Sheffield: Heritage orchard to preserve rare local fruit trees
- Published
Sheffield Fruit Trees grow 400 trees a year on their current site in Meersbrook
Rare fruit varieties, including a type of apple surviving on a single tree in Sheffield, are to be preserved in a newly-formed heritage orchard.
Sheffield Fruit Trees planted the orchard's first tree in the city's Moss Valley on 16 December.
The not-for-profit co-operative plans to graft cuttings from local varieties which are under threat.
They include the Sheaf Pippin, an apple believed to grow on one tree next to the River Sheaf near the city centre.
Julie Bellemann, 32, who co-runs the social enterprise, said: "That tree is actually most likely going to be cut down so the idea is that we save those varieties so we can keep on grafting them.
"If that one goes and we don't make sure we've got it in a secure place then that variety might just be lost."
'Connecting people to food'
The group also plan to establish a 1,000-tree nursery on its 0.5-acre site on the outskirts of the city.
The trees grown in the nursery will be donated to community organisations and sold to gardeners, councils and businesses.
The group grow nearly 40 varieties of apple.
Sheffield Fruit Trees envisaged the city having "fruit trees in every park and on every street corner" in the future.
They said growing more fruit trees could improve food security, increase biodiversity and allow people to source food from closer to home at a time of climate change.
Ms Bellemann said: "Especially after the pandemic it's quite clear that food security is quite low, so getting more trees out there, which can be picked by hand at no cost, is a great source of healthy food.
"I think there is also a lack of connection between food and people and if there were more trees out there you'd get that connection quite naturally."
The Sheaf Pippin apple is believed to be growing on just one tree in Sheffield.
Sheffield Fruit Trees grew out of the Abundance project, external, in which volunteers scoped out trees on riverbanks and railway lines and mapped the city's growing fruit.
The group of four branched off from Abundance in 2018 to set up a nursery in Meersbrook, transforming a small allotment plot into a site which now grows 400 fruit trees a year.
But they have now outgrown the space and are crowdfunding for their new home, external in Moss Valley.
As well nearly 40 varieties of apple, they have reared pears, cherries, plums, quinces and grapes on their current plot. All are suited to growing in Sheffield's climate and some are unique to the area.
The group has also brought back a variety of quince using cuttings taken last year from the very last tree, in Sharrow, before it was cut down.
Sheffield Fruit Trees hope to grow 1,000 plants a year on their new nursery in Moss Valley
New trees are produced by a process known as grafting, in which living wood is transferred from a mature tree to the rootstock of another plant.
Sheffield Fruit Trees want to raise £18,500 to fund a borehole, irrigation system, soil nutrients, tools and a shed where they will run workshops on growing and caring for trees at their new site.
The money they raise will be matched by the Forestry Commission.
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