An evening view

I walked up to the orchard site with the camera this evening. The low sunlight through the hedge cast long shadows and a lovely golden glow. The area is becoming quite green – though there are rather a lot of unwanted oil seed rape plants growing in the new grass!

The Launch of our Orchard Project

Thank you to everyone who attended the launch of Lowick Community Orchard in Lowick Village Hall on the 7th of September. The enthusiasm, encouragement and support that the project received were greatly appreciated!

We'd especially like to thank -

• The Lowick in Bloom ladies and helpers who distributed flyers for the event and have been tremendously supportive.
  
• The members of Till and Glendale Rotary Club who kindly made tea, participated in the presentation and are looking after our orchard funds.

Many people have expressed an interest in sponsoring a tree and I’m about to place the first order for 25 fruit trees with the nursery. If you would like a particular heritage variety of fruit please let us know quite soon because stocks of some varieties are limited.

Progress so far:
In early August the orchard area was cultivated and power harrowed to create a fine seedbed for the grasses and pollen and nectar rich plants that are to create the floor of the orchard. It was sown on the19th of August 2010
A fine green haze of new grass now lies over the orchard and Tom has marked the position of the paths using an ingenious Heath Robinson affair. This involved our old Merry Tiller, part of a tractor welded on to form a spike and a garden cane - necessity is the mother of invention!