Churchtown Farm orchard update
We are growing fruit trees in fields where we can't grow good quality flowers - trust us we've tried! The idea is that we plant a range of fruit trees mainly to improve the environment. For example the trees will provide pollen and increase biodiversity, with fruit production being very much a by-product. The first lot of trees were planted in January 2025 and this January the second stage of planting was done.
To start with everything was going well. The new trees received plenty of rain over the wet winter months and then enjoyed a warm spring but then it just became hotter and drier. In the early summer we watered them a few times but as the weather remained hot and dry and water supply became a concern we couldn't justify watering the new trees, we left them to their own devices and hoped.
The trees are planted on a south facing very free draining slope that is a glorious sun trap but this summer became unbearably hot day after day. By August Ben couldn't bear to even go and look, fearing that all the trees would have died and there was nothing he could do.
Eventually the rain came, the temperatures fell and we went to survey the damage. Remarkably, it would seem that we've lost only five of the 57 trees that were planted and all of the trees from the first planting have survived. Only two trees had any fruit at all and they were all showing significant signs of stress but hopefully now they're established and will have put down strong roots in search of water, fruit production will only increase!
