The Stewardship team from Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard struts their stuff after a few hours of working in the pollinator garden.
Saturday, April 23 was our first Stewardship day of 2016 in Ben Nobleman Park. It was a bright sunny day but rather cool. We all came dressed in layers and as the morning grew warmer, we shed our outer layers.
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.
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. Continue reading
Monika Jaggi (right) with Susan Poizner in Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in 2015. Monika has been following the Ben Nobleman Story and writing about it in Basel, Switzerland where there is a debate about whether or not to plant fruit trees in local parks.
Over the years we have had guests visit Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard from all over city…and all over the world. It’s funny how our little orchard, founded in 2009, has made quite a splash. Here in Toronto, when we founded our orchard, planting fruit trees in public parks was not common at all. Today, more and more cities are integrating fruit trees into parks and public spaces. The best part is that people are not only planting fruit trees, but they are learning how to care for them by pruning them annually and protecting them from pests and disease.
One of our recent guests to our orchard park was Monika Jaggi, from Basel, Switzerland. She has been following our orchard park’s development since 2013. That’s because her city is in the midst of a debate as to whether or not to introduce fruit trees into local parks. Residents are enthusiastic about bringing fruit trees into the urban setting. But the City Department for Public Parks is concerned. Will the fruit trees be messy? Who will care for them? Will neglected trees spread pest and disease problems to nearby orchards? Continue reading