Six Rivers Charter School pocket orchard: Difference between revisions

Four engineering students are commissioned by a local high school to help prepare their outdoor space for an orchard. After assessing the site and meeting with the client,the primarily objective was determined to be the preparation of the garden space for the high school seniors landscaping project the following semester.

Background[edit | edit source]

As part of the environmental resource engineering major at Cal Poly Humboldt students must take ENGR 215, environmental design. For our semester's (Fall 2019) design projects our client was Six Rivers Charter High School in Arcata, California.

The clients primary focus developing their outdoor space into a garden-based learning area, as well as an aesthetically pleasing space for teacher who would want host their class outside. Our group, the Greengineers (Jessica Sheffield, Austin Payne, Taylor Goodwin, and Justin Hawkins) was tasked with preparing the a large terrace for an orchard.

Problem statement and criteria[edit | edit source]

The 1600 sq. foot space had three major issues

1. The terrain was not level, potential safety hazard for a class of thirty students.
2. The south east corner was open leading to erosion undermining general slope stability.
3. The soil health was severely compromised by compaction and the addition of low-quality fill dirt to fill the terrace.

Through client feedback we were able to generate the set of design criteria below

Criterion	Constraints	Weight
Safety	Students must not receive more than a superficial injury from area.	8
Education	Must be an educational space for agriculture and landscaping high school classes	8
Maintenance	No maintenance required over summer and students must be able to maintain landscape throughout school year.	7
Accessibility	Path of egress must sustain up to 40 people including highschool students and adults. Space must be simple to navigate.	7
Durability	Must sustain heavy rain, 30-40 people within the space, able to withstand local fauna and student interaction.	6
Cost	Must not exceed $400.00.	5
Aesthetics	Must maintain or exceed schools aethetic standard.	5

Description of final project[edit | edit source]

The area has been level, the soil amended and the first round of trees have been planted.

Prototyping[edit | edit source]

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  Rough Sketch of Orchard to scale.

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  Top view of 3-D Prototype with irrigation.

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  Side view of 3-D Prototype with irrigation.

Costs[edit | edit source]

By tapping into our client's network, extensive correspondence, and generous donations we were able to bring down our actual cost from $1451 to $0

Table 2. Material Costs	Quantity	Material	Source	Cost ($)	Actual ($)
20 cubic yards.	Fill-Dirt	Sun Valley Farms	350.00	0.00
10 cubic yards	Top Soil	Bayside Farm	350.00	0.00
8 ft.	Gabion Wall	Hilfecker Retaining Walls	326.00	0.00
6	Fruit Tree	Miller Farms Nursery	425.00	0.00
Total			$1,451.00	$0.00

Implementation[edit | edit source]

Gabion Wall Installation

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  Installation site is excavated

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  Level out and measure excavation

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  Disassembled Gabion Wall

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  Installed Gabion Wall

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  Filling with Stone

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  Finished Gabion

Grading

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  Preparing on-site soil for amendment for grading

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  Established level for grading

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  Fill dirt delivered to site

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  Near leveled orchard site

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  Final grade with tree planted

Maintenance[edit | edit source]

Maintenance is most crucial during the first year during which the trees are establishing themselves. Once established ambient participation will be sufficient for the orchard with occasional soil enriching encouraged. Six Rivers Charter High School Landscaping Class is expected too carry out most of the maintenance with occasional supplement maintenance provided during the first summer.

Schedule[edit | edit source]

Monthly

• Inspect Irrigation (Most crucial during first year)a monthly task
• Trim back plant growth between trees

Yearly

• Harvest Fruit
• Prune trees to appropriate size
• Inspect Gabion Wall for Structural
• Spread Cover Crop seed to promote soil fertility

Every 10-20 years

• Consider replacing gabion wall

Discussion and next steps[edit | edit source]

• Irrigation needs to be installed before summer so the tree can establish themselves.
• Fencing atop the gabion wall is recommended due to the steep drop off on the other side.
• Trellis could installed along fence to provide additional growing space for food plants.
• The removal of the eucalyptus tree shading out the space is strongly encouraged.

Video[edit | edit source]