Editorial / 1
Forthcoming Events / 2
Recent Events / 2
SLOG Orchard Update / 4
Barrel Press used by Schools / 5
Plagues & Pestilence: Frost Ring / 5
National Fruit Show / 6
Fruit Focus: Hybrid Blueberry / 6
Poetry Corner / 7
Scion Wood Orders / 7
Grafting to Order / 8
SLOG Shop / 8
SLOG Discount at Suppliers / 8
Editorial
Another apple harvest has just finished with variable results, not the best we’ve had but not the worst either. It wasn’t helped by the wettest September/October we’ve had in the last five years at over 15” of rain in Kendal. The mild autumn meant the fruit ripened slightly earlier than last year. Nevertheless, our fruit presses were busy: both on hire by members, and at community apple pressings, of which we again did or attended six this year. A huge thankyou is due to Heather Birkett for managing the bookings for the Spiedel Mill & Hydropress at Sizergh Castle and to Bob Bradley and Dick Palmer for managing the big press. Even the barrel press got “pressed” (sorry) into service for use by schools – see article on page five. This is a very positive development which we hope will continue in future years.
This summer we again submitted a number of samples of apple and pear leaves to East Malling for DNA analysis. The results had originally been promised by end October and our intention was to focus the Winter Talk on these results, both this years and last years and the implications for variety identification or authentication. However, East Malling has fallen behind on their timetable, and the results are now promised for mid-December. As a result, we have rescheduled the Winter Talk to Tuesday 23rd January, see details on page 2.
We will also have the opportunity to taste members’ fruit-based preserves, chutneys and cakes, so if you have made some interesting fruit-based produce recently, please bring it along for all to sample.
As mentioned at the recent AGM, we have been offered the opportunity to plant up and manage a new orchard on the Halecat Estate at Witherslack. This will be totally different to our existing SLOG orchard in that it will consist of standard trees of a wide range of top fruit species: apples, pears, plums, damsons, cherries, medlars, quinces, walnuts, mulberries etc. It will become an ideal teaching orchard for workshops. The site is very accessible, being adjacent to the car park for Abi & Tom’s Halecat Nursery. There is however a risk of deer damage, so we will plant two apple trees only this winter with individual deer guards and see if they survive before more extensive planting in a year’s time.
Meanwhile if you still have your spring-grafted trees in pots, now is the time to plant them out. The sooner they are planted, the better established their roots will be when growth starts in spring.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
For the most up-to-date information look in: http://www.slorchards.co.uk/SLOGevents.html
Saturday 20th Jan 2018 - SLOG Pruning Workshop, Halecat Orchards. 1.30-4.30pm. This workshop will cover both formative (young trees) and restorative (old trees) winter pruning. Bring your own secateurs (but some will be provided). Directions:Meet in the car park of Abi & Tom’s Halecat Nursery at Witherslack (follow brown signs). Satnav LA11 6RT
Tuesday 23rd January – Winter Talk 7.30pm Crook Memorial Hall This will be a review of all the DNA analyses we have done on apples & pears over the past 2yrs and to make plans for further research. Directions: From Plumgarth roundabout at the north end of Kendal, take B5284 direction Bowness. Go through Crook village, past the Sun INN, then up the hill and the Hall is on your left at the top of the hill. Satnav LA8 8LG
Saturday 27th Jan 2018 - SLOG Pruning Workshop, Grange Community Orchard. 1.30-4.30pm. This workshop will cover maintenance winter pruning. Bring your own secateurs (but some will be provided). Directions: Near Grange-over-Sands railway station, just south of the B5277/B5271 roundabout, opposite the Ornamental Gardens. Car parking on opposite side of road or in nearby carparks.
Saturday 3rd March 2018 2.00–4.30pm SLOG Grafting Workshop, Growing Well, Sizergh LA8 8AE Graft your own apple & pear trees using M26, MM106, MM111 & Quince A rootstocks and a wide range of scion wood varieties. Led by Hilary with advice from other experienced members. Bring your own Stanley knife (a few will be provided) and gardening gloves for protection. Wear suitable footwear as the path to the yurts may be muddy. Directions: From M6 jnctn 36 go 4 miles on A591 towards Kendal, then A590 Barrow, then shortly on right follow brown signs for Sizergh Castle, then Low Sizergh Barn. From Kendal go 3½ miles south on the A591 then just before the A590 interchange turn left into the car park at Low Sizergh Barn Farm Shop and Tearooms. Park at the far end of the car park and walk over the fields. Rootstocks £2.50 each.
Saturday 21st April 2018, (provisional date) Damson Day in the Lyth Valley
RECENT EVENTS
COMMUNITY APPLE PRESSING Saturday 23rd September, Staveley
The eighth and last Staveley Apple Day in the Woodyard outside Wilf’s Café was less busy this year. The big press ran solidly from mid-morning to lunchtime, but the queue tailed off in the afternoon and the total apples pressed seemed lower than recent years. Hilary & Phil were fairly busy on the apple identification stand. Although cloudy, the weather stayed dry which is fortunate since we have no cover at this event. Many thanks to the SLOG members, Anthony, Neil, Steve, Penny, Kate, Henk & Romola, who turned out to work the press and Dick for delivering & collecting it
ARNSIDE AONB APPLE DAY Saturday 30th September
The following email was sent by Barbara & Lucy from the AONB after the event: “Thank you very much for participating in theArnside & Silverdale AONB Apple Day,once again generously hosted by Peter Goulder and Sheila Porter, and for making it such a successful event.
In spite of the unpredictable weather, over800 visitors came through the gate and enjoyed browsing the colourful displays in the marquees; finding out all about orchards and the wildlife they support; getting advice on buying, planting and looking after fruit trees; tasting varieties of apple you don’t find in the supermarket and Edi’s delicious apple juice; learning about traditional coppice crafts…the list just goes on and on!
The local produce stalls proved popular; the woodturning, metal-forging and drystone walling demonstrations drew the crowds; and Peter's guided walk around the orchard was as popular as ever.
Younger visitors (many of whom had brought their parents along to see the colourful lanterns they hadmade at school with local artists Shane Johnstone& Anna Read) were admirably entertained bybasket weaving,making magic potions,apple-printing, riding the smoothie-bike, making conkersandjoining intraditional orchard games.Rachael Jepson must be given a special mention forstepping in at the last minute to meet the constant demand fromchildren wanting to make their own broomsticks ready for Halloween!
The Apple Crumble Kitchen, a new attraction for 2017, was a great success with over 90 children making their own crumble to take home. A special thank you to Carol Hirst and her team of helpers for making things run so smoothly!
The effort and enthusiasm which everyone, including the many volunteers, put into the event was fantastic.”
Thanks also to our own SLOG volunteers, Adele who brought all the kit including the tent, Dennis & Jenny who ran the stand for the entire day, and Hilary, Phil & Steve Edwards busy identifying apples & providing technical advice.
FORD PARK APPLE DAY Saturday 7th October
This is a well organised and well advertised event, becoming bigger each year. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was poor which probably reduced attendance numbers. We started up the Spiedel Mill & Hydropress at 10.30am and ran steadily through to lunchtime. Winn Postlethwaite & Chris Caine feed the hydropress Fortunately the forecasted rain held off until the afternoon when demand declined. Ford Park again turned out an efficient team of volunteers, helped by SLOG members Winn, Sally, Dennis, Karen & Liz. Andy provided technical advice and apple identification. Ulverston folk showed their appreciation for our efforts on the press by donating over £70 to SLOG.
APPLE PRESSING SOCIAL DAY Saturday 7th October, Witherslack
Another successful day - a steady stream of members dropped in at Bob Bradley’s to press their apples on the big press throughout the day.
ACORN BANK APPLE DAY Sunday 8th October
The weather was an improvement on Saturday, but the attendance was lower than the previous year, probably due to the National Trust’s failure to advertise the event. SLOG shared our tent with NCOG who were busy pressing apples while Hilary, Phil, Andy and others squeezed into the volunteers kitchen to identify apples. The National Trust subsequently sent this email: “With the weather in our favour, 1100 visitors turned out to enjoy the apple games, workshops, traditional entertainment and stalls. I understand that attendance was lower than in previous years but the event had not been advertised as widely – something that can be easily addressed in future. Despite lower visitor numbers, the event was profitable and feedback has been very positive. I am waiting for final figures but the overall contribution is over £7k. This money will go into Acorn Bank’s reserves and will be spent on the conservation and development of the property at an appropriate time. As you know, the Acorn Bank team are considering doing things slightly differently next year, but following the success of this year I can confirm that we will be holding Apple Day in 2018.”
BEETHAM NURSERY APPLE DAY Saturday 14th October
Although a mediocre weather forecast may have reduced the attendance, there was still a fair number of people wanting their apples identified or to discuss a wide range of fruitgrowing problems. Northern English apple varieties on the SLOG display stand Beetham again stocked a range of 33 different apple and 3 pear varieties for sale, mostly grown in Cheshire. Customers were continually browsing and purchasing different varieties, demonstrating that there is clearly an interest in the lesser known varieties of English top fruit.
LYTH VALLEY PRESSING Saturday 14th October
Hugh Connor moved this event from Levens School to Low Farm because of difficulties with the School. It was assisted by Chrissie & Nigel bringing their own press up from Lancaster, both presses were needed to meet the demand. The day was successful and will be repeated at the same venue next year.
SEDBERGH APPLE DAY Saturday 28th October
COGS (Community Orchard Group Sedbergh) second Apple Day again used SLOG’s Spiedel Mill & Hydropress. Despite poor weather it was well attended, the press running from 10am to 1pm in the People’s Hall car park, with a range of stands and live musical accompaniment inside. Hilary & Andy offered apple identification and technical advice and we sold four apple trees.
MEMBERS APPLE PRESSING DAY Sunday 5th November, Burneside
Romola & Edward hosted the second version of late season members pressing which was surprisingly quieter than last year – just as well since the mill on the big press broke down at the
start so we relied on the Spiedel Mill and Hydropress to deal with the moderate amount of work required. Many thanks to Romola & Edward for their hospitality.
SLOG ORCHARD UPDATE
A growing season with no shortage of moisture has helped the trees to make good progress this year. About half of the apples carried a crop, though this was hard thinned in August because their priority is still to build their framework. By contrast the pears had hardly any fruit because of the April frost. The only tree not thriving is Polly Prosser, where an unnoticed tie round the trunk constricted growth, causing
the foliage to redden prematurely. The grass in the alleys was mowed seven times this year; the cut grass has been composted so we should again have some good compost to mulch the trees early next year.
The Cumbrian seedling row showing colourful fruit ready to pick
Rev W. Wilks (to which Brogdale originally claimed Autumn Harvest was a synonym) has been removed because it is no longer needed and replaced in the Lancashire row by Northern Pippin. The Yorkshire variety Flower of the Town has fruited for the first time and is clearly not authentic, so has been removed and replaced by a version from the Great Yorkshire Showground at Harrogate.
SCHOOLS USE BARREL PRESS
The old barrel press that we first used before progressing to more sophisticated kit such as the Spiedel Mill and Hydropress was languishing unused last year. We wrote to local schools, offering it free of charge, and this season had a remarkable response. It has been used by no less than five different local schools and below is a report from Jan Quinn, Project Manager of the charity Chestnut Events who organised its use in three local primary schools, St. Mark’s Natland, Stramongate School & Ghyllside School. “We are a local charity called Chestnut Community Events that work in schools with pupils in the fruit, flower and allotment plots as well as creating a community courtyard for growing at the Westmorland Hospital Site. We work with youth and adult volunteers throughout the year supporting the school community gardens, local residents and businesses with our mentoring programme. This year we have had fantastic results in the apple orchards and gardens we have created in 3 local schools, a huge thanks to SLOG for the loan of their amazing apple press! Over 250 children and 50 adults involved picked, washed, cut and used the machine over a two week period with our volunteers and staff from the charity. Quotes from the children regarding the process: “it’s so sweet” “this is a monster machine called the CRUSHER”“it was hard work but awesome” Quotes from the adults involved: “how healthy to use your muscles and taste the fresh juice!!” “A brilliant idea this is what the kids need practical hands on lessons”“an historic piece of kit simple, heavy but so creative” The barrel press was also used by pupils of Queen Katherine School and Crosscrake Primary School, all of whom enjoyed creating a delicious, nutritious drink from fruit which otherwise might have gone to waste, in a carbon-neutral environmentally-friendly way. Jan sent the photo opposite to the RHS schools gardening group and they posted it on their website as the photo of the month!