Nearly every house on my block in lower Wallingford sports a fruit tree of historic age, reportedly hearkening back to a time when our section of Wallingford was an orchard. Our home’s tree of advanced age is a pear tree, which rises more than 30 feet into the air and drops thousands of pears each year. [And that’s truth, not hyperbole. One year I picked up 3000 pears].
Each August when the pears start dropping, I think to myself how great it would be if I knew more about this tree and its care. Luckily, the Meridian Park Orchard Stewards are coming to the rescue with just such a workshop which will be held this Saturday, July 28, from 9:30AM – 2:00PM at Seattle Tilth’s Learning Garden at the Good Shepherd. If you have fruit trees that you’d like to know more about, then you should join the fun too!
Here are the details, courtesy of the Seattle Tilth website:
The Meridian Park Orchard Stewards, in cooperation with Seattle Parks, City Fruit and Seattle Tilth, will hold a workshop on Heritage Orchard Renovation at the Seattle Tilth Good Shepherd Center Community Learning Garden and the adjoining Meridian Park. The workshop will focus on general fruit tree biology and summer pruning techniques demonstrated on the dwarf trees in the Learning Garden. There will be an afternoon discussion of mature fruit tree restoration techniques and light summer pruning in the 100-year-old orchard. All those interested in supporting the Meridian Park Orchard Stewards are invited. Bring a sack lunch; drinks will be provided.
To register, email your name and phone number to [email protected]
This workshop is offered free of charge and is sponsored by Seattle Parks and Recreation in partnership with Seattle Tilth, City Fruit and the Meridian Park Orchard Stewards. Pre-registration is required.
By the way, if anyone knows whether the reports of the mythical Wallingford orchard are true, I’d love to hear about it! I found this very detailed account of Wallingford’s history, which (on page 30 of the pdf) alludes to Wallingford at the turn of the 20th century as having been primarily four farms. However, orchards are not specifically mentioned.