with little soil in it. Any topsoil which had developed was destroyed by the bulldozer while it was grading the site. When we planted the small fruit trees we added plenty of organic matter, but this tended to be leached out fairly rapidly. The bank soon became covered with plants from the previous coarse grassland; nettles, burdock and teasels which vigorously competed with the fruit trees for nutrients and there was insufficient manpower at the time to control the weeds. It is well known that fruit trees grown in a meadow lose around 30-40% of the nutrients available to the trees; ours growing on this gravel bank and competing with coarse weeds probably lost more. We didn't actually start a Fruit group within the project until the fourth year, so it was left to one or two keen people to try to manage the trees.

The bank where the pondside orchard was planted



The forager's hedge behind
the Pondside orchard

A patch of rhubarb was planted adjacent to the compost bins in the second year. The ground was cleared of weeds first, but persistent weeds such as couch grass, convolvulus and nettles were not eliminated and these have persisted.



Pressing the apples for juice or cider.

The apple scratter breaks up the apples
into small pieces before they are pressed