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You can be part of a movement that is quietly sprouting here in Boston, by joining with your neighbors to plant fruit-bearing trees in your community. Think of it: a peach tree in your front yard, an apple tree in your next-door neighbor's side yard, and a blueberry bush down the street—all available for you and your neighbors' eating delight.
That is just what is happening in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Moss Hill, as well as other JP and Roxbury neighborhoods, with the help of EarthWorks and JP Trees. Thirty trees and bushes were planted in Moss Hill this past spring and more neighbors have signed up for next year's planting. The project will both green and fruit that community for generations.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Starting such a project in your neighborhood means that you and other neighbors will plant a fruit- bearing tree or bush in each of your front or side yards—whichever works best for you and is also accessible to the neighborhood. You will receive assistance from local groups in doing the planting, and then you will be responsible for caring for the plant.
You don't need much space; even the smallest of yards can accommodate a blueberry patch. The more participants there are, the more fruitful will be the yields, as many of these varietals produce more fruit when in proximity to other trees of the same variety than if they are growing on their own. If you plant one-to-two-dozen fruit trees in your neighborhood, you and your neighbors can eat for free after a small initial cost and lower your contribution to global warming.
WHY SHOULD I DO THIS?
Orchards once thrived here in Boston and will likely do well again, with neighbors individually and collectively caring for them. Today's neighborhood orchard is the modern day version of what was once a more pastoral Boston, and offers the potential to reestablish the many historic orchards and fruit varietals that originally developed in this city, such as the Roxbury Russet apple and the Bartlet pear.
Growing neighborhood orchards is also a way to green Boston and creatively contribute to the “Slow Food” movement. In choosing the tree or bush best suited to your soil and space (EarthWorks will help you make this choice), your plant will be healthy and thus resist pests without the use of pesticides. And if you have a peach tree growing in your yard and your neighbor is growing an apple tree, you will not be buying peaches trucked in from Georgia or apples flown in from New Zealand.
A neighborhood orchard will reduce local crime. Neighbors who join together to plant trees and then share the fruit are a communicating community. Neighbors who know each other, look out for each other's property. A busy sidewalk scene, with neighbors out planting trees and tasting the ripening fruit, discourages intruders.
You may also contact NPAC; we're happy to help in any way we can. E-mail Margaret Connors, NPAC Co-Director, at info@npacboston.org.
The deadline to sign up for the 2010 spring planting is February 12, 2010.
Available Species Apple Trees range in price from $20 (one-to-two-year old whips) to $75 for multiple grafts (i.e., several apple varieties on one tree). The Mayor's office is offering a 10-dollar discount on tree plantings in front or side yards as part of its Grow Boston Green Initiative. Soil testing (recommended by EarthWorks) costs just $9 through UMass Extension. Go to the UMass Soil and Plant Tissue Testing Laboratory website, call (413.545.2311), or e-mail for more information and an order form. |
Basic Criteria for a Neighborhood Orchard:
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