Over a dozen members, plus a dozen of the Five Island School's Green Team helped plant 58 trees, including apples, sweet chestnuts, plum, medlar, hazels and greengage. Every tree has has a mulch mat around it to stop weeds and a tree guard to stop rabbits gnawing at the bark.It was a very productive day with lots of enthusiasm and a good basis for continued development of the orchard. At two thirds of an acre we think this is now the single largest orchard on Scilly and in five years time should be producing a significant amount of fruit. In 25 years time it should be producing tons! Those who help maintain the orchard get a share of the harvest.
Furthermore we hope this will stimulate the resurgence of a strong orchard culture on the Islands, with more people planting, maintaining trees and using the fruit from them. More on that to come later in the year.
For those who are interested, here's a list of what's been planted. All have been selected for taste and disease resistance, and many have wonderfully evocative names displaying a rich heritage.
Apples on MM106 (semi-vigorous rootstock) - mixture of eaters, cookers and cider
- Adams Pearmain x 2
- Ashmeads Kernel x 2
- Egremont Russet x 3
- Fiesta x 3
- King of the Pippins x 3
- Lemon Pippin x 3
- Lucombes Pine x 2
- Newton Wonder x 2
- Plum Vite x 2
- Rosemary Russet x 3
- Scrumptious x 3
- Tom Putt x 2
- Winter King x 2
- Ashmeads Kernel x 1
- Beauty of Bath x 1
- Blenheim Orange x 1
- Cheddar Cross x 1
- Court Pendu Plat x 1
- Egremont Russet x 2
- Grenadier x 1
- John Standish x 1
- Katy x 1
- Newton Wonder x 1
- Pinova x 1
- Stirling Castle x 1
- Sunset x 1
- Taylors x 1
- Belle Epine x 2
- Bournette x 2
- Marlhac x 2
- Butler x 1
- Corabel x 1
- Opal
- Nottingham
- Oullins Golden Gage
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