Newsletter
August 2009............
Welcome to the August newsletter.
It's so lovely to see the weather improving
and feel that Spring is in the air. With that
in mind, we thought we'd talk a bit about
the wonderful selection of fruit trees coming
in, with a focus on what works really well
in the urban garden. We particularly love
the apple varieties as well as pears and plums.
And, of course our gardening calendar for
August.
FRUITFUL SMALLER
SPACES
The interest in home grown edibles is huge.
This week we have had an unprecedented number
of fruit trees arriving in great bundles from
our growers. The choice about which to grow
can be a bit daunting, especially if you have
an urban garden with limited space. Apples
come in all shapes, sizes and types and, as
we all love them, they are an obvious choice.
A store-bought apple bears no resemblance
to one tree ripened and picked off your own
tree.
Last summer a customer brought me a ‘Lobo’
apple he had grown. I had forgotten how an
apple is able to excite so many senses, not
just taste. This Canadian apple had deep red
skin and was very large and flat. I kept holding
it to my nose, sniffing in the pure apple
essence and the feel of the skin was waxy,
almost oily. Amost too lovely to eat!
The best news is that if space is limited
apples can be trained in various ways to fit.
• A cordon
is a single-stemmed tree planted at 45 degrees
and tied to a support such as a fence. This
is a great way of growing several varieties
in a small space.
• Espalier
is more decorative where pairs of branches
are stretched horizontally to form a series
of tiers at 45cm intervals.
• A step-over
is an old idea and makes an unusual and attractive
edging for a bed. A single-tier espalier is
grown along a wire support stretched about
40cm above ground level. These supported trees
are pruned in summer.
The ‘Ballerina’ series of apples
were introduced in 1989 and are the ultimate
in compact growing plants. Somewhat bizarrely
they grow without branches in a column up
to 2.5 metres tall and only 30cm across! The
abundant crops of apples are full-sized and
full-flavoured. These would be fabulous planted
in a row as a screen, in borders, containers
or lining paths and drives.
There are three
varieties:
'Ballerina
Polka'
Mid season, medium
fruit, green skin with a red blush in
areas exposed to the sun. Crisp and juicy
with a good flavour. |
 |
'Ballerina Waltz'
Medium
to large conical fruit, solid red on areas
exposed to the sun. Crisp and juicy similar
in flavour to ‘Jonathon’.
Mid season, suited to eating, drying and
cooking. |
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'Ballerina
Bolero'
Mid season, shiny green
eating apple. |
 |
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We offer a selection of classic apple “trees”
no longer commercially grown. These are grafted
onto mm106 semi-dwarf rootstock to make a
tree of 3-4m that is good on most soils, except
those that are poorly drained.
These include:
‘Cox’s
Orange’
These are one of
the world’s most popular dual-purpose
apples. Crisp texture with a balanced
flavour between sweet, tangy and acidic.
|
 |
‘Golden Delicious’
Tree ripened, these are juicy, sweet and
honeyed. A very productive and vigorous
tree. Good fresh eating and cooking as
it doesn’t store well. |
 |
We have a some heritage varieties as well
which are considered
superior in flavour and lasting qualities.
'Egremont Russet’
c.1872
A classic “russeted” apple
with a rich sweet, nutty flavour and distinctive
thick olive green-brown skin. |
 |
‘Mother’ c.
1844
Late red apple highly recommended
for “every fruit connoisseur’s
garden”. Sweet perfumed fruit on
a tree that is very upright. |
 |
‘Calville
Blanc d’Hiver'
I would grow it just for the name!
A very old (pre 1600)
variety with medium to large pale green
fruit and light red dots. Sweet, spicy
and aromatic making it suitable for
stewing and apple sauce. Said to be
higher in Vitamin C than an orange. |
 |
Finally there are varieties from the Rezista
range. These are highly
recommended for organic growing as they are
resistant to black spot
requiring little spraying.
‘Initial’
This is exclusively grown by Waimea Nurseries.
Described as an “exceptionally good
eating, early season red with high aroma
and sugar, low acid”. We have these
as espalier trained trees. |
 |
‘Baujade’
Also espalier trained.
This is a French bred Granny Smith of
medium size, sweet and aromatic.
|
 |
Pears
are closely related to apples but generally
require less work.
As most require cross pollination, more than
one variety will need to be planted.
Check for pollinating partners before buying.
If space is limited, choose several different
cordons.
Plums
are the most popular of the stone fruit and
the easiest to grow. They will need room as
they mature into large trees.
For smaller gardens ‘Satsuma’
is a good choice. It is partially self-fertile
and is an upright, willowy grower. The freestone
fruit is of medium size, mottled deep red
skin with a heavy “bloom”.
The flesh is very dark red, firm, juicy and
sweet with a slight tang. Great for eating
fresh, cooking and preserving and making jam.
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