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