Susan Poizner with Stacey Silvestri, a recent graduate in OrchardPeople.com’s online Beginner Fruit Tree Care Training in Ben Nobleman Park in Toronto, Ontario.
Springtime is the Time for Pruning
It’s springtime in Ben Nobleman Park and fruit tree care is our first priority. Our pollinator garden doesn’t need much care yet, but early spring is the pivotal time for dormant fruit tree pruning. At this time of year we shape our trees – our goal is to create a strong, fruit-supporting structure for our trees that will last for years to come.
I wear two hats. On the one hand I’m the founder of the fruit tree care education training website OrchardPeople.com. I’m also the coordinator of Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard. So recently I invited two graduates of my online Certificate in Beginner Fruit Tree Care to Ben Nobleman park to review some of the principles that they learned in my online course. It was a wonderful morning and I was very impressed with my students new knowledge and skills.
OrchardPeople.com Graduates Aim to Improve Fruit Tree Care in the City
Both graduates are gardeners: Stacey Silvestri is a gardener for The City of Mississauga Parks Department. One of the parks that she cares for is under redevelopment and will soon be home to community gardens and a small orchard. She signed up for the course because she didn’t have any experience growing fruit trees and her goal was to be able to make this planned orchard a success.
Lindsay Stuijfzand brought her baby along to pruning day at Ben Nobleman Park.
Lindsay Stuijfzand is an experienced gardener, now taking Sustainable Urban Agriculture at the University of Guelph and also a mentee in the MicroSkills/Landscape Ontario Horticultural Technician Mentorship program. She’s very interested in rounding out her education so that she has the key fruit tree care skills that she will need to care for the increasing number of fruit trees in our city.
It was a wonderful morning and Stacey and Lindsay both are keen to become volunteers for Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard and to help us care for our beautiful fruit trees and our pollinator garden. Welcome to you both!
Susan Poizner is the award-winning author of fruit tree care guide Growing Urban Orchards and one of the founders of the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto.