Community orchard

[Winters_Lackey]

I got an email earlier from the woman who works for the city, and who is in charge of our community garden. It is as follows:

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Ok well I dont want to get your hopes up too much but I think the City may be planting a few fruit trees this year! The only requirement is that we need to make sure there are not a lot of dropped fruit that will draw in critters. Im not sure what kind just yet though

Bryan, might you be in charge of something like this since youve been longing for fruit trees for so long? You can help gather some other gardeners to help to make sure we dont draw any unwanted critters! If it becomes a problem, the city said they will not hesitate to remove them! Just a heads up! But I think this is very exciting and cant wait to see it put in place! We will be one of the first cities to have our own mini city orchard. :-D

Thanks!

Mary

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I replied:

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That rocks. Where? Lindbergh Park? One way to avoid dropped fruit is to plant only dwarf or semi-dwarf trees. These two apple trees are perfect because they are semi-dwarf, and resistant to cedar rust, which is a huge problem around here. They are good pollinators for each other, and the apples ripen 3-4 weeks apart.

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One thing to avoid is pears. They attract wasps and yellowjackets.

This apricot is on a today only special for $14.99, as is the peach. Wilson Delicious Apricot from Stark Bro's image Wilson Delicious Apricot from Stark Bro's Our best all-purpose apricot. One of the heaviest bearing varieties, this tree will yield impressive crops every year. Firm, luscious, golden... View on

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And Mary, I will personally make sure that there will be no problems with dropped fruit. Glendale has had no problems with the peach and apple trees planted in the median of Lockwood, just east of Sappington.

--Bryan

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To Me Today at 3:52 PM Yes it would be at Lindbergh park. Can I ask a favor? Might you be able to make some markings of where a good place would be near the garden without blocking sunlight of course that would be good to plant the trees? I'd mark maybe 6 spots as I'm not sure how many they are thinking? You could just mark it with rocks or sticks or something? Do you mind? You prob have an idea already where they'd work well. I forwarded your email below so hopefully they will go with your recommendations.

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To Mary Today at 4:34 PM There are six stakes in the ground to the north-northwest of the garden enclosure.

--Bryan

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We are going to have a community orchard! I've been trying to make this happen for 3 or 4 years.

[David Hare-Scott]

One way to avoid dropped fruit

How does having semi-dwarf trees avoid dropped fruit?

D

[Winters_Lackey]

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in news:ljc6nc$d60$1 @news.albasani.net:

People can reach to pick the fruit before it falls.

[David Hare-Scott]

So this community will have the equipment and energy to manage the fruit trees through the year ( watering, fertilising, spraying and pruning as required) but cannot find a ladder at harvest time. Seems odd.

D

[Fran Farmer]

:-)) It does, but then 'the city' sounds particularly dozy.

That para about the requirement from 'the city' to not have a lot of dropped fruiting in case it draws in 'critters' just beggars belief. Whoever put that stricture in place needs to get out more and, at the very least, find out what lives down their drains. I've seen estimates that no human on earth is ever more than 15 ft from a rat and that came as no surprise to me whatsoever. And rats are only one sort of critter. I haven't mentioned any critters with only 2 legs.

[Winters_Lackey]

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in news:ljcikg$htm$1 @news.albasani.net:

David, the members of the community garden will water and fertilize, and the cultivars suggested shouldn't require spraying. These trees are intended to be browsed by anyone using the park. The concept is expansive. Families with young children can lift their little ones up to pluck a fruit. My wife is upset by the fact that our raised bed gardens are enclosed by a fence, but the fruit trees will be for everyone. What a joy for a child to eat fruit directly from the tree.

Urban agriculture builds community. We grow flowers in our front yards, and that's not only for our own enjoyment, but to beautify the experience of anyone who walks past. It's not just about prestige, but about sharing beauty.

Ideally, these fruit trees should be a place where neighbors meet neighbors that they wouldn't otherwise speak to. It's easy to share a smile with a stranger when you're both munching on apples picked fron the same tree.

[David Hare-Scott]

No doubt about that. The trouble is that the children (and many adults) are not in a position to decide when this might be appropriate. Biting into green fruit is not going to give them that wow sensation a tree-ripened fruit will. It is likely to send them back to the mediocrity of the supermarket. As I did with the children, so I will do with the grandchildren, I decide when they can have fruit off the tree not them. Then they pick and enjoy. Full size trees out of reach of little ones is a benefit not a problem.

I had a neighbour who battled with the local council to have a vege garden on the public land along the road in front of his house. He wanted to do it as a demonstration and as a public service. He wanted people to help themselves and build community and he wasn't asking for anything from anybody. He was heartbroken when one night ALL the tomatos vanished. Not because he begrudged the taking but because most were quite immature, green and hard, down to the size of marbles, and because the takers broke half the plants in their greedy rush. It was just a total waste of a good thing.

Nice ideals. If you don't have any existing community feeling to modify bad behaviour to start with the selfish or vandal minority will wreck your scheme. This is the problem with cities nobody knows their neighbours and so they retreat into the anonymity that cloaks antisocial actions. If they are guilty they feel likely to get away with it, if they are innocent they "don't see" the perp in the name of minding their own business and avoiding trouble. By itself a few fruit trees is not going to fix that.

Good luck. Really I hope it works but I fear it won't.

D

[Terry Coombs]

I'd have to disagree with that 15 feet statement ... I live out in the country , and we have a lot of critters , but AFAIK there are no rats out here . Perhaps on some of the nearby farms where they store large quantities of grain and feed , but we have none of those here in The Holler ...

[Fran Farmer]

I've lived in the country for 50 years and know that there are many rats and mice in the country and there will be rats and mice where you live too.

[Terry Coombs]

Well , if they're here they're staying well hideen indeed . I have seen no sign of any kind that rats are present . And they do leave signs of their presence . You do realize that I live way out in the woods ?

[Fran Farmer]

They do that. Rats are very, very shy. Over the last 10 or even 15 years I've only ever seen one live one during the day and I wage constant war against them.

I have seen no

Why would you think that living in the woods means no rats nearby? The only known rat free areas of the world are the Arctic and the Antarctic (no food in those places) and some island conservation areas (because serious money has been spent on ensuring they are made rat free).

Rats eat anything and everything including eggs seeds, grains, insects and even molluscs. Unless your woods glow in the dark and kill everything that lives in them in a short span of time, then your woods would provide lots of good food for rats. Presumably since you are posting in a gardening newsgroup then you also have a garden and that too would give lots of food for rats.

[Terry Coombs]

There's also lots of stuff out there in the woods that would love to snack on those rats .

[Winters_Lackey]

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in news:ljd4ep$4j3$ [e-mail]:

The community is already quite nice, and gets better every year. My wife walks home from work at 9 pm ever Mon, Tuesday, and I have no worries. We joined the Garden Club today, something we hadn't done in years past because I was too frugal (cheap) to pay the $30 fee.

[Fran Farmer]

Yep. Same here. Despite that, they still manage to breed and still give me a run for my money. Jack Russells were the best control measure but we non longer have any of them unfortunately.