by Sonia Ahmed
Here comes a tree!
Brandon Doyle spent his Tuesday evening working with fellow East Rock volunteers to shovel pounds of dirt and soil, plant a persimmon tree and a crabapple tree, and hose those new trees down to help create a “food forest” at Blake Field.
The food forest project is an initiative of the Yale-affiliated environmental nonprofit Urban Resources Initiative (URI).
Volunteers meet at East Rock Dog Park at 107 Mechanic St. every Tuesday to tend to the growing greenspace from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday evening saw a group of 12 working to plant a crabapple tree and a persimmon tree. Two other volunteers planted a fern.
A food forest, according to volunteer Doyle, is a space where organizers and volunteers remove invasive plants, such as multiflora rose, and plant in their stead edible fruits native to New England.
“We’re hoping to outcompete the invasive stuff,” Doyle said.
The project started a little over a month ago, and the fruits are intended for neighbors in the area as well as for local wildlife, such as birds and gophers.
Other plants previously planted in the food forest include elderberry, blueberry, and witch hazel.
Doyle, who came up with the food forest idea, said he chose East Rock Park to start the food forest as it was close to where he lives, and he often walks his dog there.
“This park doesn’t get a lot of passive use,” he said, adding that most people come to walk their dogs or play sports on the field. “No one comes to this park to chill and hangout, so I thought it could use a place to sit, watch the birds, and just chill,”
Doyle said he started volunteering at URI shortly after 2020, when he got curious about the trees in his yard, and then learned what the differences were between various oak trees after taking an arbor culture class.
Other URI projects in the area include planting a tulip tree at the corner of Edwards Street and St. Ronan Street, and removing weeds behind Wilbur Cross High School.
The newly planted crabapple and persimmon trees will need to be watered consistently for two years. Doyle said they will be watered heavily on a weekly basis, rather than on a daily basis. The latter way of watering, Doyle said, is a common mistake. For many plants, it’s better to water more intensively but less often to prevent roots growing towards water.
“They’re kind of traumatized,” Development and Outreach Manager Anna Pickett said. She explained that when you harvest a tree and plant it somewhere new, the tree needs to be regularly taken care of for the first couple of years.
Doyle plans for his next additions to the food forest to be more crabapple trees and some serviceberry plants.
Doyle and the new crabapple tree.
Doyle pushes mulch into a donut shape, to hold the moisture from watering and prevent fungus from growing.