Development of the Stibbard Centenary Orchard
The allotments at the end of Moor End Lane had been used extensively in the past but several tenants left and interest from potential new holders had waned. Several abandoned plots were badly overgrown leading The Stibbard Parochial Charity to consider alternative uses. It was agreed at the beginning of 2018 to convert the end plots into a community orchard and combine it with a tribute to Stibbard villagers involved in the First World War. The aim was to open the new orchard for the Centenary making for a very short time to complete the project. Much of the planning and the practical work was undertaken by Mike Gasson, ably assisted by working cocker spaniel Taffy. The rest of this web page charts the conversion of abandoned overgrown allotments into a Centenary Orchard and its eventual opening on Sunday 28th October 2018 by General The Lord Dannat GCB CBE MC DL. The subsequent development of the site is reported in an ongoing Blog that can be accessed here.
The project to create a community orchard on abandoned allotments began in the autumn of 2017. It was decided to combine the community orchard with a memorial to village soldiers lost in the First World War. As you can see the site was completely overgrown with perennial weeds, including large amounts of Common Dock and Stinging Nettles.
With the November 2018 centenary fast approaching it was impossible to effectively clear the site of perennial weeds in time to plant bare root trees. For that reason it was decided that we would have to use container grown trees that could be kept until the site was in a fit state for planting. During the winter period suitable trees were secured and work to clear the site began.
First steps in site preparation involved cutting down the extensive weed growth using a brush cutter armed with a metal tri blade. Brash was gathered up as was much of the large volume of rubbish left on the site.
The old allotments were separated by two runs of wire fencing and this together with damaged fencing at the ends of the plot had to be removed. Ultimately all wire fencing will be removed but may be need to be retained to exclude potential browsers whilst the trees are young. Here the brash is ready to burn but progress was held up by the Beast from the East at the end of February and beginning of March 2018.
All of the container grown trees for the orchard have arrived so can be planted as soon as preparation of the allotment site is complete. Most of our apples came from Frank Matthews in Worcestershire with help from Bawdeswell Garden Centre. Three varieties that were unavailable came direct from Fakenham Garden Centre. Following the village open meeting a couple of suggestions were followed up. Late in the day we secured two pear trees from Blackmoor Nurseries in Devon and the elusive Norfolk Beefing was found just up the road and just in time at the East of England Apples and Orchards Project. It was collected today on their last trading day!
Last of the hedge trimmings and dead roots from some of the plot being burnt.
Further development of the orchard involved a range of additional expenses which we were hoping to fund through sponsorship where possible. Once the site is properly prepared planting the trees will require a variety of extra items. We are really pleased and grateful to Bawdeswell Garden Centre for the donation of a large amount of compost that we need to facilitate planting of the container grown trees.
The whole plot has been ploughed using a rotary plough attachment on a BCS740 two-wheeled tractor. The nearest part of the plot has also be rotovated and a row is marked out ready for the first five trees. We expect to get them planted over the next few days.
Following a busy summer the orchard trees are all in place and establishing well. The very hot dry weather was a challenge as the planted trees needed daily watering and planting the last row was held back until there was a little rain and cooler conditions. Weed regrowth caused some extra work with significant development of thistles and bindweed. A last rotovate will be needed before grass seed can be sown.
Two runs with the rotovator have left a well cultivated surface. Next steps are to get some mulch around the base of the trees and to run a roller over the site to compact the soil. We will then sow grass seed between the trees.
Orchard trees now have a mulch using a new GroSure material that is rated better than bark. Compacting the soil to facilitate grassing the orchard has begun using a kindly donated and somewhat antique roller. Attaching the latter to the BCS two wheeled tractor created a useful tool making relatively light work of the task!
Several further steps with the rotovator were needed to remove newly germinated weed and to make a fine tilth suited to the recommended two-stage grass seed sowing process. Seed was purchased from GSS using their Parkland mix designed for use under widely spaced trees and in orchards. Here the first band has been sown and flattened with the roller. Due to the large amount of stone and rubble in the soil the whole process was undertaken by hand, clearing the ground and sowing in four meter blocks.
Lots of progress was made since the start of grass seed sowing with most of the site now planted. A period of very wet weather slowed things down as the soil was too sticky to work. The two stone benches were placed in the small central glade area and the stone masons delivered the plaques bearing the names of the Stibbard soldiers involved in the First World War. Small slate labels were added to the tree stakes with hand written variety names. First signs of germinated grass seed are starting to give some green colour to the foreground. Children from the local Stibbard Primary School designed and made bunting ready for the orchard's opening ceremony.
The orchard was opened on Sunday 28th October 2018 by General The Lord Dannat GCB CBE MC DL. A large group of villagers attended and the ceremony, village children placed poppies under the orchard information board and a Bugle call - Last Post was played by Julian BrunBrun.
