WEEDING the tree pits

Continuing from previous post

After checking on pests and diseases, we went off to give our attention to the trees.  We removed guards around the tree pits and pulled out competing ‘weed’ plants.

Photo A. Sheridan: Tree pit full of grass 'weeds'

What is a weed you may ask? Our definition is a plant that is growing where you don’t want it to. In this case, mainly long grass but also creeping buttercups and dandelions with their long roots, all competing with the trees for water and nutrients.

We wanted to keep the bulbs that had given a lovely show of flowers just a few weeks earlier. We also wanted to keep the comfrey we had planted for its value to the orchard.

Photo A Sheridan: Comfrey in flower

Why comfrey?  In flower, it attracts bees and other pollinators from late May. A number of other invertebrates live on and among its leaves. Comfrey is regarded as a ‘dynamic accumulator’ plant with its deep roots that bring nutrients from the subsoil and up into the leaves. In our orchard we use the ‘chop and drop’ method of chopping down the leaves to use as mulch around the trees and to return nutrients to the soil.

Photo A Sheridan: bee on comfrey flower

The volunteers worked hard and the trees were happy. The following photos show some of the volunteers who gave up their time.

Photo R Hero

Photo R Hero

Photo R. Hero

The following photos show two of the cleared tree pits.

Photo R. Hero

Photo R. Hero

More photos from orchard session in September

 More photos from our great session

Barrow full of wood chips

Barrow with equipment

wood chips ready to use

Weeding

And more weeding

Orchard care 25 September 2024

 Our orchard is a feature of the park and is cared for by some wonderful volunteers.

After our successful summer pruning workshop in August it was the end of September and time to show the trees some additional love. Our plan?  to remove tree guards, carefully pull up weeds, add a thick layer of wood chip mulch and then replace the guards. Eight of us were ready for action.

Why bother with the tree guards as they are not high enough to keep out animals  The guards are there to clearly mark out the tree space, to avoid mower damage. 

With guards removed and set to one side it was easy to remove weeds- mainly couch grass, some brambles and wood avens (Latin name Geum urbanum)   

Why bother to remove the weeds or unwanted plants?  Surely they are not harming the trees? These  plants, growing in the tree pits, compete with the trees for water and nutrients. We are happy to leave them to grow elsewhere in the orchard.

comfrey growing in our orchard (May 2024)

We intentionally planted comfrey, (Symphytum 'Bocking') as a mineral accumulator, and this plant stays in the soil .This variety is non-invasive. Comfrey's deep tap roots  absorb minerals and store these nutrients in their leaves. The theory is, if we chop up the comfrey leaves and drop them back on the ground, as the leaves die these nutrients return back to the top soil and  to the roots of the trees. We refer to this as 'chop and drop'.                             

Here are a few photos from our afternoon's work:

One of the plum trees: Photos show tree pit full of weeds, guard removed and weeds removed, tree pit cleared, guard replaced.

Weeding in progress

tree pit full of 'weeds'

Finished

Next our very vigorous Jupiter apple tree

received plenty of mulch

And finally Lizzy with a barrow load of mulch

We finished the session with refreshments (apple juice and Worcester apples) with thanks to Lizzy.