No, not some local variety of Cockney rhyming slang, but the mini-orchard we’re planning for our raised beds at London Road Station …

With the help of Brighton Permaculture Trust, we plan to plant three apples and two pears as cordons growing up the south-facing wall. The old Sussex varieties are being brought back into circulation by Brighton Permaculture. They’ve been working with schools and community gardens all over Sussex to plant them in small-scale plots. We hope to be organising a Fruit Planting Day on Sunday March 11th from 12.00 midday at the station garden, Shaftesbury Place. Come along if you can.

Today Angie, Madeleine and I attended another mini-orchard launch at the Phoenix Community Centre in Brighton. Their garden is very similar to ours – a small enclosed plot with raised beds – so it was useful to look at what they had done. We were all particularly impressed by their triangular shaped deep beds, interlocking with lower square beds.

We observed explanations about how to tie in new trees at an angle and how to prune them, and then hovelled compost over the roots. The only addition to the good soil was Rootgrow Mycorrhizal fungi.

After the planting, we ate a wonderful apple-based lunch prepared by Robin of Community Chef: apple and squash soup, flatbread with goat’s cheese and various apple-based relishes, then a winter pudding from brioche with apple and blackberry. It was good to meet up with other community gardeners and talk about forming a Brighton network.

The event we’re planning to run on Sunday 11th March around lunch-time will be similar to that at the Phoenix Centre. Do get in touch if you’d like to come along.