It’s my 2023 fruit growing round-up! The highs and the lows, the good and the bad, the weird and the wonderful.
Category: Feature Articles
Back Garden Fig Tree – Autumn 2023 Update
Checking back in with our fig tree, badly frost-pruned in May 2021, to see just how strong its regrowth has been.
Orchard Talk with Cook and Food Historian Monica Askay
Monica talks about her interest in historical food and orchard cookery, shares her favourite fruit recipes and offers biffin-making tips.
A Few Top Tips for Orchard Harvest Season
In which I re-post a selection of how-to articles that will help you get the best from your apple and pear harvests this autumn.
In Search of the Original ‘Summer Pudding’
In which I see if I can uncover the origins of the classic chilled fruit-and-bread dessert.
Orchard Visit: The Laskett Gardens, Herefordshire
The orchard spaces within these famous gardens are hidden gems that provide plenty of fruit tree interest.
Hügelkultur in the Orchard Nursery
I grew my newly-grafted apple trees in a mature Hügelkultur bed last year and was quite impressed with the results.
Gallery: Lifecycle of an Apple, From Bud to Blossom to Fruit
Follow the lifecycle of a single apple bud from dormancy to harvest, in this series of 40+ photos.
Another Grafting #EpicFail – A ‘Family’ Tree, Killed by Canker
The best laid plans of orchardists gang aft aglay when apple tree diseases get involved, including my latest grafting experiment.
Book Notes: English Orchards, a Landscape History, by Gerry Barnes and Tom Williamson
This fascinating history of orchards and in the English landscape is essential reading for pomologists and social historians alike.