BROWICK ROAD COMMUNITY ORCHARD PROJECT
Well things have come a long way since the on-site public meeting in October 2021. If you are not aware we are creating a community orchard of local heritage variety fruit trees on an area of neglected land to the east side of the Browick Road Recreation Ground, all the work being carried out by an enthusiastic group of volunteers.
The area has two sections - the upper (opposite Gunton Road) and the larger lower section. The upper section had been planted with 12 apple trees along with wildflowers and native daffodils last winter season. The daffodils and wildflowers put on a fantastic spring display and despite the hot summer, with regular watering, the trees coped very well with no casualties.
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Since summer 2022 our focus has been on the lower area, which borders the main recreational field and the industrial estate car park. This has been hard graft as it required a lot of clearance both of vegetation and dumped waste including building materials. I’m glad to say we are now on top of it and are at the stage of starting to construct the various planned areas. These include an activity area, raised beds and of course more fruit trees. Sustainability is important to us, as such all our work so far has been achieved with manual effort and hand tools and our goal is to use as few mechanical tools as possible. To the same end we are using as many recycled items as is reasonably possible, for example, our recently constructed compost and leaf mould area is made up of unwanted pallets.
In February 2023 we planted a further 20 fruit trees including apple, pear, mulberry, plum, quince and medlar. Due to the nature of the poor soil and on advice sought from the Royal Horticultural Society we created planting pits to improve the soil and give the trees their best chance.
​Our planting event was well attended, and we successfully planted all 20 trees. We also created some mushroom logs from and our future plans for the orchard were on display.
A few thanks are also in order; George and David at Clements Ironmongers for the pallets, David at Wymondham Tree Services for the wood chip; Steve at Alderfen Marsh for the compost, RWTA Ltd who previously helped fund 12 of our apple trees and of course all the volunteers who have given their time and effort over the last year and a half.
​If you would like to join in our volunteer sessions are normally on every other Saturday, 10am to 12noon with a tea break at 11. For details of our next session please check our Events Page.