Tag Archives: Volunteers

Perennial Bed Renovation Part 2

Our Big Dig this week started with a bang! Just before 10 am, while we gathered in Ben Nobleman Park, there was a collision on Eglinton that involved a number of vehicles. It seems no one was hurt and the cars and the local police from 13 division parked along Strathearn while they sorted it all out. For those involved in the accident, the 11 volunteers (all female this week) provided a relaxing way for those involved in the accident to pass the time. They could watch the show as we continued to dig out the weeds and turn the soil in the perennial bed to prepare it for planting. Despite the forecast, which predicted rain and thundershowers, the day was humid but mostly dry. And after the event we gathered at our harvest table to enjoy a feast including locally-baked bread and Ontario sheep cheese, followed by local cherries and strawberries and cream (also local). Thanks to Katie for picking up the food at this morning’s market at Wychwood Barns and to all the others who brought their offerings (egg sandwiches, locally-grown beet salad, etc.). We’ll be back in the park tomorrow at 9 a.m. for another two of hours and then again this Thursday at 5.30 p.m. when we hope we’ll be able to start planting. Or we’ll keep prepping…we’ll see…

This week's stewardship event started with a bang - literally

Girl Power: This week we were an all female team

Thinning the Fruit

We’ve had so many people ask us what we’ll be harvesting in the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard this year. Well, the serviceberry trees planted last fall will soon give us some of those yummy berries. And the rest? We can pretty much guarantee that we’ll have no fruit at all since a bunch of us went to the orchard recently and carefully plucked off all the little pears, cherries, plums and apricots that we could find.

Why on earth would we do that? Because for the first two years after planting a fruit tree, you want the trees to pour all their energy into their roots. That way they’ll grow strong enough to hold the fruit that they’ll produce. And by the way, even when we allow them to fruit in a couple of years time, we’ll still thin the fruit so as to not overload the young branches.

While our little trees have been in the ground just about a year, we were surprised how much fruit they produced this year. Have a peek at the pictures below. An award goes to the plum trees for being the most fruitful. And another award to the pear, for having the cutest looking baby fruit. And the biggest award goes to Christine, Sherry and Lynn for looking like three monkeys while they did their fruit thinning. Have a peek at our flickr page to see that picture called The Three Monkeys.

Young pears on tree

Christine and baby cherry

Fruitful Plums

Thank you Fiskars!

It may be early May, but as far as we’re concerned, Christmas has arrived in the Ben Nobleman Community Orchard. Earlier this year we applied for a Project Orange Thumb Grant with the garden tool company Fiskars. Well, recently we discovered that we were awarded the grant and as part of it we received a generous package of all the tools we’ll need to take care of our orchard and of the park’s perennial bed that we’ll be renovating this June. This week the irrigation committee met at the orchard shed and had a blast unwrapping the tools to see what we’ve got: garden shovels and forks for deep digging and weeding, secateurs and loppers for pruning and hand tools for planting and weeding. There are hard rakes and hoes and some fantastic collapsable baskets for collecting and transporting leaf waste and weeds . We’ve also got knee pads, herb scissors and a bunch of beautiful bright orange Fiskars t-shirts. We’re trying to figure out if there’s a way we can add our own Ben Nobleman Community Orchard Logo somehow. Anyways, it was an exciting day and we can’t wait to use these tools to dig in to the perennial bed on June 13 and 19th. More about that on our events page….Oh…and check out the Fiskars Project Orange Thumb web page. Sherry’s picture was one of the ones that’s featured on the front page!