Greener Leith – January Update

On the 11th of February the fruit trees in the Children’s Orchard that were planted in 2009 will have their first haircut and Greener Leith is getting the experts in to prune them. Who better to explain how to get to grips with the job of pruning apple, pear, plum and cherry trees than the experts at the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. Under the expert eye of fruit tree expert Ben Dell some 10 volunteer Leithers will be shown how to carry out formative pruning on fruit trees in order to promote perfect growth, heavy cropping and healthy trees for years to come. With the aid of Botanical expertise we are also going to move some trees to make way for the to-be-improved walking/cycle path that connects Leith Links with Portobello. Ironically, this is something we have campaigned for for years, (for current state of the path, see photo attached) but weren’t exactly expecting it to go straight through the orchard! Luckily the trees are still small enough to be able to be lifted and moved to another spot. And anyone who finds themselves with some time on their hands can always turn up to help with mulching, litter picking or weeding.