Eve and the Apple

 With Air-BnB Being So Popular The old pubs and inns are still worth considering for a weekend retreat or staycation. For a time there the Beer Garden would've supported a small orchard for the guests enjoyment. You could be thinking that there would not be the room to do that these days, with Apple trees being so large and needing specialist care and knowledge when it's pruning or mulching times, that it's not worth the effort? Well that's not so the case these days! With a multi range of rootstocks available and the encouragement for wildlife biodiversity it couldn't be more simplified. These tree planting diagrams show how to train fruiting trees against a wall or a fence. I like option b. and was thinking how fruitful it would be for the old country pub to grow a grafted multi fruit tree this way in their kitchen garden or around the Beer Garden. If I did start my own grafting project, I think I would aim for this kind of planting arrangement, easy for the harve

 A Friend in Need... ...is a friend in deed. Now I'm not saying plants are people, but it is worth noting that plants do react to stimuli. Known to be that way for millennia, perhaps why the Style, Stamen, and Stigmata are such quintessential entities in the lifecycle of the greenstuff. The bees and the butterflies, moths, birds, and other wise works of nature by instinct know how to live by carrying the propagation through time, creating more fresh buds for the future generations to enjoy. There's frequently an offset that can be handy to learn how to utilise; honey, silk, over abundant flowering, or crafts can be adept from the successes of nature over producing. On to considering my potted container gardens, a theme I find is approaching to bring some intelligence to the aesthetic values sensed upon viewing, working on, or passing by the development.  Regarding my mini orchard exploratory learning programme there has been a certain amount of research on the rest and growing

 Ever Heard of a Moon Garden? https://beekeeping.co.uk/products/beryl-cook-beekeeper-tea-towel - picture credit National Bee Supplies,  UK Artist, Beryl Cook OBE    (b. 10/09/26 – d. 28/05/08). Link to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust online shop, check it out some great things to buy reasonably cost effective 5% goes directly to the Trust! I was reading up today about Bees and thinking on the efficacy of either attempting a Beekeepers course or working on some wild Bumblebee Conservation programme. An interesting few hours of reading and deliberating!  The temps here are -4°C at night and the frost lingers throughout the daylight hours.  Companion planting and Soil Certification is on the agenda, reaching the end of National Tree Week 2022 and I'm looking into ways to make the mini orchard more suitable for a kitchen garden from where I can put the surplus onto the Open Food Network. And perhaps sell on a couple jams or chutneys?  I was reading about a guy who planted an orchard 5

 A Bitter Companion to a sweet treat. The Malus Sylvestris aka Crab Apple is an interesting tree. A vast range of colourful bitter fruits from tiny fingernail sized to palm sized fruiters on large or small trees. Not well known as a delicacy itself the crab has a sharp bite, due to the high levels of pectin that are unique to this fruit making jams and jellies set with ease.  Crab-apples, Crab-apples, out in the wood, Little and bitter, yet little and good! The apples in orchards, so rosy and fine, Are children of wild little apples like mine. The branches are laden, and droop to the ground; The fairy-fruit falls in a circle around; Now all you good children, come gather them up: They’ll make you sweet jelly to spread when you sup. One little apple I’ll catch for myself; I’ll stew it, and strain it, to store on a shelf In four or five acorn-cups, locked with a key In a cupboard of mine at the root of the tree. Excerpt from: flowerfairies.com Also known as 'the foragers delight'

 Winter It Seems is the time to plant trees. Apple trees in particular are particular, being cultivated domestically for such a long phase their needs when supplied to requirement gives a better taste. This in turn gives a broader range of varieties passing in favour over the centuries. Compared with the Mint genus it's not so odd, there could be over 7,000 varieties of Mint currently growing around the world for whatever their purpose, environmental input and output. This is subject to change through evolution. Perhaps not so associated with alcohol undeservingly, as Mint also makes a nice tipple. The Apple stands taller in a pretty picture I could stand next to a mint bush and it may smell nice, or I could stand next to an Apple tree and evoke thoughts about Issac Newton attempting to explain gravity, and the servant boy who stood with an Apple placed on his head for target practice, and myself considering why Adam got so upset about Eve and the Apple in the first place! Variety

 Root Cultures Rootstock Chart from the Internet This chart about Apple Tree rootstocks explains a lot about how the different size apple trees can be grown from grafting a variety you choose onto a root for the size of the mature tree to be decided. It's not bonsai. I am a fan of the M27, for a few reasons, firstly I don't need a ladder or climbing gear to pick the fruit or prune and train the branches. Secondly, I can grow the tree in pots which are easy to move if I have to. Thirdly, the nutrients that the trees receive can be more closely measured and it's easy for me to garden and dig around in a pot than the ground that may be too hard for me with my hand trowl.  Fourthly, with limited space and a desire for various varieties in my orchard the Dwarfed trees are an ideal selection. Fifthly, the big trees would give me way more apples than I need for my project. Sixthly, they're mega cute! As it states that the crop potential lasts approx 5 years, I will need to lea