WOT2Grow - Newsletter

April 2022

A wonderful Easter tide spell of weather made such a difference to the countryside and the orchard! The early blossom of the stone fruit, plums and damsons etc, gave way to some amazing cherry and pear displays and even some very early apple blossom.

Bright Future is a coxes apple derivative and was the first to come into full bloom along with the dandelions! Although the birds get the cherries every year the beauty of their blossom is a consolation and so long as the late frosts are not too hard there might get some to eat this year.

The perry pears in particular have been a cloud of pure white blossom along with the four varieties of eating pears. And the cider apples are showing wonderful buds along with the Merton Worcester apples which are also an early variety. The rest are yet to come!

Mowing has started and the members have been busy with the soft fruit by pruning, edging the rows and clearing weeds. There are currants, raspberries, blueberries, and gooseberries which all needed attention during the busy Spring time with weather allowing!

March 2022

At last some wintery weather mixed in with very mild temperatures! Although the gardens are looking very spring like the orchard is still in winter mode apart from the apricots which always get ahead of themselves. Such early blossom is beautiful but doomed to succumb to frosts and possibly snow.

The autumn raspberry canes have been cut down and burnt as we don’t want any diseases lingering around the orchard. A good working party of members did this in record time!

The rest of the work is very weather dependant so is hit and miss between the wet and the frosts but pruning trees will continue over the coming months.

February 2022

Another year starts with rising Covid infection rates and yet again the Wassail was cancelled with regret. However many of the people who come along to enjoy the tradition fall into the more vulnerable in our community so it seemed the right thing to do and call off the event.

A few members have gathered together to start the year by planting three crab apple trees, representing Whatcote, Oxhill and Tysoe villages, to support The Queen’s Green Canopy celebration of her platinum jubilee. Oxhill Parish Council and Whatcote Parish Meeting have kindly donated trees which helps the orchard which is a not for profit organisation.

The three varieties of the standard trees are Sentinel - white flowers and red/orange fruit, Rudolph - cerise flowers with red fruit, Golden Hornet, - white flowers with golden fruit. So we look forward to a wonderful flower display in the spring and some lovely fruit to follow!

The orchard is looking at its winter best thanks to the mild weather but recent frosts will be of benefit in killing off some bugs and hopefully reducing disease amongst the trees. And looking ahead there are plans for more tree planting and rain water harvesting.

December 2021

As the year draws to a close the apples and Pears, the cider apples and perry pears are safely harvested and what a bumper year it has been. Despite a not very good start to the year the rain and mild conditions have produced a lot of smaller apples but larger pears!! The two apple pressings that were pasteurised have been a great success along with our own Apple Day output of fresh juice.

A good session at the end of October enabled a lot of maintenance work to be done, hedge cutting, strimming, clearing the wild flower strip and removing the willow “fedge” as the protection is no longer needed for the nectarines and peaches. The mowers have also been active as the grass refuses to stop growing!!

A very successful tree planting happened in November when Lord and Lady Northampton, Spenny and Tracey, came to the orchard and did the honours! A specially grafted pear tree from a very old Warwickshire tree in Cubbington was duly settled into the orchard and with care will be there for many years to come. Members came to the orchard and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon culminating in tea and coffee and apple cake and plenty of discussions about the orchard and its ethos!! It was so good to have our guests see what has been achieved in ten years and to know that the way of managing the trees and the environment fits in with their thinking too.

November 2021

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us and has surely made October the start of Autumn. And with the beautiful sun on many days it has been a wonderful start to the season.

The soft fruit has finished and the top fruit has come into its own with good crops of stone fruit - damsons, greengages and plums - followed by apples and four varieties of pears.

The apples in particular have been good and a second batch has been sent for pressing and pasteurising.

Autumn maintenance involves a lot of clearing of the soft fruit canes and tying in the new canes which will produce next years crop. The autumn raspberries will be left until February before cutting to the ground to allow the new fruiting canes to emerge.

The grass has continued to grow and the mowers have been at work and hoping for “just one more cut”! Of course that depends on the weather!! Maintaining the hedges and margins is also an urgent task and the removal of the now dead and seeded wildflower strips needs to be done before winter sets in.

October 2021

The soft fruit is continuing to give us good pickings with autumn raspberries both red and yellow and the apples are ripening well with good crops of Discovery, Grenadier and Fiesta.

This year we have sent quantities of fruit to be juiced and bottled so are looking forward to trying the various mixes of apples and how they compare when juiced. This saves us a lot of effort especially when it comes to pasteurising the juice so it can be stored for more than 24 hours or having to freeze it.

APPLE DAY at the ORCHARD

However we will be producing fresh apple juice at the orchard on Saturday October 30th from 1.00pm to 4.00pm

· Free entry for all

· If you have some apples bring them along to the community juicing. Windfalls are ok if you clean them first, there is no water supply at the orchard (2 kilos apples = 1 litre juice)

· Bring a clean container to take home some juice.

· Join in to help turn the apples into juice – its lots of fun for all the family

· Tea, coffee and cakes

· Pasteurised juice for sale

September 2021

The mowers are mowing, the pickers are picking and the pruners are pruning!! As always summer is a busy time at the orchard and many hands are needed to keep pace with everything so why not get involved and help out with various tasks at your orchard. Contact one of us to find out more.

Although the summer raspberries are very reduced in number, and therefore the amount we are picking, the rest of the soft fruit is giving the usual good harvest. The fruit is distributed to the members of the orchard and also some is given to the elderly and infirm in the villages and the surrounding area.

The pruning of the stone fruit is complete and now it is the turn of the apples, pears, perry pears and cider apples to get a summer prune. All the trees have grown well so it is the time to prune for shape rather than for growth! Following this it will be the turn of the nut trees and then we start again with winter pruning, a continuous cycle of maintenance to keep the orchard looking good and productive. The first apples, cookers, are starting to be picked and it won’t be long before the early eaters are ready!

The bees continue to buzz, the birds to sing and the butterflies to flutter so why not enjoy a peaceful walk in the orchard, it is open every day for the community to enjoy!!

August 2021

Pruning has continued unabated despite the weather and the majority of the stone fruit trees have been trimmed back and reduced in height. The apples are also getting attention, especially the ones with a heavy crop, which is not all of them, by trimming back branches which have grown too much since the winter pruning and continuing to thin out the apples.

The fruit cage has been put up over the red and white currants which have pretty heavy crops again this year and the blackbirds just love them!! Gooseberries, logans and tayberries are all starting to be picked and yet again the summer raspberries had their first picking in the week around July 6th ,this date seems to be constant no matter what the weather has been doing.

This year we have a first new wild flower. In all of the 0.8ha (two acres in old terms) we have one pyramid orchid!!! Very pretty and a joy to behold as the orchard is a community space for growing fruit trees and soft fruits and not a wild flower meadow.

July 2021

Well, it certainly rained a lot in May!! Everywhere needed the rain and the trees and soft fruit definitely appreciated all the watering and are now enjoying the June summer temperatures. The pears were the main sufferers from the April frosts with a lot of blackened shoots and flower buds but they have put on a good show of small pears to date and we should get a reasonable crop. The apples however are laden with small fruit and as the summer prune progresses it is helping with the traditional “June Drop” where the fruitlets are thinned out to allow bigger and better crops from the remaining ones.

The weather and not mowing in May allowed the dandelions and cow parsley to proliferate and set seed!! Along with all the other weeds like nettles and thistles they have really grown in the damp and warm weather. The wildflower strips have been amazing and with the hedgerows and margins have more than fulfilled their mission to feed all the wild life in Tysoe!

The members have continued to maintain the soft fruit and helping with the pruning along side the mowing and strimming but there is always lots to do so any help is very gratefully received. Just get in touch with one of us.

June 2021

After a very dry April May has provided a lot of much welcome rain and the orchard is looking wonderful. The apple blossom is beautiful and plentiful on all but the late cropping trees and some of the cider apples. Everywhere seems to be having a great blossoming this year!

Volunteers have been working all this year on strimming and clearing the soft fruit area and pruning canes and bushes ready for another year hopefully of good crops. Despite having weed suppressant material laid through out some weeds do manage to creep underneath and couch grass gets everywhere in amongst the plants!

The trees have all had their low branches removed to make sure the grass can be cut and strimmed and will be having a good summer prune to maintain their size and shape. With more than a hundred and eighty trees that is a lot of work.

Yes, the dandelions still provide a wonderful early feast for the insects but are definitely being reduced over the years of careful mowing. We aim to prevent them from seeding not only around the orchard but in neighbouring plots.

We have many different areas at the orchard that need work throughout the year – the soft fruit, the trees, the hedges and wind breaks, the grass, the sensory garden and the bees. So if you fancy helping out do get in touch!!! Your reward will be some lovely organic fruit in return for your efforts.

May 2021

What a difference a month makes!! The weather has been very mixed but with some warmer and sunnier days the blossom has broken on the stone fruit and the frosts do not appear to have killed off the flowers. The apricots were the first closely followed by the plums and damsons and then a small amount of peach and nectarine flowers. The early cherries have flowered and the greengages and pears are just starting bud break. The early apples will not be far behind with deep red already showing on the buds!!

Such a lovely time to observe the fruit trees and also the hedges where the blackthorn is in full flower and the hawthorn beautifully green.

Work continues on various maintenance activities and the mowers have been active!! The wild flower strips are providing some beautiful flowers and there are increasing numbers of early wild flowers establishing in the main grass areas. We still need to keep the dandelions under control and the thistles especially as we are surrounded by farmland and are required to stop their spread. We work organically and the orchard remains a haven for wildlife which is obvious if you spend some quiet time there just observing!!!

As lock down eases we will be getting geared up for the summer and there will be lots of help required. So, do contact one of us or via the web site and we can give you more information.

April 2021

So Spring is on it’s way, March starting mild but then ferocious winds and rain so hope we have a quieter April! The orchard has coped well with the weather and although we have a few weeks to go it looks like the trees are full of fat buds ready to burst into blossom and leaves.

As we have not had a hard winter the wildflowers are beginning to flower early which is providing food for the bees. All the hives are active on sunny days and out foraging in the orchard along with many bumblebees, lots of willow catkins along with the hazel displays also provide food for them.

Despite lock down the volunteers have pruned the blueberries and currants and started on the gooseberries. The broken trellis and honeysuckle by the WooWoo have been cleared and the cutting back of all the autumn raspberries has been completed!! A lot of work so thank you to all those involved.

If you are interested in coming along and helping out please contact one of us or via the web site and we can give you more information. If you become a member then you share in the fruit we harvest, this is one of the main benefits of being a member – free organically produced fruit in season!!

February 2021

What a start to 2021!! Another lock down but we are still able to work at the orchard with suitable precautions and distancing. The weather however limits the amount of work and time spent as with pruning it cannot be wet, freezing or very windy!! However we have managed to carry on as well as maintaining the currants and generally keeping things tidy. We are not having regular work sessions until a bit later in the year and we will be starting new projects as we get into the better weather.

It was a great shame that we had to cancel the Wassail this year, fortunately we made the decision early enough so we did not have to change lots of arrangements. The AGM also had to be modified to take account of not being able to hold a meeting as usual. Next year back to normal!!