http://www.eastingtonorchards.org.uk

Finally, watch out for the blossoms! At time of writing, the plums and Damsons are just peeping out and will be followed in April by the cherries, then pears and lastly apples. If you walk through the orchard once a week, you will see a change every time. Once we cut the grass, you can check the names of the trees from Steve’s labels of course.

To enjoy the fresh air with ECO, ring Tom on 823425 or Kevin on 827401

  find us on Facebook or at www.ecogroup.me

Facebook and Website

Thanks to the efforts of Julian Plested and Mary Gribble, we now have an active Facebook page, which you can also reach through our website (which Jan Low has just re-vamped):

 With it’s nice new name:

www.ecogroup.me

Julian, Mary and Jan are “Admin” on Facebook, which means one of them monitors all items being posted. The site is public, so anyone can view it, but to post to it you have to become a member of the group. Again, an Admin will have to approve your membership but it’s really easy (I managed it!).

We welcome anyone posting news and orchard photos (it will be busy on Apple Days most likely). Jan will capture a selection of photos to update the Website, which remains the principal archive.

Notice of events and work parties will continue to go out as e-mails as well as now going on

Facebook.

Coneygree Work Parties

There have been four work parties already, plus a well-attended indoor winter meeting. The first two achieved 100% winter maintenance on the fruit trees, digging out their mulching circles and pruning.

Kevin’s next aim was to re-house half the blackcurrants, up-grading the large fruit cage in the process. The photo shows the technical bits we have learned as a group over the last 5 years:

(a) the blackcurrant bushes are safely in the ground and pruned back to a dozen strong branches

(b) Steve is cutting membrane to keep the bushes weed-free

(c) Cotswold pebbles are added to hold down the membrane and minimise future maintenance.

You can see the completed process on the left edge of the picture. The roof of the fruit cage is rolled up at present, in case there is a late snow fall.

Four things to look out for

Firstly, we will be making paved areas for the oak bench, designed by Gary Dingle and sponsored by the Rotary

(John Morris is Rotary President)

This will be followed by large display boards, designed by Bart Sable with maps and descriptions by Tara Downs.

Steve Gribble is making labels for each tree with a 3-D printer.

The third item will be completion of the Henge, towards the top of the orchard.

That’s been designed by Kevin Dalby and resembles a compass.

Artists impression…..

Progress to date……..