Annual pruning meditation and mulching mecca – a trip to Ragman’s Lane farm
On a lovely sunny spring morning in February I packed my backpack, tent and pruning tools and headed off from Hackney to Ragman’s Farm which is nestled in Raurdean, the…
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Yields for the future – experimentations for sustainable urban orchards
This year we are asking our partner groups if they’d be happy for us to plant one or two ‘experimental’ trees in their orchards so we can begin to build…
Frantic Fun February
Halfway through our planting and restoration, this is our busiest time, but train travel means there’s time for a quick blog.
Winter wassailing
On Saturday 5th Jan 2013, we held a wassail at Claybury Park orchard in Redbridge.
How to prune fruit trees – notes from our visit to Bob Lever’s orchard in Norfolk
In early November the London Orchard Project team visited the 100-year-old Norfolk orchard of our expert apple man Bob Lever, for a workshop on formative pruning techniques for apples and…
Orchard Communities
Do you know you could eat a different kind of British apple every day for six years? Our 7th October ‘London Orchard Festival’ gave hundreds of people the opportunity to…
Climate change, blossom, and the solitary bee
2012 Has been described as ‘awful’, ‘horrible’, and ‘the worst year for apples in living memory’ by UK apple growers. Some are reporting as little as 10% of their expected…
New Apple Variety for London
We are launching a new variety of apple that has been developed specifically for London and we’re planting one hundred of the new trees in orchards in public spaces, parks and…
Musings on the role of observation in organic growing
One of the key principles of permaculture is observation. By observing the natural processes and interactions that take place in and around our gardens, allotments and orchards, we can learn…