Not Far From The Tree

Not Far From The Tree is hiring!

🍎 Join our team as a Program Coordinator for the 2026 Fruit Picking Program Season!

🍐 We are seeking someone who is thrilled at the prospect of spending their summer in the urban orchard. If you have a passion for community programming, urban agriculture and building relationships with people from all walks of life, we want to hear from you.

🍒 You'll work alongside the Program Manager to nurture and grow the Fruit Picking Program during the busy harvest months by providing operational support, guiding daily decision making and season planning to ensure smooth and successful program delivery.

Application Deadline: Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Start Date: May 11, 2026

🍇 Details and application process at notfarfromthetree.org

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Here in Toronto (zone 5 or 6 depending on your microclimate), spring runs from mid March to late May. We begin to see plants coming out of dormancy, changing temperatures, and increasing daylight.

Here’s a quick recap of our Spring Healthy Harvest Habits blog post:

✂️ Habit #1: Pruning
Pruning is one of the best things you can do for your fruit tree to optimize the quality and accessibility of its fruit each season. It encourages healthy airflow, and allows you to manage the size of your tree and the direction of its growth.

🔎 Habit #2: Monitor for & Identify ‘Pests‘
It’s time to inspect your tree for fire blight, scab, powdery mildew, scale and mites in the early Spring. By late March, when orchard plants begin to wake up and come out of dormancy, disease can begin to spread.

🚰 Habit #3: Mulching & Watering
Mulch helps the soil retain moisture, keeping the fruit tree hydrated, and it also prevents weeds from growing around the tree (thus competing for resources such as nutrients and water).

🍴 Habit #4: Feeding & Fertilizing
A waking tree is a hungry tree! It is recommended to apply nourishment around four times after the tree breaks out of dormancy at the different stages of growth, including bud break, flowering, after petal fall, and another time after petal fall.

🌱 Habit #5: Planting
Okay, maybe this one is not a habit…but perhaps it could be! Consider planting a new fruit tree for yourself and for future generations.

Check out the details on our blog, including further reading, video demonstrations, and local Toronto recommendations for Spring!

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