We have been very excited this winter to work with local groups in Wales designing some brand new community orchards. These are located in local parks close to the centre of Swansea and within the Morriston Hospital Site grounds (former Victorian gardens), together with an orchard in the garden of a sheltered housing block in Port Talbot.
Welsh apple varieties:
The highlight of the new orchards are some of the delightful local varieties. These are a resilient bunch, nurtured to resist the damp Welsh climate and mostly able to turn their nose up at scab and canker. Whilst the rosy English apple trees stand tall in their pleasant meadows, here in Wales our gnarly-limbed specimens are often found with their roots in a puddle and their limbs clinging to the nearest stone cottage due to the wild Welsh winters. For our orchards we chose a robust septet of varieties from Ian Sturrock and Sons, a nursery specialising in rare heritage Welsh fruit trees. Their names sing of local tradition, taste and adaptability – Cox Cymraeg, Pig yr Wydd, Pren Glas, Pig Aderyn, Machen and Channel Beauty, our own Swansea delight. Their appearance is often interesting rather than pretty, with a certain ‘nobbly-ness’ in some cases, as suggested by the names Pig Aderyn and Pig yr Wydd which translate as ‘Bird’s Beak’ and ‘Goose’s Beak’. To these we added the sweetly-named Cariad Cherry and next year hope to bring in the much acclaimed Denbighshire Plum to some of the orchards.
Lockdown Challenges:
Getting our bare-root trees in the ground before spring meant we had to work quickly to gather our community groups and share skills to ensure everyone understood the process. We were, however, able to squeeze in meetings to survey the sites with the volunteers between the lockdowns and each community group was encouraged to create their own design for the layout of the new trees. When restrictions were toughest we ran online zoom training in the skills needed for our communities, ensuring our groups felt equipped to lead the care of their orchards into the future, allowing plenty of time for discussion and a quiz to enhance the learning.
There was a tense wait during the post-christmas-lockdown to hear whether restrictions would allow us to invite our volunteers out into the orchards for the implementation sessions. Time was ticking on and March was nearly upon us before we were given the go-ahead to meet with a small group at each site to carry out the planting days. Phew! – each week another orchard under our belt as we started out on Monday mornings at different venues with our small team plus the willing community volunteers.
The ground was sometimes unforgiving making it difficult to get our strong posts in to support the guards but luckily the weather held out for us! However, the unusual early dry spell can dry out the tree roots really quickly, so the trees were handled carefully and volunteers carried water around the site to ensure every tree got a good watering. Our helpful Swansea Council team brought bark chip to all our park sites and this was barrowed over and spread around the trees. Careful placement of posts and tree ties ensured the young tree roots will be well supported as they grow and the final stapling on of the guards hopefully ensures their protection from the potential hazards of life in the city.
Community engagement balanced with safety:
We would ideally have involved many more local people in the planting days and made a real event of them. We had to use some creative thinking due to the tight restrictions in order to ensure the group size would be small and our methods safe for the practical days. One idea we employed was the use of a ‘litter picker’ to extend the reach to hold a tree for safe distancing!
During the planting sessions we also had some lovely interactions with passers-by and neighbours – it felt like the sense of community and connection with the new orchards had really begun!
Blossom Days:
As the restrictions open up through the spring, we plan to hold a Blossom Day in every orchard to introduce our communities to their new young trees, share biodiversity stories and encourage local people to become involved in how the orchards will develop into the future.
If you’re reading this and live in the Swansea area, please do contact us if you’d like to help us further our mission to ensure there is an orchard on everyone’s doorstep!
If you’re reading this and live in the Swansea area, please do contact us if you’d like to help us further our mission to ensure there is an orchard on everyone’s doorstep!
CREDITS – written by one of our Swansea based Project Managers, Witchhazel Wildwood. Morriston photos by weCREATE, Apple tree tags by Ian Sturrock and Sons.