Bowling Park Community Orchard

Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned! There was a Met Office weather warning so we knew we were in for a wet day and that is how it turned out. But despite becoming very soggy we managed to undertake a few summer tasks. 

We started the restrictive pruning of the cordons in order to keep the branches in a contained shape. We harvested the last of the blackcurrants, gooseberries and worcesterberries and the first of the apples. The beauty of Bath were starting to fall from the tree so we picked those that were coming off at a touch. But they were still fairly sour so we are hoping a bit of sunshine will sweeten them up before they fall. 

We harvested onions but left the garlic until a drier day. We cleared around the bottom of some of the trees, and mowed paths though the grass, but left some as it is still a valuable habitat for the frogs, moths, spiders and other invertebrates that our part of our cultivation management. 

We replaced a small section of path leading to Belvedere and tested using some stone to replace the bark on the path. It seems like it may be a good alternative but we will bring the wacker plate up one day to finish off the task.