We've planted 7 fruit trees. More in hope than expectation. I wonder if anyone ever got any cox apples from the tree we planted in our first garden, at 5 Wheatsheaf Close, Horsham? If the Victorian plum and Stella cherry are still going strong at 14 Chestnut Close, Duffield? Well, if we're here for a few years, and if the weather is right, and if I remember to follow all the pruning and spraying and hand-pollinating, we could do well here.
We bought our trees from a
nursery in the Isle of Wight and as it was the information in the brochure that decided me on some of the varieties, I'll record that here. Then in a few years' time maybe we'll be able to compare.
Early autumn dessert apple - ripening in September, will keep until October. Best eaten within a month.
Red James Grieve. This red cultivar is now available and makes James Grieve en more popular. (James Grieve: can be used as a cooker. Delicious flavour, being easy to grow and prolific. Scottish origin, hence does well in the north of the Isles. Still one of the most popular cultivars. A must in every garden. Origin: Edinburgh, 1893.
same pollination group as Egremont Russet. M26 - dwarfing rootstock. Late autumn dessert apple. Ripening in October. Most cultivars will keep until December.
Egremont Russet. One of the best flavoured apples, nutty and sweet - keeping well past christmas. Upright grower. Resistant to mahny diseases. Fruit size maintained on MM106 and M26 (
we have M26). Most popular of the Russets. Raised in 1880. Self-fertile.
Ballerina apples. Originally referred to as 'pole trees', this range of trees has been produced in conjunction with East Malling Research Station and the whole is called 'Ballerina'. The growth of Ballerina trees is such that they make very short side breaks and hence no pruning is necessary. So far six cultivars have evolved from crossing the original sport with the latest and best type of varieties from EM.
We have planted Polka Bright red apples on green background. Excellent flavour.Ready at the end of September.
Charlotte cooker. Big Bramley sized apples, which bake and stew well. Green with a touch of red; melting cream coloured flesh. Pick and cook from late September - will store well into the New Year. Due to their compact potential, growth will only reach 8ft after five years of growth, hence advantages are no pruning, no staking, easy to spray and easy to pick.
Peaches. Ideally planted on south facing wall or fence. Spray for Peach Leaf curl - a good prevention is Dithane 945 (a copper fungicide). Pixy rootstock. New:
Natalia. Orange flesh, juicy and sweet. Late flowering and self-fertile. Picking aroundmid-July under protection - mid-August outside.
Nectarines. Nectaries have slight resistance to Peach Leaf Curl. Pixy rootstock.
Lord Napier. Ripening early August. Large, oval, pale yellow fruit, covered by crimson flush. Flesh pale green and of good flavour. Free oval stone. Best for outside growing.
Apricots. On Pixy rootstock.
Bredase. This is another Dutch variety we have added this year. A later variety than the other two EEC sorts, which could be an advantage in avoiding frosts.
Apples on M26 should grow to about 8ft; Peach, nectarine and apricot on Pixy rootstock should grow to 8-10 ft.
Below I've copied advice from the nursery's website. Someone wake me up at the relevant times and remind me to do the jobs mentioned.
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A general feed of 7:7:7 Growmore can be applied after say a month or so.
A job for the New Year, then) When fruiting commences,
Sulphate of Potash (applied in February) will be necessary, in addition to Growmore. Plums may require extra nitrogen and
all stone fruits
(including the nectarine, peach and apricot?) like a proportion of lime. If Ph is 5.8 or less, it is usual to apply lime in late autumn at 4 ozs. per square yard.
A SHORT PRECIS TO PRUNINGIn order to maintain healthy wood for eventual cropping,
apples and pears should be pruned in each year throughout their life
in winter and, if growing pyramids and other restricted types, summer pruning also will be necessary. A lot of the pruning will have been done, but apples in particular require
hard pruning in their first three years or so, in order to get a good framework for the tree for its future years of bearing fruit. The ideal shape to achieve is the open cupped hand shape for bush and standard heads of trees of apples. Put your hands together, thumb to thumb, little finger to little finger – now open your hands, like a tulip opens when about to drop, open cupped – this gives you ten main branches. To achieve the open cupped framework, you must prune very hard in winter for two to three seasons to achieve sufficient main branches – ten or so, but this may be too many.
Each year you must cut back to two to three buds, cutting straight across to an outward pointing bud, when the framework is complete (three years). Remember, your tree may be two, three, four, five or six years old and we will have done most of the work.After this, the laterals that are formed will be pruned back to two to three buds and the extension growth of the main ten or so limbs should be left unpruned. Future pruning then consists of cutting out inward growing branches to keep the open cupped hand shape with a clear centre. Crossing and rubbing branches will have to be cut out too. Hard pruning old established trees will only mean no fruit at all for three years, so a compromise is to prune one third of the tree hard each year until the balance is regained.If you want fruit and are in doubt, do nowt! Consult your local Tree Surgeon. Unpruned trees may resort to bi-annual bearing. Summer pruning restricts growth and helps to form fruiting buds to the base of the pruned shoot. Do not ever prune the leaders, only the laterals, in order to achieve this.Pears need more pruning later in life and less early on. Cherries and plums often need no pruning – only to shape – and this should be avoided if possible, due to the danger of Silver Leaf. Pruning, if necessary, should be followed by covering the wounds with Heal and Seal. Pruning for shape, if necessary, should be done in early spring, after frosts, and wounds sealed.
(Does this apply to peach, nectarine and apricot?) A final comment to remember is that, after three to five seasons of general shaping and pruning, no pruning work at all is necessary with M27 rootstocks.
