1 September, and our fruit trees are doing well this year. We could never have made that statement in Orkney, where we lived for 10 years. Orkney has other compensations, however – see the header picture of this blog
Apple trees that seem to do well on Deeside in a sheltered garden – Discovery, James Grieve, Katya, which are all eaters; Howgate Wonder, which is a cooker and can just be seen at the back of this photo. We also inherited a Bramley Seedling which is intermittently good. This is the second year that our pear tree Bon Chretien has fruited well.
Like the best husbands, fruit trees, once planted, are great value and require little maintenance. Passing deer may munch the leaves, but so far they have not gone for the fruit. Provided you pick the right root stock they are relatively easy to harvest even if your balance is wobbly. In order for them to do well, you need to keep the grass away from their trunks (see above). This makes cutting the grass a bit of a pain, but that is no longer my department. It goes without saying that there is a huge difference between the flavour of fruit you’ve grown yourself and the flavour of what you can buy in the shops.