25. Orchard Season One

A late summer update on the progress of the orchard we planted at the beginning of the season. The trees have had their first season of growth, and are doing well.

The apple and pear cordons were slow to establish, but are now growing more strongly. I lost one of the pear trees early on, and will need to replace that in the autumn. The central fig tree has established really well and has had a lot of fruit this season; a few purple fruit, but mostly still green. Not enough sunlight is one of the hazards of gardening in the North West.

The fan-trained greengage, damson and quince trees were also slow to establish. They don’t get as much sun as the cordons, but seem to like their more sheltered position. I have added some dahlias into that bed to punctuate the gaps between them.

It is interesting to see the comparison between May (top) vs October (bottom) growth.

The two peach trees produced a good crop of fruit and have grown very quickly, so much so that they may need to be moved. They aren’t as miniature a variety as I was expecting.

The fruit trees are starting to lose their leaves now, ready for the autumn. The cordons are still young (going into their second year) so am not expecting much fruit on them again next year, but hope that the plants will put in some good growth after this first season of settling in.