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Auburn Middle School seventh-graders Gavin Bolduc, left, Milo Small and Jacob Levesque plant an apple tree at the school Friday. Students from Nicole Melcher’s science classes and 55 volunteers from TD Bank planted 50 fruit trees in an area that has become an “instant orchard,” said Richard Hodges of ReTreeUs. With the help of a grant from the Arbor Day Foundation and the TD volunteers, the school became the 21st in Maine where ReTreeUs has helped establish a fruit orchard. Hodges said the peach trees planted Friday could produce fruit by next summer. The pear and apple trees will take two years before they bear fruit. The fruit from the trees will be used in the school’s cafeteria and in curriculum pertaining to subjects such as pollination and will be donated to local food banks. 

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