September Updates from the Orchard Team
The orchards team have been hard at work for the last month visiting community orchards around the city and supporting groups in caring for their trees. In July our tree care experts Stephan and Paul visited 15 sites and 136 trees, pruning stone fruit, weeding, mulching, re-tying, and checking for disease. Volunteer sessions are gradually opening up again and we have days planned at Hollingdean, Moulsecoomb & Bevendean, Bates Estate & Coldean and Stanmer orchards this month where we will be adding fruit picking to our list of tasks.
Our 70 north Brighton trees planted in winter 2020/21 at 9 locations continue to be visited regularly for watering by Stephan in dry weather, and although they suffered some setbacks with early-season weather – as many trees in our orchards did – they are beginning to establish nicely.
And as if 70 trees are not enough, we await the outcome of another round of the same funding from Urban Tree Challenge Fund/ Trees for Cities to plant even more trees in the area – this time 153 – over the next two winters. Whatever the outcome, thanks to Infinity Foods, the team are on track to plant 2 orchards and 24 trees with communities this winter at project sites in Shoreham and Lewes.