Getting to grips with fruit tree planting- the group at Wensum View Park
You may remember that we opened Old School Garden to the public for the first time back in July. Apart from the fun (and worry!) of sharing the garden and getting people’s feedback, it was a chance to raise some money for some local ‘good causes’. The £300 raised was divided equally between gardening projects at Cawston V.C. Primary School (where I help out as a volunteer), towards the upkeep of the fabric of St. Peter’s Church, Haveringland- the ‘Church in the Fields’ you can see from our garden- and to support small – scale projects in the Norfolk Master Gardener programme.
One of the latter involved funding some new fruit trees for a Community Garden in Norwich and the Master Gardener supporting that project, Jeremy Bartlett, has written a piece about the planting event yesterday. I’m so pleased that our little fundraising effort has achieved something worthwhile- I’ll report on other projects funded in due course, but for now here’s Jeremy’s article.
‘Volunteers spent the morning of Sunday 17th November 2013 planting fruit trees and an edible hedge at Wensum View Park in Norwich, thanks in part to a Norfolk Master Gardener Grant .
The park, at the back of Turner Road in Norwich, is owned by Norwich City Council and contains a small children’s playground and a large area of grass used for games and by dog walkers. Local residents wanted to do more with the park and set up Wensum View Park Community Garden Group in early 2012. Following a public consultation by Norwich City Council earlier this year (http://www.norwich.gov.uk/Environment/ParksAndOpenSpaces/Parks/ParksImprovements/Pages/WensumViewPlayArea.aspx) work to transform the space began this autumn.
So far there have been two gardening tasks, led by Master Gardener Jeremy Bartlett, who has had previous experience setting up and maintaining Norwich’s Grapes Hill Community Garden (http://www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org/).
In early October we created a herb bed and planted crocus bulbs. This was followed by a task on the morning of Sunday 17th November 2013 when about twenty-five volunteers planted fruit trees and an edible hedge. A Norfolk Master Gardener Grant for £45 went towards the cost of the fruit trees and the 105 small saplings for the edible hedge were supplied by the Woodland Trust.
Digging the pits for the new fruit trees
Tough work…
The second row of whips going in for the edible hedge
The finished product – just give it a few years and a little TLC…
Old School Garden 