Category Archives: News

Swift action needed – more winter events coming up

25 Friday Oct 2013

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Oops! When I first posted this I was a month ahead of myself! NOTE CORRECT DATE is 29 October for the swift tower.

On Tuesday 29 October from 12 midday  we need lots of strong helpers to get the telegraph pole for our swift tower, and the nesting box in place. Many hands make light work and the 8 metre pole will need a few pairs of hands to get it in place. Come along and help if you can (or at least make encouraging noises from the sidelines).

Cambridge Past, Present and Future will be holding a hedge laying course on 16th and 17th November 2013 and we are delighted that the course will be using the orchard hedgerow for the practical side of this (pm Sat and all day Sun). So,  to prepare for this our November monthly maintenance session on 10.11.13 will involve coppicing the length of hazel at the end of the orchard nearest to the guided busway (in order to provide hazel to tie into the hedge) and removing the chestnut paling fence to give access to the hedge from both sides. Again, we need some muscle power for this one, so please come and help even if you can provide only a half an hour.

And finally, a bit more relaxed feel for our last event this year – The Trumpington Christmas Fair on Sat 30 November. From 12 midday to 3pm we will be selling local apple juice, mulled apple juice and seasonal bakes. If you’d like to bake something for us to sell, drop us an email or just turn up on the day with your offerings. We’d love some help to staff the stall as well!

Moths, wasps and bumble bees

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in biodiversity, insects, News

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Last weekend we held our annual Moth night – we set up light traps and then on Sunday morning identified and counted every moth and bug that had been attracted to the traps – before carefully letting them all go. We counted twenty-eight different species, which was good for a rather damp night. Biodiversity is not without its challenges, of course. The two largest apples in the orchard, hanging from the Red Victoria tree, look delicious from a distance but, oh dear – look what I found feasting within!

red victoria wasp

Still, our helpers were not deterred by the odd wasp, and set about weeding around the trees. There really are trees in there, somewhere. I think the wild flowers have set plenty of seeds this year.

august helpersThe orchard is tucked at the end of Foster Road allotments, and cycling home past them I had to stop to marvel at the biggest bumble bee I have ever seen. She was collecting pollen from a red sunflower, so that gives an indication of her size; she was a thumb length and width.  I hope she comes and overwinters in one of the bee houses we’ve put into the orchard.

big bumble close

Grafting Workshop now on 3rd March 2013

24 Sunday Feb 2013

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Our tree grafting session will now take place on Sunday 3rd March, in the orchard, between 11am – 1pm. The cost is £5 per rootstock that you use – you can then take away your newly grafted little fruit tree to plant up as you wish. Susanna will be giving demonstrations during the session and all tools will be provided. Everyone is welcome.

Winter pruning

11 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by in News, seasons, volunteering

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Well, we did not have the rootstock for grafting, but we were able to prune the trees. Because the trees in our orchard are one of each variety, they each have their own character and habit, and some are certainly developing what can only be described as personalities. This makes pruning them a bit more of an art than a science, but what we are aiming for is a nice open shape, with no central leader shooting up to the sky, and no spindly, crooked or crossing branches. Yes, it was cold, yes it was grey, but the orchard has charm, even on days like these.  As L H Bailey put it in 1922:

‘The winter apple-tree in the free is a reassuring object. It has none of the sleekness of many horticultural forms, nor the fragility of peaches, sour cherries and plums. It stands boldly against the sky, with its elbows at all angles and its scaly bark holding the snow. Against evergreens it shows its ruggedness specially well. It presents forms to attract the artist. Even when gnarly and broken, it does not convey an impression of decrepitude and decay but rather of a hardy old character bearing his burdens. In every winter landscape I look instinctively for the apple tree.’

L. H. Bailey. The Apple-Tree / The Open Country Books—No. 1 (New York 1922)

Pruning lesson

Bat Night and Moth Morning

04 Monday Jun 2012

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The orchard is holding its annual bat walk and moth night on 9th and 10th of June 2012.We will meet in the orchard at 9pm on Saturday 9.6.12 for a bat walk along and around the guided busway. Moth traps will be set up at this time and you can observe how this is done. Meet again at 10am on Sunday 10.6.12  in the orchard to empty the moth traps,identify the different species and release them back into their habitat. Dave Jackson,a local bee keeper, will then give a talk about honey bees and show the colony that is in our observation hive.This promises to be a very full weekend as this Sunday is the second Sunday in the month, so we will also have our maintenance session. We will carry out the regular tree check and weed around the base of each tree. The hedgerows need invasive weeds such as bramble and elder removing .All help is gratefully received. Looking forward to an exciting weekend.
Please remember there are no facilities on site, and especially for the bat walk please dress for the weather and bring a torch.

Out and about

05 Sunday Feb 2012

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We’re busy raising the profile of the Orchard, and standing up for the regeneration of apples and orchards. We had a stand at the very successful Seedy Sunday – Trumpington’s seed swap, and one of the team was interviewed by Cambridge105.fm. As soon as I know the podcast is up, I’ll publish a link to it.

On Friday 10 February we will be at the Energise Cambridge rally on Parker’s Piece between 12 – 2pm.

Don’t forget the Orchard monthly meeting, on site between 11am – 1pm Sunday 12 Feb. Come along and help us with some pruning. You don’t have to come for the whole session, just drop in when you can.

Tuesday 14 February sees Joanna giving a talk about the Orchard Project and all things apple to the Romsey Garden Club. The talk will take place in Ross Street Community Centre, Cambridge, at 7pm. Fee payable on the door.

Welcome to our site

02 Wednesday Sep 2009

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Here you will find information on the TCOP, a community orchard in Trumpington. Cambridge UK.
The aim of the Community Orchard Project is to produce food for local people, improve biodiversity and habitat for wildlife and plants, maintain at green space within the allotment envelope and help combat climate change. Our concern was to protect this site from housing developments or the guided busway. Since acquiring the site, rubbish from many years of fly tipping has been removed and the site has been fenced in order to discourage further tipping. In Autumn 2007 bird and bat boxes were placed in the cherry thicket and on the 6th January 2008 much of the hedgrow was planted. In February 2008 the hedgerow was completed. We planted nineteen Cambridgeshire Heritage apple trees and two plums, representing the full range of heritage fruit trees for Cambridgeshire.

We encourage you to visit the Orchard.  The site has free public access, although dogs (except assistance dogs) must be kept outside. There are places to tie up your dog, and an adjacent dog loo bin.

So come along, enjoy the space and look around. If you would like to come to an event, help to maintain the site or volunteer for any activities, you will find dates and contact details here.

Welcome to the Trumpington Community Orchard.

Tree planting

Tree planting