This week we got our main crop onions, garlic, and shallots planted. Usually, we would have an autumn sown crop running along the side beds of the polytunnel, where they produce well, especially the garlic. As we did little in the garden last year, we are missing out on this crop, but have planted two… Continue reading Sowing this week
Category: Orchard
First planting of our newly grafted apple trees
It is now some four months since we made five grafts from our mystery apple tree. Although we did not expect them all to develop – especially as I was wasting time taking photographs for the blog instead of making the grafts with the normal haste – all five have survived and are growing away… Continue reading First planting of our newly grafted apple trees
Encouraging signs from the grafts
We recently grafted some wood from our mystery apple tree onto MM106 rootstocks. Although too early to be sure about the quality of the grafts, there are some encouraging indications, with all five showing signs of life and some with good new shoots developing. The scions clearly had a number of fruit buds developed, which… Continue reading Encouraging signs from the grafts
Grafting the mystery apple tree
I have written before about our mystery apple tree and our attempts to identify it. Every now and then I look at the tree and wonder whether it might be worth rejuvenating it with some serious pruning. However, long before we moved into the house, the tree had evidently been hacked back to the main… Continue reading Grafting the mystery apple tree
Planting out the orchard
It was many weeks ago when the last of our orchard trees arrived. As the planting site was not ready and the weather was poor, we healed them in, in one of the vegetable beds. Before we ordered the trees we had found somebody to give us a hand preparing the planting sites, as this… Continue reading Planting out the orchard
Quince Claire
It is entirely reasonable to name one’s chickens, entirely infeasible to name one’s bees, and entirely silly to name one’s trees. Nonetheless, today we planted a quince tree in the orchard site and named it. We have eighteen fruit trees ready for planting out, but a shortage of hard labour needed to remove turf and… Continue reading Quince Claire
The nuttery and truffière
This is the final article in the series looking at our selection of varieties for our mixed orchard. Along with the various fruits, we are also planting a few nut trees. We began this last winter by planting a sweet chestnut, Marron de Lyon, and walnut, Broadview, and this year are adding almond and hazel… Continue reading The nuttery and truffière
Healing in the fruit trees
The traditional time for planting various trees, especially fruit trees, is in the winter dormant period. Specialist suppliers generally provide bare root specimens, which can be dug and shipped whenever the ground allows, but only in this dormant period. Bare root trees are said to establish more readily, whereas I have noted pot grown root… Continue reading Healing in the fruit trees
Orchard oddities
Yet another article looking at varieties of fruit for our small orchard, this time examining a few orchard oddities. A mixed orchard such as ours is composed primarily of apples, pears, and plums, but there are other fruits that one might consider, four of which we have picked out for planting this winter: crab apple,… Continue reading Orchard oddities
Plum varieties for the orchard
This article examines our selection of plum varieties, continuing the short series of orchard related posts. We have various plums and gages growing around the border fence of the kitchen garden and being gradually developed as fans: Coe’s Golden Drop, Kirke’s Blue, Reine Claude Violette, Oullin’s Gage, Transparent Gage, and Bryanston Gage. These have been… Continue reading Plum varieties for the orchard