From fallow to fruitful
THIS ORCHARD AND COMMUNITY GARDEN IN HACKNEY IS PROOF THAT WITH A BIT OF DETERMINATION AND HARD WORK, THE MOST UNPROMISING PIECE OF WASTELAND CAN BLOSSOM AND FLOURISH
The story so far
There’s a history of growing, orchards and market gardens in Hackney, so it feels right that we’ve planted one.
It started with a community garden on a disused piece of amenity grass that functioned as a dog run/toilet. Since then, we have expanded to create a foraging garden with a wild area, including a pond teeming with frogs, toads, newts, damsel and dragonflies – all of which have found their way through the buildings and concrete to us. It always astounds me how little nature needs to thrive and regenerate.
Back in 2012 The Growing Kitchen approached the management organisation that runs the estate to create an orchard with The Orchard Project on a disused piece of land on the estate. We were given some funding and planted 11 fruit trees. When we dug into the soil, we found it was devoid of life, and had no worms, beetles or centipedes. We’ve added a few more trees since then and now have 14 in total – a mix of apple, pear, plum, apricot and medlar.
What it has meant to me
I moved to London to do a training course, and it was a very stressful time. The garden was a place to relax. My mum’s a gardener, as was her dad, and his dad was an awardwinning rose grower. Planting the orchard led me to do a permaculture design course and I used the orchard as my project to apply those principles. I also join the Tree Musketeers (sustainablehackney.org.uk/ tm) when they do their annual pruning of orchards in Hackney parks, which is where I learnt fruit-tree-pruning skills. »
The neighbours
We’ve relaxed the mowing regime, which has proved controversial for a handful of local residents who complain the uncut grass is “a disgrace” and that there are too many bees – words I didn’t think I’d ever hear! Others delight in this “hidden piece of the countryside in Hoxton” and offer wildflower seeds to plant. A man came over with his dog to say the site had been his dog’s favourite place, but he thought it was much better now as nature needs space, too, and how even the ants are important. Bird’s foot trefoil, yellow rattle and other beautiful wildflowers have popped up now that some areas are only mown annually and we have the six-spot burnet moth, whose larvae overwinter on the trefoil.
Hopefully, over time, more people will start to understand the value of leaving small patches unmown and we can allow more spaces to go wild across the estate and beyond. The need to control nature by spending hours mowing grass, annihilating all life, all with the aim of keeping it ‘tidy’ seems so unnecessary. The orchard will mature over time and provide fruit and precious green space for people to enjoy in years to come.
Our greatest success
Keeping the orchard alive! The site is hot and dry with poor soil and each tree needs 15 litres of water every week for the first few summers. We don’t have a tap on site and had to move tonnes of compost and woodchip in wheelbarrows to mulch rings round each tree to lock in moisture, regulate temperature and keep grass at bay.
Seeing the wildlife arrive has been the biggest success and seeing local residents picking fruit straight from the trees. We don’t use pesticides and aim to create a biodiverse orchard where nature takes care of itself. The greater the variety of plants, the greater the variety of insects.
We’re creating ‘guilds’ [ plants and insects that work together to ensure each other’s health] around each tree by planting things that will attract beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps (who prey on moth caterpillars) and fix nitrogen and other nutrients in the soil. We have rosemary, lemon balm, fennel, lovage,
comfrey, sea buckthorn, oregano, chives, artichoke, currants and gooseberries. These also provide shade for the trees’ roots and extra herbs and fruit for us.
When it goes wrong
The site is quite challenging as it’s very hot (although the apricot is thriving!); it was previously a storage space for heavy machinery and building materials, the soil was very poor and compacted. However, over time, we’ve seen life return. A local resident recently told us he hadn’t seen so many butterflies there since after the houses on the site were bombed in the war.
My simple pleasure
Seeing the space transform from an unloved, dead space to a thriving community orchard full of wildlife has been amazing. I’ve also learnt to identify many of the wildflowers and critters.
What I’ve learnt
It’s important to engage people in the after-care once the trees are planted, with events such as apple day (see page 64) and wassailing. What you find, though, is that a small group of dedicated people end up being the ones doing lots of the hard graft. Also, it’s good to make the space as bio-diverse as possible and let the grass grow. This creates a balanced ecosystem where predators deal with pests for you.
My advice…
It’s a good idea to really observe the space you’ve got your eye on for an orchard over time. Then work out if the space is right for the project rather than imposing the project idea on the site. Try to find out what types of tree do well locally. Pears tend to struggle in Hackney but our apricots are thriving.
“A local resident told us he hadn’t seen so many butterflies there since before the houses on the site were bombed during the war”