Everyone is enjoying the Harvest

Ladybird in an Apple

Over the past couple of weeks I have been enjoying this years harvest from the orchard. We have enjoyed various fruit dishes and a number of desserts. Including Plum crumble, Apple crumble and Eve's Pudding.

All have been lovely, that's thanks to my wife who has been hard at work in the kitchen  as well as helping to pick and collect the fruit. We have given away some of fruit. With lots of favorable reviews.

We have lost some fruit to the insects and birds which for us is acceptable. We seem to have lost more plums the green gages and any other fruit and at the moment is seems to be being consumed by wasps. The bees are doing well and I have made the entrances much smaller.

Visit to Garden Organics

The family and I visited Garden Organics in Ryton, we took our niece so she could also enjoy the gardens and orchards, it also gives me a chance to look over the fence and see more professional orchardists in action and see and compare results. 

My Son Climbing the sculpture in the orchards

As always Ryton gardens is an inspiration. Not just the orchards but the gardens and the flowers. We wondered around looked the had a nice family day out. 

Apple fallen to the grown

The Apples have started to fallen onto the orchard floor, at my orchard I think I still a couple of weeks before they start to fall like this. Ryton gardens prevously used to us all its own produce in the cafe, however doesn't seem to do that any longer. The cafe and some other parts have been outsourced to external companies.

Flowers in Bloom at Ryton

It was late August and plenty of flowers in bloom and insects out and about. Its nice to see them, I know not everyone welcomes the insects but they are busy getting and living just as we humans do.

A bumblee Bee and a wasp gather pollen from an Alium

Cherries in the fruit trees

 All my dessert cherries are gone and either have been eaten by the birds are by use as a family. This is a late variety and one that will have given Ryton a good harvest.

Wild meadow flowers in one of the gardens

RHS Wisley

One of the apple orchards at Wisley

I visited RHS Wisley this week with the family. The weather was great and we had lots of things to see.

Lillie's in one of the ponds

The kids as Wisley

It was a bit of a mare getting in, but the gardens were lovely as you'd expect and the orchards were fabulous. We wondered around the acres of fruit trees some of which some must have been planted 30+ years ago. Loads of fruit and all the trees have been beautifully pruned.

Wildflower meadows at Wisley

Seeing them makes you want to crack into action. The way that the trees had been pruned at Wisley was inspirational. I know the theory and I have done the work on other peoples trees and orchards but pruning your own trees is a lot harder. I don't want to to mess it up and harm the trees, and then losing the growth over the past couple of years.

Its great wondering around these gardens as they give you ideas and inspiration. You also meet people who have common interests and may have advice and knowledge to share. It was nice meeting people and talking to them and telling what I've been upto. The gardens at Wisley are wonderful and I look forward to visiting them again.

Brogdale August 2013

Apple orchards planted about 4 years ago

This week I was in Kent I visited the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale farm. I had a guided tour with a chap called Paul Yashpon. We wondered around the Pear collection the Apples orchards and then onto the plum and cherry orchards.

Me and Paul

We had a fun time and a good conversation wondering around the orchards trying different fruit and talking about Brogdale and orchards different techniques of doing things and beekeeping. We had slices of pear apples and cherries. They still have cherries in Brogdale where as most of mine have finished, bar the morello variety. We also talking about the weather and how the fruit this season is behind schedule. My kids were well behaved but a little bored by the end of it. I could have stayed longer, done more wandering and talking. It was an nice afternoon for me.

Paul also has an orchard in Yorkshire and was a bee keeper until recently, and works as a volunteer at Brogdale a couple of times a year.

Chasing butterflies and grass hoppers

Beautiful Butterfly

The orchard is doing well. I cut down 80% of the grass, its still long more than a couple of inches. But most of the grass seed is now on the floor. Its funny, the grass hasn't been that short since the start of the year. Some of the in local animals were clearly surprised, I saw a rabbit dash in front of me and surprised by the lack of cover shot of and disappear into the under growth. Also I have found lots of new rabbit holes in the long grass.

Grass cutting going well

Still loads of cherries in some of the trees mainly on the morrello cherry trees. Lots of apples and plums. This is going to be the best year for fruit so far.

We saw lots of butterfly's and in the areas where we have seen lots of them or areas they had congregate we have left the ground untouched.

Lots of grass hoppers around, and catching them seemed easier that it did when I was a child. The kids loved listening out and trying to spot them. My son was keen on holding them not so for my daughter.

We had a couple of heavy showers and I managed to get the grass cut. My pedometer on my phone said I walked 25 Km's.

I attempted to a perform a bailey comb change on the hives, it didn't go well. I got stung

Lots of butterflies gathered together in the orchard

a couple of times and didn't find the queen. I got stings in the fore head in the arm and shoulders and even on my legs. When I get stung like that I do wonder if its worth keeping bees. I will attempt the bailey comb change again later in the week.I need to spend more time in the orchard, I seem to find it hard to get things done. I am still studying for the next module for the next bee keeping exam. The warm nights are also making it difficult to sleep. Over the past couple of weeks I haven't kept up to date with the blog but I put that right I have taken more pics etc.

I just haven't had time to update the blog. The grass was very long and I can see that much of the local wildlife has benefited from it.

Before the Grass was cut

From the picture you can see roughly how long the grass was. The paths that I had cut are a lovely green, however the grass has matured and seeded and was ready for a trim. We still have lots of weeds and varying plants in the undergrowth.

Over the next couple of weeks I have will be getting the ground ready to plant several lines of Borage, it will be beneficial for the bees and its an edible plant that we can use also use in salads etc. The idea is to I have started a smaller compost heap in which I will be able to rot down some materials to use as a mulch or layer the lines I intend to plant. I hope to plant a couple of lines of perennial crops over the next couple of years this will add both biodiversity to the orchard and make it more productive. I kind off want a patchwork of crops and colors that everyone can enjoy. 

Yellow and black Caterpilliars and Berries

Wondered around the orchard and noted a couple of things firstly these tiger like stripped caterpillars.  They are on all the ragwort. The caterpillars are Cinnabar moth caterpillars which will develop into Cinnabar moths.

They seems to like the ragwort. which is poisonous to horses and can also make honey toxic. So to some extent they are eating it up and doing me a favor. Most farmers and people who own horses are always digging it up and burning it. I may also need to do the same thing. I'll wait and see if the caterpillars are really bringing it down. I will also have to read more on these moths and and caterpillars
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The kids seems to like them in the sense they want to collect them and bring them home and let them develop, to what they believe will be butterflies.

On a more positive note I have picked more morello cherries I collected a kilo of them, piped them and my wife made a lovely cherry tart.

We also found the black currents have gave them to the kids. They weren't impressed until we told them that its the fruit that's in ribbena. Then they were interested.