Forum Topic

Community Tree Planting Day

The Friends of Blondin Park have been successful in obtaining a grant from the London Tree and Woodland Grant Scheme to buy trees for Blondin Nature Reserve. In keeping with its history as a famous fruit tree orchard we have chosen a variety of fruit and nut trees to add to those already in place. We now need help to plant the trees. So if you are handy with a spade please bring it along to Blondin Nature Reserve between 11 am and 3 pm on Sunday 21 November. Warming winter soup and hot drinks will be on offer to helpers. We have about a 100 trees and 'whips' to plant so we need all the hands we can muster! (The nature reserve is at the southern end of Northfield Avenue and can be entered via Blondin or Niagara Avenues, Boston Manor Road or Windmill Road (buses E2, E3, E8. Email:info@friendsofblondin.org.uk for further information.

Helen Johnson ● 5806d16 Comments

will anyone be able to have some fruit from these trees in the future?

Kathy Murch ● 5803d

Yes Kathy. The nature reserve is open to public so anyone can go in there and pick produce - though they will have to compete with the squirrels and birds! We do ask people not to take too much so everyone can get a share but there is no way we can control this. Sometimes when I see people picking fruit I suggest they might like to give something back by joining the Friends of Blondin group and helping with maintenance jobs.

Helen Johnson ● 5803d

great news about the tree planting, congratulations. I get bored with apples, are there any other trees I can plant?

Nina Thornhill ● 5803d

We are including quite a range of fruit apart from apples, some common and some not so common. They include pears, plums,  damsons, quince, medlars, apricots, peaches, mulberry, figs. This is in addition to olives, sweet chestnut, walnut, hazel and almonds. Some will no doubt thrive better than others but with the warming climate we thought we would go for some less usual ones.

Helen Johnson ● 5802d

WOw, the selection of trees sounds pretty amazing. I've never even heard of Medlars before, are they native to the UK?

Nina Thornhill ● 5801d

I think medlars came from Persia many centuries ago. They have been grown here for at least 400 years or so. November is the time to pick the fruit and the ripening process is known as bletting whereby the fruit needs to start rotting before it's ready to use for making jelly, chutney etc.  We have a small medlar tree on our allotment and experimented with making chutney last year - there may even be some for sale at the annual arts and crafts fair at St James Church in West Ealing on Saturday 27th November - but I can't guarantee it!

David Highton ● 5800d

Thanks for the background on this David.  The idea of handling rotting fruit to make chutney does not sound very appealing, so am glad I might be able to find some ready made locally! Do the birds leave it alone on your allotment?

Nina Thornhill ● 5799d

'Garden Organic' website says you pick them unripe while they are still hard and inedible - perhaps to birds too? - and then ripen them in a cool dark place. They give recipes for medlar jelly, cheese and fudge. I am looking forward to trying if/when our new trees prove fruitful!

Helen Johnson ● 5799d

I am looking forward to some sweet chestnuts to roast on a cold evening. Just collect and burn -that's my kind of cooking.

Kathy Murch ● 5799d

Medlars are one of the very few fruits that the birds leave alone on our allotment.  They will be after any soft fruit at the first opportunity and we have an apricot tree which the blackbirds divebomb to try to knock off the fruit, so when the fruit starts to ripen we have to rig up netting to keep them off. Maybe the dull brown colour of the medlars doesn't attract birds or, maybe, they just don't like the taste!

David Highton ● 5797d

I hope we will be able to enjoy some of the fruit and it will not all go to the birds

Kathy Murch ● 5796d

I just like to look on the positive side - there will be more for everyone - humans and wildlife!We have just been marking out the sites for the tree planting and it has brought home to me the size of the task. So if you are reading this please put Sunday 21st November in your diary and come along with a spade to Blondin nature reserve between 11 am and 3 pm and plant a tree.

Helen Johnson ● 5795d

From what I've just heard with Ealing COuncil deciding to cut back on the number of rangers employed, looks like Blondin Park Nature Reserve will need all the help it can get from the local community. I certainly hope to be there this SUnday spade in hand!

Nina Thornhill ● 5792d

Thanks Nina. Our park ranger Jon Skoyles has been very supportive in helping to organise our tree planting day on Sunday and, of course, in many other ways - meeting us on site and attending our Friends of Blondin Park group meetings. I cannot see how just a very few rangers covering the whole of the Borough could possibly do the same. If the Council want volunteers to continue to contribute to maintaining and improving their parks and open spaces - and they contribute a great deal - they need staff in position to facilitate this. Personally I would rather pay more tax and keep the service - but we don't seem to have this option.

Helen Johnson ● 5791d

I would just like to thank any readers of the Forum who attended and helped make our Tree Planting Day the success that it was. Over 100 attended a brilliant community day with everyone enjoying contributing their bit to the future of our parks and open spaces.

Helen Johnson ● 5788d

Hi Helen - your forum post lured me, my family and our garden spades on Sunday.  We were very glad it did; as well as the immediate benefits of soup and cake, we're very much looking forward to seeing how "our" tree flourishes in the coming years. Many thanks for getting us involved.When's the next one? :)

David Whitelam ● 5786d