community

Easy graft?
Chorlton’s new community garden
Between Chorlton Library and
the Sedge Lynn there’s a small,
but mysterious piece of waste
ground, enclosed by railings.
There’s actually nothing much
inside it, but that’s all about to
change…
Chorlton Traders, working with
Manchester City Council has
secured funding from the Clean
Green Fund to create a community
garden over the coming weeks.
The plan? To grow fruit - pears,
plums, currants, gooseberries,
raspberries, rhubarb, figs, cherries
- and more varieties of apple than
you can shake a stick at!
We’re lucky in Chorlton: Unicorn
stocks a wide selection of English
apples, but they’re actually just
the tip of the iceberg. There are
hundreds of apple varieties, but
the ones you tend to see in shops
What is grafting and why don't
we grow apple trees from pips?
When you're choosing an
apple tree there are two main
considerations: what variety of
apple you’d like, and how big you
want your tree to grow. The size of
the tree is determined by its root:
its variety, on the other hand, is all
and garden centres aren't
necessarily the ones that will thrive
here in the North. Hilary Dodson,
from the Northern Fruit Group,
has years of knowledge and
experience of what works best in
our very special climate.
Hilary will be running a grafting
workshop in March: find out how
to graft your own apple trees, help
make trees for the community
garden – and take something
about what’s above ground.
The grafting process involves
connecting a cutting (or scion)
from a tree whose apples you
want, to a root stock which will
give you the size of tree that's right
for your garden. It's the way nearly
all fruit trees are made and has
been for thousands of years.
home with you too! The grafting
wood you’ll be using is specially
selected to do well in Manchester
gardens.
Cost is £15, which includes lunch
and two apple trees to keep.
Places are limited and booking is
essential: lesley@communityindex.
co.uk
Chorlton Library Meeting Room,
Saturday 14th March, 11.30am-
4pm
You can grow an apple tree from
a pip. That said, even if you know
the variety, you can’t actually
be sure of the kind of apple
it will produce. Perhaps more
importantly in our urban gardens,
you have know way of knowing
how enormous your tree will
eventually become!
Chorlton Library Community Garden
Apple
Grafting
Workshop
Saturday 14th March 12.30 - 4pm
£15 including lunch and a grafted apple tree
to take home with you!
Delivered by Hilary Dodson of the Northern Fruit Group
working with Chorlton Traders
email: lesley@communityindex.co.uk to book your place
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