Winter

Grafting

One of my plum trees proved to either not been grafted or it has been granted incorrectly.  The result was that it was pure St Juliens' A and I didn't think much to the fruit.  So rather than waste two years growth and root development I decided to attempt grafting. Not sure how it will go but I've nothing to loose. The grafts are mostly whip and toung with two double cleft grafts on two thicker branches. I will post pictures of my success or failure as time reveals the results. I have also attempted two double cleft grafts on two of the rabbit damaged apple trees. Here's hoping.

Pigeons again

If it's not rabbits or aphids it's pigeons trying to destroy my potential fruit crop. I have wound black cotton through the branches of many if my plum trees and this is mostly working but the eavil birds are still finding the occasional gap and destroying as much blossom as they can reach. Unfortunately my ancient air rifle is past its best and is no longer reliably accurate,  it's time for a new one. What pigeons fail to take into account is the fact that they are very good eating,  perhaps it's the plum blossom that gives them flavour.  I'm looking forward to eating many wood pigeons in the coming year. Perhaps with a plum sauce if I have enough blossom to produce a few plums.

Vermin

Just look what the disgusting rabbits have done. The tree was guarded and the revolting vermin have managed to get at the tree and kill it. Not only that but they have killed another three. The trouble is that I leave for work in the dark and return in the dark so I don't check the trees Monday to Friday.  This damage happened within the week and all the trees had spiral tree guards in place,  I removed the guard to take this picture.  Rabbits really are eavil,  war will now resume full scale. I spent most of the weekend fitting wire mesh guards.

Blossom and apples all at once.

What is all this about?  I took this picture on the 16th of October.  The tree is a Pinova , it does tend to be exuberant when it blossoms but this is ridiculous.  I have never seen an apple tree do this before.  I picked the last of the apples just last Sunday and there was still some blossom on the tree.  In case anyone is wondering I live in North Yorkshire and so does the apple tree.

Cider 2016

I have started my first small batch of cider for the year.  I hope I make a better job of it than I did last year, it's not that it went wrong, it just didn't go right and it was all my fault.  But that was last year and this is a new start.  As my orchard isn't really in production yet I am only playing at cider brewing at the moment so I have been using a juicer as it isn't worth me setting up with a proper scratter and press at the moment and I haven't got my shed built yet.  I suspect that my wife would do a little more than frown at me if I started using a scratter and thirty forty litre hydropress in the kitchen.  No, as ideas go it is a very bad one.  But back to now, I think I have killed my juicer, poor thing, it was my fault, I was expecting a little much of a domestic juicer.  So, just to prove a point, I'm buying another to finish the season.  I expect to wreck this one as well but if it gets me through the trial period before I invest in proper equipment that will be okay with me.  I'll report the results as they happen.
I picked my last plum yesterday.  It was the only plum on my three year old Haganta.  I ate half of it and managed to stop myself eating the other half.  I managed to give the other half to my wife though it was harder than opening my wallet.  (That's saying something, I am a Yorkshire man.)  The plum was fantastic, possibly the best plum of the year and the pigeons did leave enough blossom for me to get three green gage.
More to follow.

Wood Pigeon Damage.

Three days ago the flower buds on my greengage tree were swelling and showing promise of a great display and hopefully a good fruit set, frost permitting.  But the local wood pigeons decided that I didn't need any greengages this year.  They have stripped seventy five percent of the fruit buds about a week prior to them opening.  But am I angry?  Do I care?  Yes to both.  Until this happened I have left the local pigeon population alone, there's plenty of clover in the grass sward and they love it, I'm happy for them to eat as much as they want.  But they have just reminded me that they are nothing more than flying rabbits, this is war.  The good part of this is that they taste much better than rabbit.  Ha!

Three successive shots with my ancient air rifle marked the start of my war with the local pigeons and a continuance of hostility with the local rabbit population.  Pigeon for tea, very nice, unless your'e a blossom destroying pigeon of course then it's not as much fun.

I accept a certain amount of wildlife damage, I have planted two cherry trees and don't expect to ever harvest a single cherry.  The blackbirds will eat the lot just before they are ripe.  I have several hazel trees and don't expect to get many, if any, nuts.  The squirrels and jays will take the lot before I get a chance.  I accept this as part of the natural order of things.  But I don't see why I should accept rabbits destroying whole trees when there is ample grass and equally, I won't accept pigeons destroying the fruit buds before they have chance to open.  I plucked the pigeons under the tree, scattering the feathers liberally on the grass and put the remains of the birds under the tree after I had dressed them.  Even pigeons are not stupid enough to ignore the warning, or are they?  I hope I won't have to continue the war until next year, but we shall see.

The first blossom on my Lizzy plum.  The tree was planted last year as a one year old maiden.  I shouldn't really let it fruit this year but if it sets fruit I will leave most of it on as I'm impatient to try the fruit.  Lizzy is my only non European style plum and should be the earliest ripening.

The flowers below are on the older of my two Haganta trees.  This should be the latest ripening of all my plums, but it is starting to flower at the same time as the earliest ripening plum.