Introducing the EcoHouse Community Orchard

Over the last three months, Ecohouse has become home to three new fruit trees and two fruit shrubs which we received from the wonderful team at TreeMobile. This non-profit, volunteer run team is passionate about providing food security through plant ownership and supplying community members with their own climate appropriate trees at an affordable cost.

In order to make sure we gave our trees the best possible start in their new home, we consulted the wonderful work of Suzan Poizner, founder of Orchard People Fruit Tree Care Education, entitled “Growing Urban Orchards, The Ups, Downs and How-tos of Fruit Tree Care in the City”.

Taking care of fruit trees in an urban setting can be challenging. They require care and attention, particularly in their first three years of being planted. Our trees will hopefully begin to provide Ecohouse with its first harvest in the summer of 2024. By that time, each tree will have been pruned to allow for branches to receive as much sunlight as possible, the soil will be filled with nutrients and moisture thanks to yearly composting and mulching around the base, and they will have strong limbs as well as roots to produce their maximum yields, enough to be shared with the community. On the property we are excited to have a mix of different trees with complimentary harvest periods to allow for fruit to be ripe all summer long.

What’s growing in our Urban Orchard?

• Stella Cherry (Harvest time – June/July)
• Nadia Plum (Harvest time – August)
• Liberty Apple (Harvest time – September)
• Cherry Cupid shrub (Harvest time – August)
• Elderberry Victoria shrub (Harvest time – August)