Planting and Caring for an Orchard

Afternoon Cookery Classes begin at 2PM, however please try to be at cookery school for 1:45PM.

Guests will get a copy of all recipes and tastings of all dishes at the end of the demonstration. Please note you will be joining our main student body for this demonstration.

Details of Recipes to be demonstrated are published approximately 2 weeks in Advance.

Planting and caring for an orchard is easier than you might think and a great way to convert an area of ground to something more productive, bio diverse and lovely to look at. Our course tutor Chris Troy is a TEAGSC trained commercial horticulturist with over 40 years practical experience of creating and caring for domestic orchards across Ireland. He’s an active member of Future Orchards in Glanmire and runs a number of courses on planting, grafting, pruning and fruit thinning on site each year.

In his friendly, down to earth and practical teaching style, Chris will introduce you to the basics of planning, planting and caring for an orchard be it for 3 or 30 trees! You’ll also have an opportunity to taste proper homegrown and home-juiced apple juice from Chris’ apple harvest.

This half day course is a comprehensive introduction to planning and planting an apple orchard and Chris will have orchard starter packs for sale so you can create your own orchard when you get home. We will run a second half day course on November 25th (details coming soon) to cover Pruning An Orchard and Chris will bring his juicer and dehydrator to show us how to make the most of your apply harvest. These two half day courses compliment each other but run seperately of each other too.

What You’ll Learn:

How to grow apples organically
How to plan your orchard - from soil preparation to harvesting
How to plant an apple tree
Orchard care and maintenance (pruning, pest control, disease prevention)
How to store apples

Course Elements:

Indoor and Outdoor Classroom time
A practical demonstration on how to site a orchard as well as planting the trees and how to place the stake correctly
A visit to our orchards

Good to Know:

As we’ll spend time walking and learning around the farm please bring suitable clothing and footwear - and allow for changeable weather!
This is a comprehensive course aimed at confident beginners and those with food growing experience. A lot of the information that will be available will be of use to landowners and farmers or anyone who may be thinking of planting an orchard on a larger scale.
Refreshments included: Tea and Coffee with whatever’s fresh out of the oven will be served from 8.30am so please arrive early to sign in, meet other students and get ready for a busy day of hands on learning
The course is held at Ballymaloe Cookery School’s Organic Farm and Gardens in Shanagarry, Co. Cork P25 R274

The prestigious Ballymaloe 12 WeekCertificate Course is run three times a year, with courses beginning in January,April or May, and September.

The course is aimed at anyone with a passionate interest in food. Many of our students use the course as a springboard to become a professional chef; others use it to equip themselves with a marketable skill.

Others still take the course simply to maximize the pleasure they get from cooking at home.

Students develop a deep and detailed understanding of food and how it is produced. The emphasis is on recognising the best ingredients and knowing how to showcase them.

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