More trees

Finally the permafrost has thawed enough for the two remaining nurseries to pull up the bare root trees we’ve ordered from them and get them to us. The second batch arrived last Monday from Ashridge Trees – a fantastic supplier who has spent more time than I could expect on the phone, helping us through the complexities of planting, especially in these extreme conditions.

The trees came packaged in bubble wrap, cable-tied around a 10ft bamboo cane, then wrapped in a plastic sheet to help retain the moisture at the root balls. They are best left outside if it’s not frosty, or inside in an unheated outbuilding. The first thing to do was to cut the cable ties and remove all of the trees from the packaging, then the roots were soaked for an hour or so (no more than two hours).

Suz’s brother, Pete, volunteered to help dig the trees in, so with his arrival at 11am the six of us (including Penny the now not-so-small puppy), armed with spades and rakes, trooped down to the patch to tackle the 20-odd trees that were now soaking.

There’s no better feeling that planting trees in a group – Smiler helped shovel the soil in with his new spade he had for Christmas, and Jay helped Suz keep the whips (young trees) nice and straight when planting them. The time went much quicker than expected and by lunchtime we were munching on well-deserved bacon and egg cobs. The big lot of 40-something trees arrives this coming week from Keepers Nurseries, so not long for another update!

On a side note, I read a few days ago that one bush tree can keep a family in fruit. With 75 trees going in it makes you realise how many people you can feed – friends and family won’t want for fruit again, and there’ll be loads left to try out our ideas…more chutneys and jams, of course, but also having a hand at fruit juices, and more importantly, ciders and perries 🙂 Can’t wait! Suz bought me 6 bottles of apple juice from an orchard down south for Christmas, each made from one variety of apple. The differences in taste was amazing, and fascinating to line them up and sup each in turn.

The trees that have gone in this time are:

Apples

• Ashmead’s Kernel – 1700 – Gloucestershire – A classic old English variety with excellent aromatic flavour, good keeping quality and very attractive blossom. An eater that is also good in cider – a sweet/sharp acid drop flavour.
• Slack ma Girdle – Devon – A very sweet apple, making it a good choice in a blended cider when combined with a bittersweet and a sharp cider apple. The sweetness also makes them ideal for jams, especially in blackberry and apple jam. A late ripener, from November and on into the New Year, this may be the reason for the name – a bit of a slacker.
• Tremlett’s Bitter – 1880 – Devon – A proper cider apple – one bite from a fresh one and you won’t take another! A hard bittersweet flavour, high in tannin, popular in commercial ciders when blended with a sweet and a sharp cider apple. On its own will give a very dry cider. Fruit drop when ripe – very useful – though they do tend to have a biennial habit, one year good, the next not so good.
• Yarlington Mill – 1800 – Somerset – A good, medium bittersweet apple, classed as a vintage cider apple, so no combining needed with other varieties to make a full-bodied drink. Another tree with a biennial habit, and another to drop its fruit when ripe, so a net is all you need!

Pears

• Beth – 1938 – Kent – An early ripener, the green and brown dappled pear gradually turns yellow as it ripens. A very succulent flesh that almost melts in the mouth.
• Beurre Hardy – 1820 – France – Named after the Director of the Jardins Luxumbourg in Paris, this pear is very popular on the continent and quite popular in farmer’s markets there. Tender, juicy and sweet with a hint of rosewater.
• Doyenne du Comice – 1849 – France – A very popular pear in France, this variety was brought to Britain in 1858 by Sir Francis Dyke Acland. Still widely grown commercially in Europe, it is an all time classic dessert pear.
• Concorde – 1977 – Kent – A sweet, soft, modern fruit of good quality and stores well.
• Merton Pride – 1941 – London – A superb English pear with melting, smooth, sweet and very fruity flesh, and big to boot! It was bred at the John Innes Horticultural Institute, crossed from a Glou Morceau and Double Williams – a sport of Williams Bon Chretien. Originally called Merton Favourite, it was renamed in 1957.

Plums

• Shropshire Prune – 1670 – Shropshire – A classic damson with seriously a astringent flavour when fresh. However, once cooked it is delicious and makes fantastic jam or compote and, after drying, a prune. Not a great cropper, and not an overly large fruit, but the taste more than makes up for it. A very old English variety that thrives well in the North and better than most plums in very damp soil.
• Rivers Early Prolific – 1820 – Hertfordshire – Produced small, rounded, juicy dual-purpose fruit. Good for areas that suffer from spring frosts.
• Merryweather Damson – 1907 – Nottinghamshire – A heavy cropping tree with the largest blue, plum-sized damsons. Can be eaten raw or cooked and particularly good for jam, pickles and – of course – damson gin and brandy. Slurp!

Cherries

• Amber Heart – Kent – Also known as Kent Bigarreau, the cherries are red on gold when ripe with a pale yellow flesh and are large, sweet and juicy.
• Bigarreau Napoleon – Kent – Known as ‘Naps’ to their fans, and Royal Anne/Queen Anne in America, these cherries are sweet and full bodied, but less sweet than their darker cousins. Due to the colour of their pale flesh, they are considered to be white cherries.
• Merton Bigarreau – 1924 – London – Dark red-black, firm, sweet and rich. Bred at the John Innes Institute, this is a vigorous, reliable and heavy cropping.
• Stella – 1968 – Canada – One of the first of the modern, self-fertile cherry trees, with big, dark red and delicious fruit. Suitable for the North and Scotland, they are one of the most common to be found in supermarkets – but don’t hold it against them.
• Van – 1944 – Canada – One of the most popular sweet cherries before self-fertile trees were bred in the 1960’s, with the ruby red fruit turning black when ripe. Not a self fertile, but a very good pollinator, and suitable for Scotland and the North.