BBC feature on local orchards
by | posted in: apple day, apples, cider apples, community, harvest, identification, orchard, pears, planting, varieties, volunteers, wassail | 0

The BBC news website featured traditional orchards last week, timed to coincide with Apple Day.

It highlighted the work being carried out to conserve orchards, and traditional varieties, locally and regionally in Somerset and Gloucestershire  The article also highlighted the work of PTES and the Orchard Network nationally.

For Gloucestershire both GOT and the Wildlife Trust were mentioned, discussing local sites and the work being done to find and conserve local varieties.

For the full article click here:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-63298873

Preparing for Apple Day at Days Cottage
by | posted in: apple day, apples, cider apples, Days Cottage, Events, harvest, identification, Past Events, varieties | 0

Helen and Dave at Days Cottage have been busy setting up the displays for their Apple Day next Sunday (16th October, 1-4pm).  Helen has sent these pictures and notes:

This is part of the Gloucestershire collection – there will 90 varieties altogether of which 45 are Gloucestershire ones from the Days Cottage Museum Orchard.

Here are a few of the Gloucestershire varieties, starting with the delightfully named Hen’s Turds, followed by Gloucester Royal and then Ben Lans. Such beautiful fruit this year:

the next picture shows the genetic instability of Siddington Russet…you can see 2 heavily russeted apples and 2 smooth green ones all on the same branch!

And lastly Cambridge Queening…a gorgeous apple from Cambridge, the village south of Gloucester on the A38. It is the best variety for making Tarte Tatin. Helen writes that they had a chef at one of their Apple Days who made lots of Tarte Tatins with different varieties and Cambridge Queening won the taste test hands down! Also known as Cambridge Quoining…thought to be from the angled shape reflecting quoin stones used on the corners of buildings.

Big Apple Harvestime 8th and 9th October 2022
by | posted in: apple day, apples, cider apples, community, Events, harvest, identification, Juice, Past Events, pears, perry, perry pears, varieties, volunteers | 0

Big Apple, the orchard association for the Much Marcle area, is holding its annual Harvestime weekend on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October.

Nine venues are ready to welcome visitors to Much Marcle over the two days.

The venues have plenty to offer visitors. There will be opportunities to enjoy the local orchards, see, hear and smell cider and perry being made and taste and buy many different varieties of apples, local ciders, perries and apple juices.

Full details at https://www.bigapple.org.uk/harvestime2022/

Rockness Orchard/Stan’s Patch Apple Day, 9th October
by | posted in: apple day, apples, cider, Events, identification, orchard, Past Events, plums, stone fruit, varieties, volunteers | 0

Apple Day at our Rockness Orchard  near Nailsworth, will be on Sunday 9th October in the afternoon. There is a wonderful amount of fruit.

The orchard has now been scythed and cleared. Particular summer profusion on the banks of betony, field scabious, St

Johns wort and wild marjoram. We also have newts in our little pond.

 

Great excitement, as where the huge ash was felled, plums have shot up bearing wonderful delicious fruit. What a gift.

If anyone can identify from a photograph, we would be thrilled.

Early fruit (in profusion) has gone to the Long Table in Stroud to be redistributed and shared.

 

More information from Fiona Valentine fionav@phonecoop.coop

Malvern Autumn Show 23-25th September
by | posted in: exhibition, Hartpury, identification, orchard, Past Events, pears, perry, perry pears, varieties | 0
National Perry Pear Centre perry pear display at the Malvern Autumn Show by Jim Chapman from Hartpury Orchard Centre. Jim offers a unique perry pear identification service.

 

Jim Chapman will be at the Malvern Autumn Show as usual with his perry pear display.

 

Friday-Sunday 23-25 September 2022 at Three Counties Showground, Malvern.

 

Hartpury Orchard Centre Open afternoon, 17th September 2022
by | posted in: Hartpury, harvest, identification, Past Events, perry, perry pears | 0

Open afternoon at Hartpury Orchard Centre (National Perry Pear Centre)

Saturday 17 September 2022 with perry pear display and refreshments.

There will be more details nearer the time on this website or the Hartpury website. 

The tap bar should be open all summer from noon on Sundays. But check before setting off.

The orchards, wetlands with bird-hide/nature reserve are open all year round.

Blossom at Longney
by | posted in: blossom, identification, Longney, orchard, pears, perry pears | 0

Stuart Smith spotted this beautiful blossom in Bollow Orchard at Longney while preparing for the arrival of the red mason bee cocoons at the end of March.

 

This particular tree is a unique perry pear, meaning that its DNA fingerprint does not match any other perry pear in the National Collection at Hartpury.

 

Jim Chapman says this suggests that just the seedling rootstock remains and the grafted perry variety has died – but at least it makes a lovely show!

 

 

2022 DNA fingerprinting scheme for apples, pears and cherries launched
by | posted in: apples, cherries, cider apples, dna, identification, pears, perry pears, varieties | 0

The DNA Fingerprinting Scheme for apples, pears and cherries in 2022 (the 7th year of the scheme) has been launched, and is open to anyone who wants their fruit tree to be fingerprinted.

The scheme is run with NIAB-EMR at East Malling in Kent providing DNA analysis through their laboratory and submissions co-ordinated by Peter Laws of fruitID.com.

The charge will be £27.60 plus VAT per sample.

if you have an apple, pear or cherry tree that you would like to be fingerprinted, and identified if it matches the fingerprint of a known cultivar, you will first need to complete a sample bag request form and return it to Peter Laws as soon as you can. Bags will be sent out in May and June.  No money is required at this stage.

Samples need to be submitted from mid-May to the end of June.  There are details of scheme and the sample bag request form on the help page of fruitID.com, https://www.fruitid.com/index.html#help

Or you can access the relevant documents directly with the links below:

DNA Fingerprinting update – a review and update
by | posted in: apples, dna, identification, varieties | 0

Ainsleigh Rice from the Marcher Apple Network has recently written a very interesting and useful review of the DNA Fingerprinting initiative for us.

He explains how DNA fingerprinting can work, using marker pairs of DNA sequences, and gives some examples.  It’s complicated – you will need to concentrate!  And he goes on to discuss what this can (or cannot) tell us about each variety’s parentage.

The full text – as a pdf – can be read below or downloaded via this link.

Click to access Malus-Parentage-from-DNA-for-GOT-15Sep20.pdf

Another Update to Apples of Gloucestershire
by | posted in: apples, dna, identification, orchard, varieties | 0

Jim Chapman has produced another update to the summary of how the DNA project has changed our understanding of our local apple varieties.

The new version has sorted out references to the National Fruit Collection and the Register of Local Cultivars, but also includes a few minor corrections.

The new Apple document, dated July 2020 is available here.

The most recent equivalent for Pears, dated December 2019, is available here.

For more information on all this research click here.

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