Bishopthorpe Community Orchard and Heritage project
This is a Heritage Lottery funded project which aims to highlight Bishopthorpe’s orchard heritage and create a new community orchard for the village. The project runs from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019.
At the end of November, Tony Chalcraft and Jane Thurlow, York fruit tree experts, gave a very informative and well attended talk at Vernon House called ‘Know and Love your Fruit trees.’ We learnt that pruning is not essential but is good for increasing fruit production and reducing disease. We heard that the aim is a ‘goblet’ shape to the tree, and ‘lop and top’ should be avoided! We also had the opportunity to sample some delicious varieties of apples. For anyone who wants to learn how to prune their own trees, Tony and Jane will be running 2 hour practical training events in Bishopthorpe in February/March.
In January we are turning our attention to the proposed community orchard site on the edge of Ferry Lane playing field. The area is overgrown and rubbish needs removing before the brambles can be cut with a tractor and flail. We are holding a litter picking event there on Saturday 26 January from 2pm to 4pm. We have been promised help from Bishopthorpe Scouts and the White Rose Football Club, and additional adults and children will be welcome. We will have litter pickers, bags, and a skip to fill. Just remember to bring gloves and stout shoes! If we have enough volunteers we can litter pick around the playing field, and clear the woodland of rubbish too!
Fruit tree surveys are continuing throughout the year so please let us know of any trees you would like us to survey. We are particularly interested to know if any old fruit trees remain in The Coppice and The Orchard.
For more information about the project, including the newsletter and forthcoming events, use the ‘orchard’ tag on www.bishopthorpe.net. To contact the project please email bishorchard@yahoo.com or phone 07563 798408.