Encouraging nature in the orchard

An important thing to do when establishing a traditional orchard is to encourage biodiversity - a community that will support each other and hopefully keep the apple tree pests at bay. For me in my small orchard this means bird feeders, bug houses, log piles, short grass, long grass, rocks to hide under, bird houses, watery ditches etc. 1 When Byng Brook Orchard is more mature hopefully less effort will be required. Nooks and crannies will develop naturally and a balanced biodiverse ecosystem will reveal itself over time and hopefully with a bit of nurturing we will have bountiful harvests and provide a place of plenty for everything else too. So, I decided to use some of my collection of bird feeders from home to encourage birds to eventually nest in the big hedge at the back of the orchard. I had several seed feeders and peanut feeders which needed a clean before they could be used again. Once i'd removed the old seeds, I used soapy hot water a