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Apple Bee Community Orchard.
2022 - on going project

 

Apple Trees in the Community Apple Bee Orchard, Friends of Saltwell Park Gateshead
Voulunteers help in the Apple Be Community Orchard in Saltwell Park Gateshead

In 2022 the Friends of Saltwell Park began creating a community orchard on the site of a disused bowling green near the lake. Six trees were planted initially, and after seeing them thrive, we applied for a grant to The Tree Council who generously funded more in 2023.

 

We now have 80 trees, most are a mix of different types of cooking and dessert apples, but we also have pear, plum, cherry, greengage and crab apples. The trees have flourished and provide not only colour and variety to the park landscape but encourage pollinating insects.

 

The community has been involved at every stage. Volunteers provided muscle power to prepare the ground and dig holes. Pupils from Keser Girls’ School and St Peter’s Primary School assisted in the actual planting. Apple Bee Community Orchard was named following suggestions from local schools and they helped to design our logo. The husband of one of our members built the display cabinet that gives visitors information about the orchard. Gateshead Council has provided top soil and bark mulch to improve the planting environment and continues to loan tools and work with us on ongoing enhancements to the orchard and immediate vicinity.

 

Slightly further afield, Scotswood Garden in Benwell donated flowering shrubs to help diversify the landscape. Some 500 crocus corms were given to us by the Rotary Club of Gateshead, providing a lovely display in the spring.

 

The orchard is maintained by a group of volunteers from the Friends of Saltwell Park who meet on site every Wednesday at 11am. We carry out general maintenance and check the trees, as well as light gardening, weeding and creating additional planting areas as the orchard evolves.

Contact us for information about volunteering opportunities in the Apple Bee Community Orchard.

Raised beds in Saltwell Park, attended to by the Volunteers from Friends of Saltwell Park

First raised bed complete.
04th September 2024

During 2024 we expanded the Apple Bee Community Orchard by adding 9 new raised beds.

Today's work in the Orchard has been both productive and satisfying. We have completed and planted the first of our 9 new raised beds. This bed now has herbs planted in it.

If you would like to volunteer and help us in our orchard and raised beds area, please get in touch about volunteering options, or become a full member and support our activities to ensure Saltwell Park is looked after and developed for future generations.

Bensham Avenue Primary School pupils planting new plants with the Friends of Saltwell Park

Planting new life in our orchard.
Autumn 2024

During October and November 2024, two eco groups from Brighton Avenue Primary School planted daffodil bulbs, crocus corms, herbs and flowering plants in the raised beds of our orchard. The children learned how to dig the right sized holes and plant them in the soil without disturbing the roots. They will be returning to see how the bulbs and corms have sprouted and how the plants have fared over the winter period.

 

We would like to thank Scotswood Garden in Benwell for their kind donation of plants that enabled more children to take part.

A young hedgehog foraging in the Orchard was spotted by the children during the October planting session. It was too small to survive the coming winter so the Friends of Saltwell Park rescued it and took it to a local rescue centre where it will be fed and sheltered over the winter and released in a safe place when the weather is warmer.

Hedgehog Saltwell Park Gateshead
Volunteers help out in the Apple Bee Community Orchard 22nd January 2025

Tree pruning and maintenance - 22nd January 2025

Thank you to a great team of volunteers who assisted the Friends of Saltwell Park today in our Apple Bee Community Orchard with the essential tasks of tree pruning and also general maintenance.

Volunteers tree pruning in The Apple Bee Community Orchard Saltwell Park Gateshead
Tree pruning and general maintance in The Apple Bee Community Orchard 22nd January 2025
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