All Hands-On-Deck Mulching in the Orchard

Brian and Zeny work as a team to push a heavy wheelbarrow of mulch up the hill to mulch a nitrogen-fixing Siberian Pea Shrub. Photo credit: OrchardPeople.com.

It’s spring time and the buds are opening up in the orchard and our apple trees are now blooming. This is a sign that the trees are working hard and using up lots of the energy that they stored in their root systems over the winter.

The apple blossoms are opening up in the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard

So, each spring we call an “All-Hands-on-Deck” mulching day to spread four cubic yards of duck compost from Speelman’s Garden Centre as mulch around the trees. And the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard volunteers responded to the call!

Eleanor shovels duck compost into one of our two wheelbarrows.

The group included: Susan, Cliff, Zeny, Giselle, Annie, Brian, Olivia, Eleanor, Rael, Sara, Rebecca, Kali, Ellie and our mascot Peanut (also known as Princess Peanut) made a guest appearance.

Princess Peanut makes a guest appearance during our stewardship session.

And while Gail wasn’t able to attend, she was out in the park on Friday taking the soaker hoses out of the pollinator garden and removing some of the leaves to prepare for mulching. Other group members who weren’t able to attend were clearly there in spirit. We felt you guys rooting for us! What an incredible team!

From left to right: Olivia, Kali, Giselle, Susan (at back) Rebecca, Annie, Eleanor, Zeny and Sara post in front of our orchard shed.

There is an expression “Many hands make light work” and that is so true. We took turns shovelling compost into the wheelbarrows, distributing the compost around the park to the trees and pollinator garden, raking the mulch in to tidy mulch circles around the fruit trees and gently sprinkling it in the pollinator garden.

In the end, this rich compost will add organic matter to the soil and feed soil microbes who will return the favor by processing organic matter in the soil and releasing plant available nutrients that our trees and plants can take in.

Another highlight of the day was meeting two new potential volunteers who may join us in the weeks to come. Thanks to everyone who participated! It was a lovely day! Next week we are gathering on Saturday at 9 am.

It will be Mother’s day weekend. On Sunday, many in the group will be celebrating their human mothers. But on Saturday, join us as we work in the park and celebrate the best mom of all – Mother Earth.

See you then!

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.