Well, it’s March 2020 and the world is changing more and more every day as the Corona Virus continues to spread around the world. Here in Canada, our government is doing what they can to slow down the spread of the virus by closing schools and libraries, shutting museums, and discouraging large gatherings.
But life goes on in Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard. The trees still need their annual pruning and pest prevention work at this time of year. And the volunteers are hankering to get outside and interact with nature and each other. To protect everyone, we have now declared our park an official “no hugging zone” (we elbow bump instead and it is kind of fun too).
And for three plus hours this weekend, we slipped into another world. It’s the world of fruit trees and pruning and our job is to thoughtfully and strategically prune and shape our trees in a way that will improve tree health and harvest.
Each year the job of pruning goes to team members who have officially been trained in fruit tree pruning and the team included Susan, Janina and Lindsay. And we worked on two apple trees, one plum and one cherry. Janina also went around the orchard removing mummified fruit that remained on the cherry and apricot trees as that fruit is filled with fungal spores that, if left in the orchard, will bring disease back to the trees this year.
Now, gardening isn’t the only thing that we are busy with at this time of year. Susan and Sherry are launching on a new adventure when it comes to the park’s beautiful pollinator garden. Both have been exploring the Integrated Pest Management concept of “Farmscaping” where you integrate plants into your orchard that will attract the specific beneficials that you need in order to battle the crop pests that are in your garden.
In Ben Nobleman Park our fruit tree pests include coddling moth, European apple sawfly, plum curculio and other mischievous and damaging pests. In order to attract their natural enemies – which include predatory insects that will hunt down and kill those pests, we will be introducing a number of new native plants into our pollinator garden.
Those plants include:
- Achillia Tomantosa
- Vernonia Fasciculata
- Oenothera Pruticosa
- Dicentra Canadensis
- Dicentra Spectabilis
- Eupatorium Maculatum
- Chilone Glabra
- Solidago Rigida
We will be working with Patricia Landry, Parks Program Officer for The City of Toronto who will supply the plants, and we’re applying for grants for assistance with compost and mulch to help us in our pollinator garden “Farmscaping Makeover”
Right now, we plant to continue going out into the orchard to prune the trees and then regular stewardship begins on April 18th, 2020 as you can see below. We are wishing everyone health and safety in the weeks and months to come. I know our orchard will play a role in helping to keep us optimistic, hopeful and safe.
See you soon in the orchard everyone!
Susan Poizner is the coordinator of The Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto and the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book Growing Urban Orchards. Susan teaches fruit tree care skills online at he fruit tree care training website OrchardPeople.com. Susan is also the host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast, a show that explores topics relating to fruit trees, food forests, permaculture and arboriculture. She is also an ISA Certified arborist.