Greener Leith – February Update

Last month we organised a pruning day at the Children’s Orchard on Leith Links.  With the help of many volunteers of all ages we did formative pruning on the fruit trees.  This was made possible thanks to the expertise of Ben Dell and Jenny Foulkes of the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh who came out to help.  The trees are now cut down to the right size so ladders will not be necessary to harvest any fruit.  The pruning day is set to become a yearly event, so if you are interested in learning this valuable skill, keep an eye on the GL blog for updates.

Ben Dell would also like it to be known that part of his remit is to help local people with any horticultural problems and/or queries that they may have.  So, if your brassicas are down at heart or your rhubarb is not ripening, you can email him for advice (B.Dell@rbge.ac.uk).  The Botanics are also about to start a blog about growing food in Edinburgh, which you may want to subscribe to.

In a slightly ironic twist of events we also had to move some trees to make space for the new cycle path ramp that will connect the Leith Links-Portobello cycle path. Greener Leith has spent years campaigning for this to happen (see http://www.greenerleith.org/greener-leith-news/2011/9/17/new-leith-links-path-revealed.html which shows detailed plans), but hadn’t envisaged that the route would go directly through the Orchard!  Luckily the trees are young so we moved them easily and just  think about how lovely it will be to cycle through the springtime blossoms in years to come!