The past couple of Sundays we’ve been creating a nursery at the farm. Not for kids, but for baby trees.
We’re working on a long term plan to expand the orchard beyond the current pilot phase, and for that we’re going to need more trees. Lots more trees.
We’ve ordered 100 organic apple rootstock for grafting, so that we can propagate our very own baby trees, and they are due to arrive next week.
Rather than stick these precious baby trees out in the field, where they’d be at the mercy of deer, rabbits and badgers, we’ve created a special nursery bed inside the veg growing area.
The whole horticultural zone at Oakbrook is being fenced to exclude all the glorious wildlife that would love to munch and crunch our crops. This going to make life an awful lot easier, and less stressful, for the veg growers.
Happily, the ZeroDig guys have generously given us a plot on their growing space for our nursery bed, where the little trees will be much safer and easier to tend.
We’ve dug out the weeds. Some of the weeds haven’t quite noticed and are already busy making a comeback bid. We’ve made woodchip paths. We’ve even tried it out for size with a few of last year’s trees from Jessie’s allotment. It’s all looking quite smart.
We’re ready for our rootstock and a new generation of baby trees.