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February 2023:
Apple Juice sales of over £1,000 gross in 2022 allowed us to buy 12 new trees.
Coneygree has 5 of the 2-year maidens.
Pride of place goes to the Pershore Egg Plum, planted in the island formed by the paths to the pond.
As a welcome to the Orchard, close to the southern (Churchend) gate, it’s youthful 8-foot scale will provide a large and spreading mature tree by 2030.
Caroline (who also planted the Pershore Egg Plum with Graham) proudly shows the young Spartan, emulating the very productive but aging tree Graham has in Churchend.
This will provide a succession for a very popular eating apple.
Note the sturdy post for the anti-deer cage and the mulch to discourage invasive grasses. Perfect.
Amelie conducts an audit of our tree labels and finds 14 (!) wrong or missing labels.
These, along with the 5 for the 2023 plantings, will be in place soon.
Spring is pruning time!
Sadly, COVID has allowed some trees to grow randomly, in some case producing multiple criss-cross branches.
We have had to be quite severe in pruning this year to correct their basic shape. This seems cruel but is necessary for the longer life of the trees.
Remember that these are still young trees with a 45–50-year life, so corrective work now will pay handsomely in term of good habit and top quality fruit bearing for four decades.
This is a correctly pruned tree, with an open heart and not too much upward growth.
Before pruning, this was similar to the previous example, believe it or not.
Well done to Richard who had to saw off some large limbs to achieve this outcome.
March 2023:
Thanks to Davis Aston for these photos of the pruning workparty on March 25th:
(click on pix for larger view)
May 2023:
Housekeeping at Brownings Orchard, with Tom, John and Pete
Oct – Nov 2023:
The work on creating the path around the pond at Brownings Orchard – and on the pond itself – was given a boost this autumn. Some folks from International Closures Inc (who are based in Meadow Mill) volunteered to lend a hand. This was initially part of a national tidy-up week, but they have been keen to stay involved – our thanks to them!
Also thanks to the Stonehouse Rotary who are donating £275 to help pay for the remainder of the project due to complete in Spring 2024
As ever, click on any pic for a loser look.
December 2023:
Our December workparty at Coneygree concentrated on tidying the ‘pond’ corner of the orchard and planting some colour for the spring. As well as putting in spring bulbs we created a new wildflower bed using plant plugs donated by Slimbridge WWF.
The group enjoying hot mulled apple juice at half time:-
Click on a pic for a closer look at what we were up to:-
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