Many thanks to Pádraig, Tara, Henry and the team & residents at Rehab Care, who helped us complete our Urban Orchard last Friday. Kieran and our Student Head Gardener planted several sweet cherry trees and blackcurrant fruit bushes in their garden area, which borders our school campus. We look forward to seeing these trees grow, bear fruit and bring some joy to this part of the inner city! We are so grateful to Change X. Org for the funding, and to Kearneys Nursery, Galbally, Co.Limerick, for the magnificent fruit trees and fruit bushes.
Over the next few weeks we will be planting three more miniature cherry trees and three more blackcurrant bushes, extending our urban orchard a little bit more. Rehab Care, located beside our school, has kindly let us extend our urban orchard, and plant fruit trees in their border area with our school campus. Retired nuns who reside there will get to enjoy cherries and blackcurrants. The children of our school will also get to see the same trees and plants grow and develop as the years progress. Thank you Change X for helping us create this in the inner city of Limerick! Thank you also to Kearneys Nursery, Galbally, Co. Limerick https://www.irelandtrees.com/ , who have kindly provided us with all of the high quality fruit trees and fruit bushes for our urban orchard. These trees have been grown at the foothills of the Galtee mountains, one of the most picturesque places in Ireland!
Over the past few months we have planted miniature ballerina apple trees and stella cherry trees in our urban orchard. The funding enabled us to buy the trees, compost, and other gardening items. The children enjoy maintaining the area, weeding, watching the trees grow and gradually begin to blossom. We are grateful to ChangeX for this unique opportunity to create this in the inner city of Limerick. We hope to continue this project into the future, for future generations of pupils to enjoy what it has to offer in terms of beauty and fruit.
Today we planted Stella miniature Sweet Cherry trees, along with redcurrants and blackcurrants. We are looking forward to Fr Noel and Ms. Meskell planting two of our Ballerina Apple trees tomorrow! We dug the soil today, getting it ready for the mini-apple trees tomorrow! Honeysuckle will be planted too, to grow against our school wall.
Big thank you to Nuala Kearney of Kearneys Nursery, Galbally, Co. Limerick for the beautiful miniature fruit trees!
We are so excited to see our Ballerina Apple trees arrive! The first of our miniature fruit trees! We are busy minding them, checking them for water. We are waiting until the weather improves before we plant them in our Children’s Garden! It is so much fun learning about fruit trees and the importance they have in improving biodiversity. Our school is in the inner city of Limerick and we look forward to developing our part in promoting wellbeing, pollination and the natural environment 💕
Some of our 2nd class children painted their vision of an orchard when they heard about the urban orchard plan. They are super excited about this project!
Action Plan: To Create an Urban Orchard in our inner city school
Timeline: 12 months - 36 months +
When will you start your project? : We are able to start this project immediately.
How often will your team meet?: We can meet monthly for updates and progress reports. We can communicate between meetings via email or an Urban Orchard WhatsApp group if required.
Are there any key dates to share for the project? : We gave 30 days to complete Stage 1. Purchasing the fruit trees will be during the recommended planting season. The weather will also have a big impact upon planting the fruit trees, and working on it during days that best suit the tree-planting part of the initiative. Sourcing the trees and having them planted before late June 2023 also necessary. There is a local nursery on the outskirts of Limerick City that has an abundance of minature fruit trees available. Ensuring that the fruit trees are established before Winter 2023 sets in is vital for their survival, growth, development and protection.
Budget: 2000euro
Cost of the trees: Approximately 40 euro per tree. We have the space for 14 trees (Orchard space is 30 metres x 3 metres)
Equipment (including gardening tools for classes of various ages and gardening tools) 1500euro
Impact: How will your community benefit from this project?
Many of the children attending our school will have experienced trauma due to war, conflict, violence and homelessness. Our school is categorised as being at the highest level of social - economical disadvantage nationally. Having an urban orchard, experiencing fruit picking, engaging in gardening, teamwork, collaborative learning, and the sensory aspect of enjoying an urban orchard will benefit their wellbeing and mental health greatly.
An inner city urban orchard will also be a positive link between our school, and the local inner city community who will benefit on many levels over time from an urban orchard that attracts pollinators, wildlife, scent, and beauty to what is usually an area associated with concrete, masses of construction work, and social disadvantage due to crime and addiction.
Do you have any measurable goals for your project, such as the number of peope that will participate?
The goal is that this will impact not just the current pupil population attending our school (260 pupils presently), but also generations of children in the future. This urban orchard will have active partipication of hundreds extending to thousands of children in a short space of time (10 years). Participation in terms of its creation will be on a micro level initially, starting with Urban Orchard Members, Student Council Representatives,Student Green Schools Committee members and Amber Flag Student Representatives. Over time participation will be on a macro level, as the orchard grows and develops.
We also hope our urban orchard brings parents, guardians and families develops a closer link to the school. It could be a welcoming safe haven within the inner city, a place to relax, to appreciate nature, and to feel ease amidst the intensity of inner city life.
Are you hoping to spread knowledge or increase interest in a specific subject?
Using the school website www.preslimerick.ie, we will promote this project, linking also with local journalists and local media outlets. We will also use our social media platforms such as the school Instagram page to spread knowledge about the project.
Location: If your project requires a physical space, have you decided the location?
Our urban orchard has space available within a new area out the back of our school. It is a long narrow space, approximately 30 metres in length x 3 metres in width. Minature fruit trees that are self fertilising could be planted along this area, extending the urban orchard the full length of the area available.
Do you have all the necessary permission and permits to carry out your project at the chosen location? Yes
