Waitati Open Orchards

By Jason Ross

It's time to plan winter plantings of fruit trees and order the trees. WOO
will be meeting the first week of May to plan for this winter's maintenance
and new plantings. Where to plant and what varieties?

The April Harvest Market lacked crowds due to the weather, those that made
it found the weather calmed and warmed nicely just for the duration of the
market! We did though have abundant autumn fruit. We had fun making some
special apple juice blends (apple and fresh ground ginger was my favourite).
We also did some juicing of one variety at a time; the unknown green apple
made a lovely light green, tart juice.

Hampden Apple Day
This was a fun day with about 40 varieties of apples on display. Many
people brought fruit to have us try to identify, by comparing to the fruit
on display or by looking them up in reference books. It was appreciated that
identification is a difficult task as in the Otago area there is thought to
be at least 600 varieties of apples growing in people's backyards. Hampden
is in the process of planning open orchard plantings of old varieties for
its streets.

Check out this fantastic blog
Written by our very own Hillary, the giant impossible vegetable grower. She
has turned a very steep north-east-facing clay section into a large garden
producing stacks of vegetables. Many fine specimens have been
seen on the WOO harvest market stall. The purple beans were beautiful.
Hillary's blog gives enthusiastic accounts of both her gardening and her
cooking. Inspiring stuff. Love the photos Hillary, more please! Find
the blot at www.selfsufficiencydreams.blogspot.com

Waitati Open Orchards is a group of keen folk on a mission to plant fruit
trees in public spaces around Waitati for all to enjoy. Email
waitatiopenorchard@gmail.com to join our mailing list.

Photo: Brown Street fruit tree planters