Category Archives: Trees

Cider anyone?!

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Yarlington cider apple

Yarlington Mill apples are a popular choice among
both amateur and professional cider makers

Cider making is not only an ancient tradition in this country, it is an important aspect of British heritage.

The Celts are known to have held the apple in extremely high regard, and there are numerous references in Celtic mythology praising it as a symbol of fruitfulness and immortality.

The apple had many uses in Celtic civilization, but perhaps its best-loved application was the production of a cider made from crabapples.

The art of cider making was improved further by the Romans, who planted well-ordered orchards of and caring for cider apple trees, and developed equipment to press the apples.

However it was following the Norman Conquest of 1066 that caused the popularity of cider to rise significantly, and cider production spread far and wide.
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Beech: A national treasure!

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British beech - a national treasure

Beech turns a wonderful copper colour in winter.

The magnificent beech tree is quintessentially British – and not to mention elegant, flexible, award-winning, reliable, colourful…

Maybe surprisingly, beech is classed only as native to Southern England, and then only from as recently as 4000BC. Nevertheless, the beech is an important (and much loved) part of our ancient British woodlands.

Whether grown as a beech tree or beech hedging, it helps support a vast array of wildlife – from the bluebells that take advantage of that brief window of warmth and sunlight before the deciduous canopy opens, to the insects, birds and larger mammals that find food and set up home in their boughs and roots. Continue reading →

Ancient and unusual fruits

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Unusual fruits - quince, fig and medlar

If you fancy leaving the beaten track of apples, plums
and the like, why not try growing some of these?

Have you already tried your hand at growing popular orchard and garden fruit trees like apple, pear, plum and cherry?

Has the thought already crossed your mind about growing something a little more peculiar. Something a bit more out of the ordinary, yet still a beautiful addition to the garden, and easy to care for?

If so, here’s a few facts on three ancient fruits – the fig, the quince and the medlar.

Who knows, it just might give you a little encouragement to experiment!
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How to get more fruit… faster!

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Bountiful damsons

Careful and judicious pruning creates room to grow,
and will deliver fuller, healthier fruits more quickly

One of the joys of gardening is that patience is usually rewarded.

Plants increase in size and impact as time passes and fruit trees are no exception.

Understandably, however, an oft repeated question runs along the lines of “how do I get more fruit, more quickly?”

There are a number of golden rules in gardening but the most important of them all is summed up in “as ye sow so shall ye reap.”
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A guide to fruit tree pollination

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Apple blossom - Bountiful

Delicate blossom from the Bountiful cooking apple

The science (and sometimes the snake-oil) can run deep when it comes to fruit tree pollination.

You could read endless books and research studies on how to optimise your orchard with a diversity of cross-pollinators to achieve a bumper crop.

For most growers, it’s actually pretty straightforward to get the right results. This guide should take the confusion out of how best to pollinate your fruit trees.
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