CLAPHAM COMMUNITY ORCHARD!
The idea behind the Community Orchard scheme is that we need to grow as much as possible of our food as close to home as possible. Planting fruit trees and bushes is a good way of doing it. As we don’t have an actual orchard or space to plant one our orchard will be spread across the parish in people’s gardens and on small pieces of suitable land and will make use of existing fruit trees and bushes.
To get the project off the ground every household was asked to participate in survey
One of the things the survey did was find out just what sort of fruit trees and bushes were already being grown in the Parish. Not surprisingly the most common fruit tree is the apple – nearly twenty trees have been offered to the Community Orchard. Other trees offered were 6 damson and 3 plum and 3 greengage. The most common bush is the blackcurrant, followed by gooseberries and raspberries. Others offered include a crab apple, a loganberry and a quince.
People were asked what type of fruit they would like to have planted on their land and the apple was again the most popular. Pear trees were next followed by plums. Those wanting to plant bushes trees requested raspberries most often followed by gooseberries and black currants.
By considering what is already here and what people would like to plant, future planting is being planned. It is to take place this spring. A grant to cover the costs has been obtained. A number of people have already offered to help and anyone else who would like to be involved, either as a helper or as a grower will be most welcome. Amongst the tasks will be recording all the trees and bushes old and new, providing the new ones with some sort of identity tag, and planting them with a stake and tie and a rabbit guard where appropriate.
Clapham Community Co-operative is working out the best way to harvest and share out the produce of our diverse Orchard! Of course in the first few years we will be dependent on what already exists and has been offered from peoples’ gardens. It will be very exciting when the first fruit is harvested and shared! Hopefully the parish will be well supplied with fruit, jam and chutney!
Any ideas are very welcome as well as any additional volunteers.
Chrissie Bell on behalf of the Community Orchard group.
