Meet Emma, Rachel and Janet: the mums with a mission! Along with other local mothers from Sale in South Manchester, they set out to improve their local park and ended up bringing almost 1,000 people from the community together in honour of apples. Their much-loved orchard is now a very special community asset, which will […]
Blog
A Sign of Things to Come? – Inspiration for Orchard Signage
The Orchard Project team is often asked, ‘what type of orchard signage is best?’. Recently in Edinburgh, community orchard groups set out to answer this question. Seeking ways to improve the signage in different community orchards, a collective embarked on a road trip in search of inspiration. Our Edinburgh Project Manager, Chris, tells us more: […]
A Toast to our Trees!
As winter rolls around and our fruit trees fall dormant once again, we turn our focus to the Wassail tradition. And of course the Mulled Cider that accompanies it! Make your own with our delicious recipe.
What does a resilient orchard look like?
Many of our orchards are surprisingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Not only is physical damage caused by, for example, late frosts or strong winds, but the stress caused by unpredictable weather makes our trees much more vulnerable to pests and diseases. This all has the effect of reducing yields. So what strategies […]
Has your apple pie run dry? 10 alternatives to use up surplus apples
It’s September and the apples are in abundance! If you’re lucky (and skilled) enough to have a great crop of apples this year, but unsure what to do with them, this post is for you. Perhaps your relatives have had enough jars of apple chutney for Christmas, and there is only so much apple crumble […]
London Orchard Polycultures: strength in diversity
Why we might want to plant more than apples, plums and pears in our community orchards The Orchard Project’s logo shows an apple, plum and pear because these are some of the most reliable and commonly found top fruits in community orchards. However, there are several reasons why we should be being more adventurous, where […]
10 years of The Orchard Project – What a decade!
Throughout this year, 2019, we are celebrating 10 years of our existence as a charity. Some of you may have attended our fantastic 10th Birthday party in May, which was a great way to thank all the volunteers, staff and supporters who have helped us reach this tree-mendous milestone! Here’s our CEO, Kath Rosen, with […]
The Landscape of Loneliness: Making Space for Nature
We may not give it our full attention, but the built environment around us shapes our mood, our thoughts, our health and our relationships. It’s not just the dimensions of our houses, flats and rooms, but the life between buildings – the public spaces. Green spaces especially are known to improve the quality of city […]
Save the Hounslow Wonder!
The delicious Hounslow Wonder apple was once a forgotten variety, with the known population of these trees at a total of just four in the UK! Fortunately, The Orchard Project is working with community orchards in Hounslow to bring back their local heritage apple. Our London Project Manager, Jack McCrickard, explains his quest to save […]
Water blog – Keeping Urban Trees Healthy During Dry Times
Summer is well and truly upon us. Beating down on us here in London in fact. Parks, commons and verges the city over are parched; yellowed grass barely concealing the cracked, dusty earth beneath, with the ground in some places resembling dried up river basins. And it’s not looking good for the UK’s commercial growers: […]