The Community Orchard
Recent media reports have highlighted the loss of orchards from the British landscape. The Wildlife Trust, in their Management Plan for
Midsummer Common, proposed the planting of a Community Orchard on part of the Common. FoMC welcomed this idea and presented its
own planting proposal using heritage trees of local provenance. Three
phases of work were planned, spread over a couple of years, and a group of volunteers received the Council's blessing to carry out the work.
The first phase started with a section of the
Common cleared of brambles, nettles and thistles and 5 New Rock Pippin, 5 Wayside, 3 Histon Favourite and
2 Jolly Miller apple trees planted there. These trees will supply apples for eating from October to May and cooking apples in September.
Four crab apple and 2 quince trees have been planted in the same area and these are well suited for jelly, jam and wine making.
In the second and third phases, another section of the Common was cleared and 4 Wallis’s Wonder, 3 Cambridge Gage, 2
Willingham Gage, 3 Laxton's Foremost and 3 Warden trees were planted. These trees will supply plums and
greengages for eating from August to October and pears for eating and cooking in September and October. A map of the site shows where the
current plantings are located. A new hedge, 50 wild flowers, 6 Tulameen raspberry canes
and 2 blackcurrent bushes have been planted to help enrich the biodiversity of the Common. |
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Pupils from Milton Road Primary School visited the Community Orchard to learn how the community has been involved in selecting and
planting the trees. They came equipped with clipboards and drawing equipment and produced some wonderful reports and joined together to sing
a song about apples.
 Please
contact us if you have anything to say about the issues raised on this page.
This page was last updated on 
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