Floods at the Turnditch Orchard project

We called in at the orchard site  this morning. The Ecclesbourne River has overflowed its banks and some of the land of the orchard has been flooded. Storm Katie dropped a lot of rain last night and the river level flashed up by 150cms. As a consequence some of the fruit trees have their "feet" in water. Flooding can kill the trees, we'll have to wait and see how they survive.  

Longer term it may be worth opening up the old drainage ditch which runs across the orchard. It is fed by the culvert which was built when the embankment for the railway bridge was formed. Previous owners of the land have filled in the ditch, which was present on maps prior to 1850. Perhaps an opportunity for the volunteer work force to drive a small back-hoe excavator one day!

Planting the Willow

Today we were hard at work planting 100 willow wands (1.5 Metres tall) on the Orchard site.  We've planted Salix Viminalis which is a fast growing native plant. It will grow about two metres higher in the first year. We'll prune it in the late autumn of 2014 to encourage side growth.

Planting willow wands

We planted the wands through metre wide woven textile membrane which you can see in the picture above. The membrane mat is laid on the ground and will suppress other plants which might compete with the willow as it establishes its root system in the ground. The edges of the membrane have been pinned down with special plastic pegs driven into the ground. Later we'll cover the membrane with wood chippings.

We're protecting the base of willow with clear plastic spiral tubes. This will help to prevent damage from rabbits nibbling the bark, We've planted the willow grove close to the line of the ditch which has been filled in during previous owners of the land. The wands are planted about 50 cms apart.

Aside from the usual mix of birds we saw a grey squirrel and a mouse (or vole?) on the land today.

Complete 100 wands planted