A Fruitful Partnership: A Strawberry Community Orchard at Woodford Mansion in East Fairmount Park

By Martha Moffat


In 2008, the Woodford Mansion, the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), and the East Park Revitalization Alliance (EPRA) began a collaborative project to plant the first fruit modern trees at Woodford Mansion in East Fairmount Park. The orchard is currently maintained by the East Park Revitalization Alliance (EPRA) and includes dozes of fruit and nut trees, a berry garden, a pollinator garden and an herb garden. These gardens serve the residents of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, providing fresh fruit and educational programming.

(Pictured at top right: an aerial view of Woodford Mansion)

History of Woodford

Woodford Mansion was built in 1756 as a summer home. It is a National Historic Landmark and has been operated by the Naomi Wood Trust as a House Museum since 1928. The Naomi Wood Collection of antiques is displayed at Woodford Mansion.

Historically, there had always been an orchard at Woodford, as mentioned in an advertisement from 1769 for the sale of the property (pictured below). It seemed only natural to bring that back to the area in 2008.

Challenge: How Can Woodford Mansion Help and Engage Our Neighboring Community?

When POP received a donation to plant a new orchard to benefit neighborhoods in Philadelphia, the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood and Woodford Mansion was the logical choice.

Strawberry Mansion is one of the most challenged neighborhoods in the City of Philadelphia. The area is a food desert with high poverty, a high crime rate, and many health issues.

(Pictured above is the plan for Phase 1 of the orchard and pollinator garden.)

Since the orchard was planted, POP, EPRA and Woodford Mansion co-host numerous community events there, including strawberry, apple and peach festivals. 2018 marked the 10th annual Apple Festival! (Pictured bottom right: members of the community pick strawberries in the orchard at Woodford Mansion.)

All members of the community are welcome to visit the orchard. Children from the Mander Recreation Center visit the site during all four seasons. During the winter season, children from the Mander Playground make ornaments for Woodford’s tree and pay a visit to hang them and get a special tour of the orchard.

Plans are also in the works for a Fair-amount Food Forest to be planted under the trees outside the fence for the Strawberry Mansion community. Stay tuned!

Martha Moffat is a Penn State Extension Philadelphia Master Gardener and the Site Manager at Woodford Mansion.

Making garden space from compacted soil.

By Patricia Beynan

Our community garden members chose to either make raised beds and fill them with topsoil, compost, and peat moss,  or to dig out the compacted soil to a depth of  about 18 inches, sift the soil that was removed, breaking up the clay, and mixing it with compost and peat moss.  The garden managers kindly provided a a few loads of compost from Fairmont Park for our use, available from a big pile at the edge of the garden.

I found both options daunting.  I was on my own in creating the 12 x 12 garden from soil that had been paved over for nearly 100 years.  It was not only compacted to rock solid status, but it also was covered with the gravel layer that had been under the asphalt and chunks of the newly removed asphalt.  The garden steering committee offered help and advice, and provided giant screens to use for sifting.  

The dig out option involved the pick and shovel approach, and the raised beds were a building project.   I wanted another option, and as I was removing the top layer of chunks, and watching the pick and shovel folks strain and groan I decided I would find some middle ground.  After the asphalt was gone I imperfectly raked the gravel to the edges to make paths between my plot and the neighbors.  I decided the remaining gravel was good for drainage, and started wheelbarrowing in compost.  Over the course of several sessions I brought about 15 loads over from the rapidly diminishing pile.  I raked that into the top layer the gravel clay surface and decided I could work with that.  

I got a few more loads of compost and dumped them at one end of my plot.  Now it was time to plant.  I had three kinds of  lettuce, red and green cabbage,  eggplant, peppers and tomatoes in little pots, and cucumber, peas, cantaloupe, carrots, and green beans in seeds.  My plan evolved as I worked.  I dug through the compost layer, then put the hose on the clay for a minute, making an instant pond.  After it soaked in I dug out about eight inches, mixed that clay with the compost, put half back in, then my seedling, then more of the mix, tamping it down.  The improved area was only about 6 inches in diameter. Would it work?

Worked like a charm.  I could barely keep up with the output of my spot amended soil.  Everything flourished, and my only failure was cantaloupe, but that may have had more to do with the monsoons of August than the soil.  

This year I'm adding more compost, digging new holes to spot amend, and rotating the plant locations.  I have high hopes.