Fruit Tree Mulching – Hands On!

People posing for camera in front of trees
Eight of the 12 hardworking volunteers that mulched the fruit trees and pollinator garden ahead of next week’s exciting anniversary celebrations for The Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard. Photo credit: Susan Poizner

It’s been a wet May and our orchard stewardship days have been rained out quite a few times. But this past weekend, we had no choice! We had to cancel stewardship on Saturday due to rain, so we rescheduled for Sunday, knowing many of our regular volunteers might not be able to make it.

Why the urgency? Well, we had two huge bags of quality compost (2 cubic yards) to mulch our trees and pollinator garden ahead of our orchard’s tenth anniversary event on June 2, between 10 am and noon. We needed lots of hands to shovel the compost, wheel the wheelbarrows, and weed around the trees.

Woman mulching trees
Gail gets up close and personal with a plum tree that was planted exactly 10 years ago, when the orchard was founded. Photo Credit: Rafaela Almeida Da Silva

Our primary goal was to give our trees and plants the nutrition they will need to grow and fruit for us this year. The secondary goal was to make the park look fresh and wonderful for next weeks event.

People posing for camera in front of trees and bushes
Rafaela and Gail post by a newly mulched apple tree flowering in the background.

And with a dozen volunteers showing up to work this Sunday, we got the job done in record time! Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun! And we’ll see you all next Sunday in the park for our anniversary bash. Come for a cup of free morning coffee, an orchard tour, a bake sale, and other great stuff. See you then!

Man mulching a tree
Diego works on the shagbark hickory nut trees. Photo Credit: Rafaela Almeida Da Silva
Woman sitting on benches
Lynn and Giselle take a moment to catch their breath! Photo Credit: Rafaela Almeida Da Silva