The 2023 SkOOP Planting Season is over, and we did it:

Dozens of volunteers, children and adults of pretty much all ages, planted 70 new apple, pear, plum, damson, and hazel trees.

We had great chats while doing so, got to know neighbours and really interesting people from all over Skerries.

Now we have more than 100 trees in total. Our particular thanks go to Fingal County Council for support in purchasing the 2023 trees!

Our plan for the 2023/24 planting season is to establish even more open orchards.

We welcome your interest in having one in your area. We will reach out via our email newsletter and also through the Skerries Community Association’s Neighbourhoods Network, so make sure your road / neighbourhood group is registered there!

We’d like to share some pictures from our recent planting days and express our gratitude to the two dozen volunteers who joined us. Their hard work, along with the invaluable guidance and advice from Dominica McKevitt, the head gardener at Ardgillan, made this project a success. Thank you all!

Scroll to the bottom for a video put together by Hans Zomer (also featured in one of our photographs, can you spot him? He’s the tall gentleman with the spade.)

Extending the Kelly’s Bay Open Orchard

Greenlawns – one of our new orchards

Selskar Court, Skerries Rock: The Vale and The Lawn

This was on the morning of Sat 11 March 2023. Notice the progresively worsening weather…

Five more trees for the Ballast Pit Open Orchard and finally St Patrick’s Close (near Skerries Train Station)

The afternoon of Sat 11 March was miserable. Very, very wet. Too wet to take photographs. Yet… we got those trees planted, and now we’re very, very happy!