By Jill Stocks
A Horsforth community orchard is in need of a bit of a spruce up and is looking for help from the community.
Dawn Carter, from Drury Field Community Orchard, has a wish list for the much-loved community space and is hoping that local businesses and residents can help out.
For some years now the orchard has been supplying edible produce and a communal space to the local community, with strawberry troughs, fruit trees and herbs among the available produce. But now the area is in need of a bit of modernisation to help make the area more accessible and maintain biodiversity.
The existing strawberry troughs will need replacing with triangular planters for different shade and more soil to retain moisture with mulch on top. With the current troughs they die within a couple of days.
There was previously a ten-metre bedded area at the orchard which Dawn would like to reinstate, this time with the boundary clearly marked so that grass cutters know it is a bedded area, perhaps using logs from a local tree surgeon to maintain the eco system.
The trough would be used for blueberries, gooseberries, shrubs and herbs, all edible but sensory non toxic flowers. As well as wood or logs to mark out the trough some compost, soil and mulch would be needed to fill it.
On the raised area it is hoped that beds could be installed, with trees in the middle and herbs or peas planted around, providing a space for communal seating and picnics, particularly for people who are unable to access the field itself, such as wheelchair users, so that everyone from the community has a way of enjoying and being involved in the orchard.
It could also be a way of preventing anti-social behaviour in the area and engaging with younger people, who in the past have been great contributors to the success of the orchard.
Dawn is hoping to get hold of a water butt and drainpipes to collect water which can then be fed through into the planters, but in an ideal world an outdoor tap would be hugely beneficial to make maintenance of the orchard much easier.
There are apple trees but some edible wild cherry trees would be a great addition to the area.
Sponsorship from local businesses would be very welcome and QR codes from the businesses involved would be displayed around the orchard.
Dawn said: “If everyone got involved and took ownership of their community garden and we all worked to the same plan, many hands would make light work. If everyone brought just one plant for example we’d have a full range of biodiversity.”
“I want it to become a place where people with disabilities, people who are blind, or children with SEN’s can come, and it be a place of peace. That they can just come and relax. Obviously get involved with the planting but just be able to interact with the plants and different sensory stuff.”
“I just want people to be able to come out and see it’s a place to bring their picnic, mats, blankets and just chill out amongst the trees and nature.”
Dawn is also keen to emphasise what can be foraged in Horsforth with nutritional benefits as well as providing an opportunity for children and adults to spend time sourcing them together on foraging walks.
There is much in the area that can provide cost free ingredients for people in what are difficult financial times for many. She said: “Dandelions are so nutritious, even making wild garlic pesto, or the magnolia tree in the park you can make magnolia syrup when it’s in season, there’s loads of things around that people wouldn’t even think that you can eat.
“Certain burdock you can eat, roasted like a carrot, it’s an amazing carbohydrate. Even nettles. My mum always raised me on it calling it ‘poor man’s spinach’. But the vitamins that are in there.”
The apple trees in the orchard also provide a tasty treat in the autumn
“Apples won’t come in until the end of September, October. But when you get them at the beginning of October they’re stunning. Wild ripened apples; you’ve never tasted anything like it.”
- If you can help Dawn and the Drury Field Community Orchard with any of their plans or you would like to get involved get in touch with us or check out the orchard facebook or instagram page.
Sponsored content
