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Plot 33: A new community 'forest garden'

Ac Baker

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Good afternoon from central England, where we've currently got a mini-heatwave-storm which is uncomfortable for us ... temperatures about 5 deg C higher than comfortable, but c. 85% humidity which is unpleasant, plus electric storms (a house caught fire after being struck by lightning this morning near the A45, no one harmed as far as I know), and potentially harmfully torrential downpours too.

I'm at the beginning of what I'm hoping will be a new community 'forest garden' project.

We've just got initial permission to access Plot 33 on the allotment site where I already have a 'standard' permaculture / stockfree-Organic plot.

My vision is to supply seasonal fruit, and hopefully some vegetables too, to neighbours who wish to help out tending the plot, as well as at least a grocers tray or two in the year to the local Black-led Mutual Aid food programme (currently feeding up to 120 people per week, and often short of fruit and vegetables).

Here's an image from last week. The plot has not been tended for two years, but was well-tended until then.

Image: Plot 33, a 'half-plot' (nominally c. 5 square rods in area e.g. c. 125 m2, I've not yet mapped it myself). Initial inspection suggests: in the North-East (left foreground), a rambling hardy purple grapevine that produces a good number of bunches of grapes when tended (woo-hoo!). Along the c. West (right) edge, what was probably a hedge 100 years ago at the bottom of the gardens of the adjoining houses. There is a fence about 1 m behind the visible English ivy extent, with fully grown sycamore trees overshadowing. There are a lot of ash & sycamore seedlings & a few saplings to be removed.

Along that Western hedge-line, a row of about 6 dwarf rootstock fruit trees, pear & apple as far as we know. To the East of those, a mixture of soft fruits: variety strawberries, redcurrant, blackcurrant, raspberry (not sure if they might be autumn fruiting), and excitingly, purple gooseberry. At the southern edge (background), two clusters of about 7 Prunus prunus trees (possibly damson?). In front of them, a rambling Rubus, possibly a tayberry hybrid (we hope!).

2024-08-Plot-33-before.jpeg

Plot 33 in Aug 2024, after about two years untended.

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Nancy Reading

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Sounds exciting AC! Quite a bit of grass in the centre and some pallets? You could maybe propagate more fruit into the unplanted area when you do remedial pruning over winter.

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Ac Baker

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Nancy Reading wrote:Sounds exciting AC! Quite a bit of grass in the centre and some pallets? You could maybe propagate more fruit into the unplanted area when you do remedial pruning over winter.

It is rather!

We are going to cut back the grass. I have to negotiate with D, who does the mowing, on the width of the grass path: one mower width, or more?

I hope there is space for more raspberries, for example. I have plenty to transplant, the summer ones you had from me plus golden autumn ones.

The one pallet is a half-size one we brought to mostly cover the previously open barrel of water, for safety.

There should be space for two vegetable beds, in the sunniest SE corner for example. There's a frame for climbing / runner beans in that spot now, visible in the image ..

Woo-hoo!

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Anne Miller

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Plot 33 does look like the beginning of a forest garden.

What a lovely opportunity.

I cant wait to see how this plot get transformed.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Ac Baker

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Some more background information: I walk past Plot 33 every time I visit the allotments, as it is right beside the gate.

Firstly, this means that I have had the chance to observe it evolving for the c. 12 years I've been visiting. I was on friendly terms with the previous plot holder too.

Also, it will be convenient being by the gate when wider community members visit, as the site is relatively long & narrow. The site is also secluded, being surrounded on all sides by tall trees, and beyond those, houses on two sides, and a canal on the other two sides. This means, lower theft rates e.g. of Brussels sprouts at Christmas & so on ..

Plus, I know the overall site history and conditions: over 100 years as allotment gardens; reasonably well drained on the side furthest from the canal (which we are); visited by e.g. heron, pigeons, mice, foxes and badgers, as well as domesticated cats; typical weather conditions e.g. urban heat island effect.

As for specifics, I think the shade on the West of the plot is a bit too profound: the fruit trees are growing asymetrically toward the East. I am minded to slightly lift the canopy, as the tall trees are mostly ash & sycamore so forgiving & lacking edible fruit. In late winter, as the inedible-to-us fruit is ending, I will also take back the encroaching English ivy towards the fence. This will improve access & air circulation too.

All the fruit is going to need attention: strawberry runners to clear around & transplant; raspberry canes, presumed tayberry, currants to carefully prune I'm case they are wrongly identified! Purple gooseberries need some restoration pruning. Grapevine needs a substantial re-shape! All of these I intend to try to propagate too, for myself and for the community.

We have already done a restoration prune on the presumed damson, as this apparently reduces their susceptibility to fungal infection compared to autumn pruning.

Then the apples & pears need a light prune too.

Besides all this, we need to cut some paths into the long grass, mulch around the fruit, and edit out the unwanted volunteers including dozens of second year sycamore seedlings ...

We also have herbs around the grapevine: a lot of green sage, a rosemary hanging in there, and I think a fair bit of marjoram. I will have to ask our community food project if they are interested in fresh herbs (they almost always have used dried so far, donations of fresh being rare).

So, lots to do, and of course, lots more to observe from closer proximity. Oh, and I caught up with another gardening neighbour today who is keen to visit, so will hopefully help out in due course!

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Alan Burnett

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posted 1 year ago

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Ac Baker wrote:
As for specifics, I think the shade on the West of the plot is a bit too profound: the fruit trees are growing asymetrically toward the East. I am minded to slightly lift the canopy, as the tall trees are mostly ash & sycamore so forgiving & lacking edible fruit. In late winter, as the inedible-to-us fruit is ending, I will also take back the encroaching English ivy towards the fence. This will improve access & air circulation too.

All the fruit is going to need attention: strawberry runners to clear around & transplant; raspberry canes, presumed tayberry, currants to carefully prune I'm case they are wrongly identified! Purple gooseberries need some restoration pruning. Grapevine needs a substantial re-shape! All of these I intend to try to propagate too, for myself and for the community.

We have already done a restoration prune on the presumed damson, as this apparently reduces their susceptibility to fungal infection compared to autumn pruning.

Then the apples & pears need a light prune too.

Besides all this, we need to cut some paths into the long grass, mulch around the fruit, and edit out the unwanted volunteers including dozens of second year sycamore seedlings ...

We also have herbs around the grapevine: a lot of green sage, a rosemary hanging in there, and I think a fair bit of marjoram. I will have to ask our community food project if they are interested in fresh herbs (they almost always have used dried so far, donations of fresh being rare).

So, lots to do, and of course, lots more to observe from closer proximity. Oh, and I caught up with another gardening neighbour today who is keen to visit, so will hopefully help out in due course!

It sounds like a lot to do, but I think you have the right idea!

Sycamore and Ash, I agree they have to go, too much shade to keep around. Sycamore is a serious shade tree, so unless it's right on the north edge of the plot I think it ought to come down. Ash might be useful for coppice if it comes down too, those might make good grapevine poles or fencing, though it's a bit slow to rely on that coppice for the restoration you're working on.

Since you have a set of volunteers, I would suggest making some month-by-month tasks. Depending on your zone, maybe November is a good time to transplant the dormant raspberries and grapes, which means you want to prepare the transplant destination ahead of time. So I might write

September - clear tree saplings in raspberry area

October - cut back grasses in raspberry area and paths

November - cut back and transplant raspberry crowns

With all the pieces in motion, you will probably have several tasks lined up for each month, which you can share with your volunteers and make short term plans for.

I would love to see more of the plot, especially once the unwanted growth is cut back and only the more welcomed food producers remain. I would also enjoy seeing a map of the plot and where the sun hits.

Ac Baker

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Alan Burnett wrote:

It sounds like a lot to do, but I think you have the right idea!

Sycamore and Ash, I agree they have to go, too much shade to keep around. Sycamore is a serious shade tree, so unless it's right on the north edge of the plot I think it ought to come down. Ash might be useful for coppice if it comes down too, those might make good grapevine poles or fencing, though it's a bit slow to rely on that coppice for the restoration you're working on.

Thank you, Alan. Unfortunately, the sycamore and ash are rooted in the gardens that back onto the allotments, so we can't take them down. Also, they are too the West, hence the problems of trying to use this plot for annual vegetables.

So as I say, I'll just be able to lift the canopy along the fence line. We have two fairly good telescopic tree pruning tools (which I wouldn't want to entrust to a volunteer) that should reach c. 4m maximum.

Alan Burnett wrote:
Since you have a set of volunteers, I would suggest making some month-by-month tasks. Depending on your zone, maybe November is a good time to transplant the dormant raspberries and grapes, which means you want to prepare the transplant destination ahead of time. So I might write

September - clear tree saplings in raspberry area

Good call, most of these are seedlings thankfully, but some digging required. Also, time to tidy up the strawberries.

Alan Burnett wrote:
October - cut back grasses in raspberry area and paths

November - cut back and transplant raspberry crowns

I used to consider October the start of soft fruit transplanting season (other than strawberries). But we tend to have warmer Octobers than we used to.

Alan Burnett wrote:
With all the pieces in motion, you will probably have several tasks lined up for each month, which you can share with your volunteers and make short term plans for.

I would love to see more of the plot, especially once the unwanted growth is cut back and only the more welcomed food producers remain. I would also enjoy seeing a map of the plot and where the sun hits.

Once we've got thing tidier, I'm planning to document further over the winter.

Also, I'm going to experiment with a new-to-me ground-cover plant, which does well on our site. We don't have any grazing animals kept on site, which would be the only contra-indication as far as I can tell: Medicago lupulina (black medick). I'm looking for bulk 'straw-like' crops to help my low-dig potato growing, and a leguminous hay which would only seed in valuable ground-cover for the following year sounds promising.

"Black medick can be grown as an annual, biennial or short lived perennial and used as a .. green manure or hay crop."
https://agricology.co.uk/resource/manifold-green-manures-part-3-black-medic-and-lucerne/

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Ac Baker

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A short update: We have had enough rain to soften the ground at last. But we have also had a rather cool week, with the threat of air frost.

Thankfully, there's no sign of frost damage, and the weather has turned warmer again this weekend. So we are hopeful that the grapes will finish ripening. The bunches and grapes are small, presumably due to the lack of pruning. Apparently, late winter or early spring is the time to remedy that.

There is one tree with a good apple crop, and a few pears on the two pear trees. None seem quite ripe yet. But I have been offered the excess apples from another plotholder, who has more than they know what to do with. So with luck, apples may be our first donation to the Black-led Mutual Aid food project in our ward.

Also, I have started extending specific invitations to interested neighbours to visit the plot, now we've found and tidied the path. I'm going to encourage people to visit before fall of leaf, as the plot looks more interesting now than it will again before mid-spring.

I have determined that the soil is tending to be silty. This may be more like the unimproved state of the land. We know that our other plot, 32, was lovingly tended for up to 30 years before we took it on in 2013. Lots of organic matter was vigorously incorporated by all accounts. So, I plan to top-dress with compost liberally as we clear the more troublesome volunteer plants (sycamore saplings!) from the once-and-future vegetable patch.

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Nancy Reading

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Ooh pears! That's lovely too! Harvesting fruit might be nice for volunteers to help with.

Hard pruning of grapes is usually best done when dormant in winter - if you leave it too long the plants can bleed badly (I think you can collect the sap like birch and maple sap...). In summer you can prune back the new growth though to keep it under control (they can put on a lot of growth).

I remember Martin Crawford saying that ash were the most problem weeds in his forest garden....I have killed a sycamore sapling by repeated rubbing out of new growth during the growing season - that might be an option if you have ones in useful places for structures perhaps. It saves digging the roots out.

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Ac Baker

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Nancy Reading wrote:Ooh pears! That's lovely too! Harvesting fruit might be nice for volunteers to help with.

Oh, yes. Only about 8 pears this year, but I'm hoping next year (with judicious pruning) the two trees should do better.

Nancy Reading wrote:Hard pruning of grapes is usually best done when dormant in winter - if you leave it too long the plants can bleed badly (I think you can collect the sap like birch and maple sap...). In summer you can prune back the new growth though to keep it under control (they can put on a lot of growth).

Very good points, I'll look up about the sap. So, before mid-February around here probably for the hard prune for the grapes.

Nancy Reading wrote:I remember Martin Crawford saying that ash were the most problem weeds in his forest garden....I have killed a sycamore sapling by repeated rubbing out of new growth during the growing season - that might be an option if you have ones in useful places for structures perhaps. It saves digging the roots out.

I'm hoping to get to most of them before they get too difficult to uproot. The main trees are unfortunately rooted in the gardens of the houses next to the site. But yes, I can see in the gardens all around here, that ash and sycamore are problem weeds. A lot of people don't seem to realise what problems they're going to cause until they're already needing professional attention ..

Meanwhile, one of my lovely neighbours has anonymously donated two whole trees (dwarf rootstock, one grafted with two varieties, so three varieties in total) of apples. Today, I was able to donate the first crate of sorted, cleaned apples - about 100, enough for just about everyone we're supporting - to the local food scheme. They were delighted!

2024-09-18-donated-apples.jpeg

About 30 freshly picked eating apples, top layer in a crate of about 100.

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Ac Baker

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Spring is finally arriving: we now know we have three rhubarb crowns, as their first leaves are emerging. So we're feeding this with some home-made compost, and will add comfrey trimmings later.

We've given the curtain of English ivy a 'short back and sides' to open up light & air to the dwarfing rootstock fruit trees. This has reclaimed 2m of path against the boundary fence too. You can get an impression from this photo of our first fruit blossoms, bullace we think. The trees in the picture are two plums & two pears.

2025-First-Blossom.jpg

First bullace blossoms, with path under the ivy revealed.

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Ac Baker

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Also, the robin whose territory this is, has been nagging for worms. We have a lot of volunteer plants to exit out, mostly focken, dandelions .. and sycamore one year seedings!

2025-CockRobin.jpg

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Nancy Reading

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Hi Ac,
Cute robin! They are always please to see a gardener

There is still a lot of overhang on that ivy. Pity the trees are planted so close to that boundary; the soft fruit would have been far more tolerant of a shady location. Hopefully what you have done will help them a bit though.
If you get any bullace suckers I wouldn't mind one please. It's one form of plum that doesn't seem to be as widely available, but being a native plant (I think) is more likely to grow well for me.

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Ac Baker

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Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Ac,
Cute robin! They are always please to see a gardener

Oh, yes: the gardener's friend, indeed.

Nancy Reading wrote:There is still a lot of overhang on that ivy. Pity the trees are planted so close to that boundary; the soft fruit would have been far more tolerant of a shady location. Hopefully what you have done will help them a bit though.

Yeah, the trees are only about 2 m from the boundary and thus also the sycamore that the ivy is growing through. This was designed by our friend who formerly had the plot, so I didn't have any input. We do plan to see how they go this year, mulch the trees with as much hand-chipped branch wood as we can, and potentially cut the ivy back a bit more in a year. I have lots of ivy on my original plot growing over the shed that wasn't growing there ten years ago. So I like to think that's a bit of a trade-off in terms of habitat and food source.

Nancy Reading wrote:If you get any bullace suckers I wouldn't mind one please. It's one form of plum that doesn't seem to be as widely available, but being a native plant (I think) is more likely to grow well for me.

I believe I have one that could come your way this Spring .. it's only about 1 m tall at the moment. Of course, I'm not 100% sure of the ID, but I'd say I'm 90% sure?

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Ac Baker

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Good evening from England. After a difficult two months, here is a bit of a community orchard catch-up. There is good news: we've been awarded a 12 month grant for supplies! (which of course means, we have to document more ..). The big line-item in the application is for a durable, accessible garden bench so that people less able to stand can still be involved: suggestions welcome.

We've had several regular community volunteers with considerable gardening knowledge, and a steady trickle of interest from people ranging from highly experienced ornamental and edible gardeners, to someone who has only ever grown aloe vera on a windowsill.

Excitingly, we've discovered we have a cluster of slightly weak (from grass competition, I think) rhubarb beside the pear trees, as well as two quite vigorous marjoram varieties. Because the rhubarb isn't fit to be cropped this year, we managed to solicit a 3 kg (6 lb) collective donation of rhubarb from other allotment holders on the site, which was rather lovely.

Inspired by this, I've put a 'Sharing Crate' near the plot sign, encouraging people to leave surpluses (crops, plants, even pots) and take what they need. Already, we've exchanged lemon balm (!), leeks and more rhubarb that way to my knowledge - of course, things can come and go that I never see, as I only get to the plot about three times per week (more if I can, of course!).

I hope to make a May update soon, so I'm caught up!

Image: Early April in the orchard, with the sign designed & created by my late mother. On the centre-right, the two pear trees are in bloom. In the middle of that row of trees, two plums with blossom going over - one with significant root stock growth. To the left end of the row, two apple trees in blossom bud - one with significant root stock growth. Turning the corner, a cluster of what we think are bullace plum trees which we think may be own root-stock suckering from one original tree. In front of that, some kind of raspberry-blackberry hybrid (tayberry, maybe?) Then a small vegetable patch, with remarkably silty soil and some Taunton Dean tree kale offsets planted under bottle cloches (plus a bamboo bean structure). Back to the foreground, a lightly pruned purple grapevine, to see what is still viable when it comes into leaf, and a herb patch with sage and a very sad rosemary.

PXL_20250412_095600779.jpg

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Ac Baker

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Now we're at the end of May, and it's become clear that we've had a much hotter and dryer Spring than average. Apparently, temperatures in the UK have been on average 1.8 deg C higher this Spring than in 1970. Rainfall overall has been the lowest in 100 years for Spring in the UK. But a few parts of the UK have actually been wetter than average [UK Meteorological Office, as reported by the Grantham Institute].

It's really challenging, and perennials and ecologically balanced growing is becoming increasingly discussed as the impacts of climate change start to become more obvious to farmers and growers.

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Ac Baker

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So .. this was supposed to be a seed bed. As the soil in the Community Plot vegetable area is so silty & mossy, I've decided to donate a bed from my neighbouring plot (that was beautifully tended for an estimated 30 years before me, and seems to have about 0.6+ m / 2ft of lovely top soil).

There are some vegetable seeds germinating .. swede, plus a few carrot, tree spinach, beetroot & spring onion.

But also a good number of last year's purple early potatoes that I missed, plus some alpine strawberries in the foreground, and feathery phacelia (blue tansy) I sowed a bit too thickly down the right side to attract pollinators!

The swede have germinated so well, I'm going to try the impossible (?) and transplant some like I would any other brassica .. I'm interested to see how they fare back in Plot 33A's soil as an experiment. It could take several years to noticeably improve that soil, after all.

Any suggestions for soil improvement gratefully received - I'm growing broad (fava) beans, hardy peas, and applying what compost we can get, plus feeding the rhubarb with chopped comfrey.

2025-05-24-Seed-bed-with-purple-early-potato-volunteers.jpeg

Seed bed with early purple potato volunteers!

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Nancy Reading

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Thanks for the update Ac. That's looking so much better with the leaves and flowers on the trees. Let us know how you get on with the Swede transplanting, I don't see why it wouldn't work if you do it when they are quite young.
Soil improvement - mulch, mulch, mulch and time. Lots of both!
What could you grow for bulky green manures? I'm thinking rye grass or fodder radish that can create lots of biomass and not need much attention.

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Ac Baker

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So, swede transplants seem fine under their cloches: watch this space.

Starting to donate comfrey to the community plot from my own allotment plus our back garden.

Cabbage transplants doing OK so far too, plus we had some useful rain.

This has been one of the warmest, sunniest, dryest Spring seasons on record for our location, no wonder it's been hard.

Having to start a late batch of runner beans (just potted the germinated seeds) as drought took the first planting.

Concerned that our two community pear trees both seem to have a fungal rot in almost all their good set of fruitlets, however ..

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Riona Abhainn

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Thanks for keeping us updated about how the community plot is going, how many people are involved in it so far?

I do Celtic, fantasy, folk and shanty singing at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals, pirate campouts, and other events in OR and WA, USA.
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Ac Baker

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Riona Abhainn wrote:Thanks for keeping us updated about how the community plot is going, how many people are involved in it so far?

We've got about a dozen people involved so far. It's slightly complicated by the fact that this is on a gated allotment garden site, and only myself as the official tenant is allowed to have a key. So people have to come when I'm there.
But we've got: a horticultural expert (far beyond my level) with a special interest in orchard and nut trees;
a fundraising specialist;
someone who is hoping to start their own permaculture project next year;
several people who have taken seeds to raise for us;
someone who due to Disability had a huge stash of vegetable, herb & other seeds they can no longer use which they've donated;
several people who have had allotments in the past but cannot commit to one now;
one person who is at the very beginning of learning how to garden;
one person who has a lot of building trade skills who is currently constructing us bigger compost bins;
one person with a beautiful garden, whose father ran a similar community garden that inspired this project to get going;
and an artist who created our sign of course ..

to list some of them so far!

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Riona Abhainn

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posted 3 months ago

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Sounds like some good variety!

I do Celtic, fantasy, folk and shanty singing at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals, pirate campouts, and other events in OR and WA, USA.
RionaTheSinger on youtube

Ac Baker

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Unfortunately, almost all our pear fruitlets are diseased. The leaves seem very healthy, however. Any information on what we can do to treat this for next year, gratefully received!

Here's a picture showing how the fruitlets are getting shrunken & blackened.

PXL_20250607_161810237.jpg

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Nancy Reading

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Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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I haven't been able to find anything similar I'm afraid. Maybe it is just that the fruit got a bit of frost at the wrong time, although normally they would just drop off. The fact that the leaves looks healthy is good news.

The only thing I found of help was a mention in Bob Flowerdew's Complete Fruit Book where he says

Pear midge causes the fruitlets to blacken and drop off; inspection reveals maggots within

(Remove/dispose of affected fruit, run poultry under trees)
and about scab;

Always remove all mummified fruits and dead wood immediately

But I think scab is later developing and causes leaf symptoms too.
My suggestion would be to remove the fruitlets - check one or two for any signs of insect larvae, and dispose of them elsewhere.

Are any other trees in the allotment area affected? You say some of the fruit are OK, so maybe the tree just failed to abort the non fertilised fruitlets for some reason.

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Ac Baker

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Pear update: I can't see any sign of grubs or other insect like creatures in the shrivelled black fruitlets. Each of the two pear trees has lost 95+% of their goo set of fruitlets, leaving just a handful of slightly misshapen pearlets between them.

Meanwhile, I think building rainwater harvesting systems is going to be vital. There's an old hose for drip irrigation.The drought this Spring has been the worst in a century and the shrubby soft fruit have a poor crop thereby. Apples, plums, bullace, grape, hybrid berry seem fine. Veg needing a lot of cans of water.

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Nancy Reading

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Maybe the pear aborted due to the drought. Would a good topping of woodchip underneath the tree to insulate and hold onto water be worth considering? Are you now getting competition for water from the understory and need to keep it more sparsely planted? On a dwarfing rootstock the tree is less able to care for itself, although I have to say the foliage is looking healthy enough.

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Ac Baker

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I think the near-drought could be a factor. I've also been talking over options with our resident tree expert, and will get to talk to another tomorrow.

I don't know if I can get ramial chipped branchwood, but I agree that a heavy mulch sounds good. We've got a possible donation of composted untreated garden waste that could help.

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Ac Baker

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We had a good gardening day yesterday, although we're still in near-drought.

Another one of our neighbours visited for the first time. She loved everything, especially our 'woodland' type strawberry fruits (on a vast cover of plants grown from one tiny one that came via my dear departed Mum) and left with a bag of herbs, and determined to bring her children to start learning how to grow fruit & veg!!

Plus, I mulched our (2nd early purple) potatoes with comfrey, our pea mix from Nancy is setting pods, and my partner picked 1.5 kg of redcurrants, blackcurrants, and golden & red raspberries (mostly for the freezer plus woodland strawberries, the rest to eat now.

PXL_20250614_130517085.jpg

PXL_20250614_130459901.jpg

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

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Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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Ooh, summer fruit season is starting - how lucky!

Those rosakrone peas are gorgeous aren't they - I'd grow them just for the flowers

Hopefully your neighbour's children will enjoy helping harvest at least and learn that strawberries don't grow in the supermarket.

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Ac Baker

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Ac Baker wrote:Unfortunately, almost all our pear fruitlets are . shrunken & blackened.

The consensus seems to be, pear midge. So next Spring I must carefully remove any affected fruitlets as soon as I spot them. They need to be taken for safe destruction to break the life-cycle of the midges.

It's too late this year, but apparently gentle hoeing (taking care not to damage the roots, especially on such dwarf rootstock trees) can also disrupt the life-cycle at pupa stage.

Other strategies include biodiversity for predator attraction. I'm hoping a heavy mulch of unaffected compost might help too.

The rest of the soft fruit is struggling too. I think likely drought, heat, poor soul and volunteer plant competition are all factors. The fruit on my older plot are in much better soil and less competition and are much better.

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Ac Baker

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The pear trees are sitting with a bare ring of soil about 4 ft in diameter underneath, hoping to reduce the pear midge population.

Our courgettes & tomatoes are finally fruiting, now we can water them daily in the ongoing drought. Likewise, the runner beans are finally flowering.

Image: As of today our accessible, durable bench is in situ & secured too! My body in the picture, hardy purple grapes just starting to ripen, in the foreground.

signal-2025-08-10-17-31-45-649-2.jpg

Durable, accessible community allotment bench

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Riona Abhainn

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Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b

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While its disappointing that the pears didn't come out well this year I'm glad so many other things are growing well for you all.

I do Celtic, fantasy, folk and shanty singing at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals, pirate campouts, and other events in OR and WA, USA.
RionaTheSinger on youtube

Ac Baker

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Thank you, indeed. Let's hope we can help improve the pears year on year with our rebalancing away from the midges!

We do have a crop of what I'm reasonably sure are damsons on the cusp of being ready to pick. Plus our runner beans are finally flowering despite the drought!!

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Ac Baker

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I am starting to believe we're 'making stone soup' with this project:

Many more people are supportive than can physically work the plot.

Many people are giving support 'in kind', within the scope of their own time, interests & resources, than I had expected.

Have you, reading this, had similar experiences when starting a community project, that it's rather like declaring a stone in a huge pot of water over a fire in the village square 'can make marvellous soup'?

I am pretty happy about this!

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Ac Baker

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This is such a tough year, with no rainwater harvesting on the plot and the worst drought for 100 years - which I expect to be the new normal.

So as we reach late summer, I am thinking about how to build a safe, effective rainwater harvesting shelter for our bench.

Any advice, gratefully received.

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Riona Abhainn

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What a cool idea! Looking forward to seeing what kinds of ideas people have for that. I bet there would also be some great ideas for it in the building forum.

I do Celtic, fantasy, folk and shanty singing at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals, pirate campouts, and other events in OR and WA, USA.
RionaTheSinger on youtube

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

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Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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It may be worth starting a new thread on the bench water harvesting...were you thinking of building some sort of rain shelter over the bench so that (if you get any) you can sit in the dry while it rains, or somehow collecting rain off the bench itself?

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Ac Baker

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Nancy Reading wrote:It may be worth starting a new thread on the bench water harvesting...were you thinking of building some sort of rain shelter over the bench so that (if you get any) you can sit in the dry while it rains, or somehow collecting rain off the bench itself?

Good plan: the former. ETA: Done, and linked back to this post, here: https://permies.com/t/357254/Small-harvesting-structure-bench

It's been a very difficult gardening year for everyone here. The heat & drought means the badgers are desperate, digging up where we water from radishes to prize tomatoes (as well as ground-nesting ant & wasp communities).

The well-established big perennial fruits - grapes & top fruit for us - have generally done best. Yesterday we started harvesting the damsons.

Image: Damson tree, gardener & the picking from the lower branches on a dry, bright evening.

2025-Damsons-on-Plot-33A.jpg

Damson tree, gardener &amp; the picking from the lower branches on a dry, bright evening

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Ac Baker

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Constructive thoughts requested!

Well! We've been having a lot of trouble with the neighbouring houses having huge sycamore & ash trees on the border with our plot.

First, due to sun shading: we are in the northern hemisphere hese are to the west & south-eleest of us.

Second, due to water competition: there's been serious drought in England, this could be the worst harvest on record.

But the local allotment site management committee - made up of other plot holders - are still so impressed with what we've done as a Community Plot & food project, that ...

They are considering offering us a potentially much better plot - sunnier, potentially less likely to dry out in drought, and with better soil. Existing cherry, damson & red Williams pear trees, a shed & a shade tunnel.

But it's twice the size, would be more orientated to vegetable growing, and has been sprayed (maybe 3 years ago) with glycophate foliar poison. However it's been fallow for a year, but then again this means there's potentially a lot of grass competition to push back.

Meanwhile, they are considering taking the existing community plot off the list of lettable plots, and could potentially be persuaded to turn them over to soft fruit for the community.

My biggest concern is that we are about two somewhat experienced, consistent volunteers short of being able to take on the extra work. Plus we are still in drought which might not fully end until next Spring .. or might continue.

Thoughts?

--
"Whitewashed Hope: A Message from 10+ Indigenous Leaders and Organizations"
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/whitewashed-hope-message-10-indigenous-leaders-and-organizations

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 10929

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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That's great news Ac! - pat on the back all round I think!

Some thoughts:

- When do you have to make a decision on the new plot?
- Would your grant money be affected?
- Could you continue 'guerilla gardening' on the old plot (plus adjacent) and get most of the benefit of produce without the hassle of trying to recruit more volunteers?
- What possibilities for more volunteer help can you think of?
- How can you design the new plot to be more resilient/less work (maybe permies.com can help with ideas!)?
- You'd have to change your thread title

Sometimes making a SWOT analysis or forcefield diagram (see https://www.tsw.co.uk/blog/leadership-and-management/force-field-analysis/ for example) can help firm up ideas as to what the best decision may be.

I suggest if you do try one of the decision tools, you don't do the analysis by yourself - try and get the allotment committee, some volunteers and other stakeholders involved too then you will get ideas you may not have thought of.

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

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