Is fruit tree growing..orchards coming back into 'fashion' again..?

[goodlife]

This past week we've had several members..some new, some old and from different areas from the allotment site have brought up their wishes to obtain another plot or more space..just to grow more fruit. One has already started clearing a good size plot and is in process to turn it into orchard.
Another one mentioned that he would like to grow old Nottinghamshire varieties of apples amongst other berries and things..
Even our secretary asked me advice of replacing some old fruit trees and filling out some gaps with new varieties on his plot..??

Is this a growing trend..literally ? Is this happening where you are?

On our site we never had any restrictions of what one may grow..as long as it is not nuisance to neighbours and it is legal. As long and the plots are put into good use that is all what matters and we don't have many plots that would not have at least one fruit tree..I can think only one or two that may not have any. One of these days I probably do 'fruit survey'..have a walk around and find out how many we have growing/planted.

[goodlife]

[galina]

With the 5-a-day (or even 7 now!) message and the price of fruit and veg, it isn't surprising that more and more people are looking at fruit trees.  Even trees on small rootstocks bear for at least 25 years, 40 on medium sized rootstocks and maybe a hundred or more on standards.  Also discount shops stock fruit trees for not much cash.  When we bought our trees nearly 25 years ago, you had to get them potted from the garden centre (very expensive) or bare-root mail order and trees generally were more expensive then.  Although you got what you thought you were buying - no lost label gamble!

Own fruit is just so much cheaper, for not much work.  I love flowering cherries and magnolias in people's front gardens, but for the family's health an apple tree would be better.  And the flowers also look lovely.  Also we can get the varieties we actually like.  There is still not much in the shops.

'Apple Days' are super occasions for tasting different varieties before choosing. 

[tricia]

Starting with a Morello cherry tree given to me about eight years ago, I now have four apple trees, a plum tree and a 'family' pear tree along with said cherry tree. I also grow raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries and black currants in my small garden. Add to that the four smallish raised beds I do quite well 'growing my own'!

Tricia

[Tee Gee]

I grow quite a bit of fruit myself e.g.

Early & Late Strawberries, Ditto Raspberries, then there are the  Cherries, Gooseberries, Blackcurrants, Apples & Pears and Blueberries!

This was part of my fruit patch this morning;

[Russell]

I also think there is an upturn in interest for fruit growing, but I see it as a continuation of an existing trend, not a sudden fashion event. The trend got stronger when cheap trees became available but it existed before and will I hope continue. After all, the money cost of a tree is small compared with the value of the attention and effort that goes into looking after it, if year by you try to improve the standard and get rewarded by more and better fruit.
I was fortunate to find four pear trees, six apple trees and three plum trees already growing in my garden when I moved in, and over the years the numbers have increased and overflowed on to my allotment.
An Apple Day is a very good way to get some tasting, I would like to recommend, to those who live within reach, Lowdham Apple Day a few miles east of Nottingham. The village Horticultural Society usually has available to view well over a hundred varieties, and more to taste than one could get through. The catering is very good.

[goodlife]

OHHHHHH.....apple day in Lowdham...really!!!??? It is practically on my doorstep and I haven't heard about it before...
Some years ago I went to Harrogate one..and although there was loads and loads of different apples to see, I wasn't impressed the event other wise...it was quite 'squeezed in' event.
There was next to nothing to taste and only some to buy. Even if they would have charged a price for tasting, I would have been very happy to pay something. Though one of reason I did travel all the way there was that I wanted get one of my old trees identified. They couldn't do it there on the day so I filled a details form, left some samples and I had few weeks later letter of what they thought is might be...10 points for that effort

[galina]

Yes, that's the other super feature at most Apple Days.  There are usually a couple of 'boffins' with learned books who will identify mystery varieties.  Very useful and the queues can be quite long, because they are in demand.

By the way, most Apple Days include pears on their tasting tables too.

[goodlife]

When I took my plots...each one of them had one big and old apple tree on each of them...and they are still going strong, even though I can see there is some decay creeping in so I'll have something new to learn of how to deal with those...not that many opportunities to practice those sort of things before hand. Another one had couple of established apples on smaller rootstock, but either one haven't been look after for years and they weren't in brilliant 'shape'..and they were originally planted far too close to each other. And one of the plots had 'wild' damson on too.
I spent several years giving TLC those 2 apples that were too close together and managed to get them much better health....but I did ended up taking one  out as it just wasn't right variety for this area..I suspect it was some sort of 'golden delicious' that just doesn't do well this far up in the country. The other one is cox type and is getting better by the year since it had more room..though still room for improvement.

I have since added lots of more trees and altogether I have 23 different types of apples, 6 plums, 2 damsons, 2 cherries, a peach and nectarine, quince and 2 pearss....and then there is currants, gooseberries and other sort of berries... Plenty to go with 
I'm not planning to add any more apples...BUT...since I'm always 'hunting' something different to grow, I have my eye on one Finnish apple variety that was discovered surviving few years ago and last couple of years its been propagated and released to public to grow..but they are still very difficult to get hold of, only small number is released each year. I have one spot kept free for this variety in case I get lucky..

[grannyjanny]

We have an oblique cordon with 4 apples & 2 pears, 2 columnar apples that were reduced to £6 each so felt it would be rude not to buy them. We have various currants, berries, grapes, rhubarb at the plot. A plum tree at home & recently bought an apricot, cherry & peach tree & berries at home. The things at home were due to be taken to the plot but with the mild Winter & flu they were in growth too soon. Fruit is my all time favourite food. I'm on the lookout for cheap scales to take to the plot so I can see how much I've saved.

[galina]

Yes I have read about Golden Delicious not being very suitable for situations outside the balmy South of England.  However, Mutsu aka Crispin, which has G Del in its parentage, does very well.  The apples are larger (a bit like Granny Smiths) and store superbly well.  Only drawback, the skin looks a bit ugly, depending on the year and rainfall, the skin looks as if it has sooty smudges.  This is purely cosmetic.  We are eating the last apples now. 

OH loves Russetts, but they don't do too well here and don't store well either.  So any he gets are a bonus, but I would not have them as the only apple tree.  Bramley, Discovery (the earliest), Fiesta and Spartan are reliable and do well every year.  From an Apple Grafting Day I took home a seedling variety 'Fosse Way', lovely little apple, bright red.  Son had his heart set on 'Red Devil' (at an apple day event) which is more suited to Southern locations, so I was happy to find Fosse Way as substitute.  Lightly polished they make the best Christmas stocking apples.

We have several pears (family trees), an Asian pear which does surprisingly well despite flowering early and not having another for pollination, a cherry, a green gage, a Mirabelle and two plums.  Strangely it is the Victoria plum that is the most fickle and difficult.  Apart from a box of citrus at Christmas time, we haven't bought fruit for many years.

[strawberry1]

I have planted a few `old` apples on the allotment, got them from http://www.iansturrockandsons.co.uk/

Am very impressed by the quality and strength of the young trees, now planted for 3 years. Disease free and well rooted and superb apples last year, although I only allowed 1 or 2 per tree as they were so young. Bardsey apple is particularly interesting

I live in an apple county and was horrified to hear that hundreds of old apple varieties were grubbed up locally to make way for arable crops like sweetcorn (which failed miserably last year and is now just grass). There has been a huge turnaround re apple thinking and I bet the original collector/planter turned in his grave after he passed and the massive orchards were removed. The person who did it is probably very very sorry that he did this now. The planter used to look up old apples. It was desecration to remove

I have a small orchard around my house, just about 16 years old and it is thriving and well tended and yes I agree with the op, apples and other fruits are back. 1/3 of my allotment is fruit of several types

[hippydave]

i have an orchard at the bottom of the plot. i have 3 apple 1 pear 1 golden gauge and one plum and one peach, along with my black and red currents, raspberries, tayberries gooseberry and blackberry bushes

[artichoke]

On one plot I have a large old apple tree, slightly cankered, with late maturing apples. I took some to the Brogdale Apple Day, and they said it was Charles Ross, often planted on allotments. It is excellent as a cooker, I make tons of apple sauce for the freezer every year, and by October the apples have sweetened and can be eaten fresh. Cox x Peasgood Nonsuch are its parents and it is lovely. Its blossom this year was spectacular, and the set is very numerous. I hope the June drop will sort that out.

On another plot I have Opal plum (very disappointing, so little fruit on quite a substantial tree last year and again this year!), and a quince which got a disease last year and did not fruit. And a damson which died after being ring barked by a strimmer.......

I do, however, have more gooseberries, blackcurrants, raspberries, blackberries, loganberries and tayberries than I can cope with........just boiling up some rather ancient blackberries and blackcurrants to make flavoured vinegar. If you have not made raspberry or blackberry vinegar, I highly recommend it.

[ACE]

I turned a third of my garden over to an orchard. It started with one apple tree that I had wanted ever since I was a nipper when I used to go scrumping in an old estate orchard. It was a Beauty of Bath apple on a standard rootstock. Since then it has been joined by a Grenadier and a Russet plus 4 other apples that I can't remember the names off. Three different pears on quince rootstocks and a variety of plums and cherries. There must be a bee keeper living locally as the place is always buzzing.

I planted them in a haphazard way and sometimes they need a good prune to stop them growing into each other but I can now string a hammock between two sturdy ones. There is a white peach which sometimes produces, but not very often. But with rough meadow grass and wild flowers growing through  it is a pleasant spot to sit and practise on my old concertina.

   

[squeezyjohn]

I just think that old fashioned orchards of standard trees are the most beautiful places in all the seasons ... I hope they are coming back in to fashion ... but they need time to get mature and I'm afraid nobody stays long enough in one place these days to let them mature in to the fantastic places they are.

On another note - last autumn I found an old farmhouse recently by a local footpath that had a proper massive orchard of 50 or so mature standard trees and couldn't believe that not a single apple, pear or plum appeared to have been picked and they were all rotting on the floor.  The house had been bought by some rich Londoners recently  ... I couldn't bear to see the waste and didn't walk by there again.  I might try and pluck up the courage to ask if I could relieve them of some of their crop to see if I could store some for winter and also make some decent quantities of my applejack cider recipe.

[gazza1960]

Our recent move to Dorset reinstalled a Garden to me after 27 years of living in a flat Nr Heathrow,you cant imagine
how good it feels to finally own a property in a beautiful county with a garden....and it gets better ..it has....wait for it....2 apple trees
....OKOK.....its not an orchard...but it has 1 eater and 1 cooker,ive yet to establish what variety they are as the previous owner
didn't have a clue but ate from both in the few years he was here.

Our "orchard of 2" has been a joy to watch as the transition with spring blossom has been wonderful to enjoy as the bees are drawn
to them each day......I guess ill have to find a fruit or vegetable show around here that I can hopefully take some of the apples along to
in the hope of identifying what they are.

in between time our "orchard of 2"  are now a part of our lives whilst we are custodians of their continued growth.......

never heard of blackberry vinegar artichoke,sounds intriguing !!!!!!!!!!!!!and just the sort of oddball flavours
id like to knock up from our thornless berry this season.

GazNjude

[goodlife]

Oh, it is SO NICE to read all of your apple (fruit) replies  Fashion or not...apples are THE BEST trees EVER!
I just LOOOOVE apple trees..... ...must go and do some hugging..old girls haven't had one for a while..

Couple of weeks ago we took Amber for walk to one of our woods..and spotted a apple tree growing in one of the old hedgerows next to farmers field..you just couldn't missed it..it was so beautiful and in full bloom. I have walked by that same spot many times and never noticed it before..probably because I have missed the flowering time and being 'only the lonely tree', I doubt it will carry fruit.
SO...just for sake of interest...later on the year I'm going to order some rootstocks from nursery..and come next spring...little bit of crafting is in agenda  You never know what gem it might be.. ..and even if it turns to be more of ordinary 'rock'..it is still worth of experiment and it won't break the bank neither. Reason I got so excited to find it..there is no housing nearby or have been for over 100+ years...it is just bit of forestry commission's woodland and farmers field. There is spring fed stream running nearby and looooooong time ago there was dam, remnants still to be seen...that fed hosiery mill...looooong time ago. There must have been workers living in area in those days but noting of the buildings exist...though looking at that apple tree, it could not be that old anyway. The tree doesn't look like crab and the flowers are VERY big too....so it is all MYSTERY

[artichoke]

Our village and surrounding lanes are full of apple trees blossoming away, and even on my regular run up to Greenwich on the A21 there are apple trees on the verge. It's simply impossible to use all the apples that are available free.

Flavoured vinegar: I started with raspberry vinegar because my sister took me to visit a Scottish friend who happened to be making some to sell. I bought some to try (very realistic price - about £6 for tiny bottle) and fell in love with it for salad dressings and adding mysterious flavours to casseroles and so on. Not to mention that diluted with still or sparkling water it makes a refreshing drink.

After much trial and error (doesn't really work with gooseberries!) I have a rough and ready method involving pouring cheap Sarsons vinegar (Chinese supermarket in Greenwich) over whatever berries I need to get out of the freezer before this year's crop arrives - boil them up for a few minutes with "some" added sugar, then leave to steep for "several" days. Then strain, put through double cheesecloth, boil up again briefly, and bottle. Keeps very well. Blackberry and blackcurrant mixed at the moment. I ran out of last year's blackberry vinegar a week ago, and really missed it, hence the sudden searching of the freezer.

Forgot to mention, on the orchard theme, that in tiny back garden we have two fig trees (took cuttings 15 yrs ago when we moved here), a quince, two cherries and a peach, plus grapevines (have just come acros "verjus" which I intend to make this year). Peach is new, and not doing very much yet, but figs are fantastic, and this year are more advanced in fruit and leaf than ever before. The figs themselves are already so large that I had a careful look to make sure they are not the usual useless overwintering ones, but they are definitely this year's crop developing rapidly from tiny pea sized lumps.

New neighbours on allotment site are busy planting fruit - they have demanding jobs and say they want to run a low maintenance plot, if there is such a thing. As they rotavated all their docks and couch grass and nettles in, then straight away planted the fruit, they might be disappointed, but I hope not.

[chriscross1966]

I think part of it is how expensive decent fruit is... of my 15 rods (2x 5 rod lotties, adn another 5 at home) about 5 is under fruit of one sort or another, not so many trees, though I do have 3 sour and a sweet cherry, a couple each almonds and apricots and a peach, but a vast array of blackcurrants and many sorts of raspberries, gooseberries, hybrid weird things (Jostaberries, tummelberries) and less weird things (tayberries and loganberries) as well as off the beaten path things like Szechuan pepper, hardy ginger and  japanese quince (prettier adn easier to grow than the english ones) and they're soon to be joined by japanese wineberries, honeyberries and a Chiliean guava, and next year by the hardy bitter orange Poncirus trifoliata...they're growing on in pots at the moment... Fruit is a good choice simply cos of the expense of anything you can't ship unripe and ripen artificially, plus it's pretty easy to look after, the expense comes from its shipping problems and hand-picked nature...

[artichoke]

Why do you want to grow Poncirus trifoliata? We have one that produces lots of fruit, but I have tried everything to make the fruit palatable and completely failed. Whatever I do, it has a nasty musty smell and a mouldy taste. I like "bitter", and keenly use Seville oranges for marmalade and sauces, but these are plain nasty and smelly, and very disappointing. (I find the bush rather ugly, too....)

What do you plan to do with the fruit? Perhaps there are more palatable strains about than ours.....