Despite dire warnings of imminent bad weather, the sun shone on Love Lane last Saturday (October 18) and the deed was done. Rye’s mayor, Bernadine Fiddimore, selected the Sussex Mother apple as the one for her and duly performed her ceremonial duty of planting the tree to inaugurate the Rye Community Orchard. In total, 10 trees were planted out, staked and watered – and toasted, in wassailing-style, with locally produced apple juice.
Local beekeeper John Osborne was on hand to advise on bees and beekeeping: he has suggested a quiet thicket of scrubby bush as a potential location for a beehive, and two bee B&Bs were assembled and positioned, close to the first “bug hotel”, on the old oak tree. Councillors Shaun Rogers and Michael Boyd were also there as representatives of the Rye Amenity Community Interest Company and seemed very impressed with the progress made to date.
The most pressing need now is to get the donated shed (thank you, Jo Morphy) up and weather proofed so that all the tools and garden-related stuff (where does all of it come from?) can be decanted out of the Mannings’ garage and across the road on to the garden site. I believe all we are waiting for is a grab-bag of sharp sand (another kind donation) to smooth out the donated hard core (thank you, Tolletts).
With the autumn/winter beginning to close in – the clocks going back this coming weekend won’t help – it would be tempting to think that work on the garden will stop. Not a bit of it! So long as the rain is not actually falling, we’ll be there Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings so why not come and join in the fun!
For more information on the community garden project, visit the Transition Rye website and click on Activities.
Photo: Katharine Manning