Earlston Orchard Town group recently completed the planting 240 fruit trees, 100 fruit bushes and 200 root stocks, just before the end of the tree planting season.
The organiser, Donald McPhillimy, said: “We have had seven planting days between November and the end of March and we have been able to plant all of our trees and bushes, over 500 in total.
“All the trees have been protected with shelters and mulch mats to suppress weeds. This is a great effort considering that most of our volunteers had never planted a tree before.
“We have had all ages out planting with us, from high school students doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award to others more mature in years. “The 200 rootstocks and those planted last year at the Greener Melrose orchard site at Drygrange will be grafted to produce a new generation of fruit trees to be planted around the town.”
Earlston Orchard Town is a project organised by the Earlston Community Development Trust, which is planning to make further improvements to the town. The planted trees will require ongoing weeding and maintenance, a further opportunity for healthy exercise.
The Earlston Square planting team is pictured above..