January is the month to focus on planting and maintenance of tree fruits and soft fruits. Winter is the ideal time for pruning fruit trees and restoring old, overgrown orchards, as it’s easy to see the branching structure and there is less chance of spreading disease spores when the weather is cold. With the increasing interest in planting orchards, we have a number of courses to get you started off on the right foot.
Saturday February 5: Planting a Native Fruiting Hedge
A hedge planting of mixed varieties is much more interesting than a monoculture planting of a single variety, and can provide a beautiful and biodiverse habitat with flowers and fruits throughout the year. If you are interested in learning how to establish a mixed hedge planting that includes native species with fruits for both humans and wildlife, we are offering a hands-on course on planting native fruiting hedges. Participants will learn about appropriate species to use in this type of planting, and will help plant a fruiting hedge along one of the farm lanes at Irish Seed Savers.
Sunday February 6: Creating an Orchard – choice of site, layout of orchard, choosing rootstocks, soil preparation, drainage, maintenance, health and disease, and choosing varieties will all be covered. Also, soil health and improvement and basic pruning techniques.
Saturday February 19: Fruit Tree Pruning – learn to prune old overgrown trees and train newly planted trees
Saturday February 26: Restoring an Old Orchard – tour the Irish Seed Savers orchards and cover the basics of orchard health and maintenance. In the afternoon we will visit an old local orchard and demonstrate pruning techniques and make a plan for renovating old trees. A feeding programme will also be discussed.
