All trees take time to establish. It's one of the challenges in designing a productive forest garden. Nine years into my project I'm still seeing yields increase in the tree fruit as the larger trees mature. Trees on more dwarfing rootstocks and those that are more heavily trained will reach much of their peak production a little earlier of course but it can seem like a long time to wait.
However, in some cases there are established trees that have varieties on we don't like or don't meet our needs. For example, it might produce a very short season apple that we can't use, store, swap or give away. Maybe, even after storing for the right season of use we just don't like the taste. In other cases a tree may not be productive because it doesn't have a pollination partner. In these cases, grafting one or more new variety onto the tree can help. Rather than replacing the tree we can take advantage of the established plant with all of it's infrastructure below ground and much of what is above ground too. A single tree can have multiple varieties on the same tree. A bush or standard tree could provide both a range of dessert and cooking apples that will ripen over a period of several months. I've recently collected together some notes on grafting apple trees here. It includes some great YouTube videos from Stephen Hayes that I used to learn how to rind graft. It worked very well for me and I now have an established tree with five varieties - two eaters and three cookers - that complement the rest of the produce in the garden.
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Over the last couple of weeks I've been pruning the bushes and trees in the forest garden. First up were the gooseberry cordons. I originally planted three cordons: Invicta, Hinnomaki Yellow and Hinnomaki Red. From cuttings from those I've now got nine cordons on two boundaries. I summer prune the cordons to keep them compact and them again in winter. I try to video how I prune them so that I can see the effect that it has year on year. This year I went back and compiled them all together. I'm pleased with the way they have grown. I think I could have been more conscientious about tying in the new growth and I would probably have cordons that were a bit less wiggly, but they are fine really. One thing that I have been disappointed with is the yield though. The older cordons do produce fruit, but not a great deal. I keep a fairly close eye on them during the flowering and fruiting season and I don't think anything is eating them then. The leaves look fine so I don't think I have saw fly. I read that hungry bullfinches can eat the buds in winter which is a possibility I suppose but I don't really want to net them. I did wonder about the soil and growing them on chalk. I read that potassium deficiency can be a cause of poor fruiting and that this can occur on chalk soils. I'm trying a little wood ash added to the mulch around the plants and I will use diluted seaweed extract as they start to grow this year to see if that helps. I've also been pruning the redcurrants, whitecurrants, worcesterberry and blackcurrants. I also had to repair some of the supports on the boundary after the high winds that hold up the tayberry and some of the gooseberries. I've tied in the climbers like the tayberry, loganberry, blackberry and Japanese wineberry. A little later I pruned the apple and pear trees. For most of the trees in the garden I'm still working on developing the framework of branches. It's nice to look back and see how the pruning has shaped the tree. I compiled all the videos for the Redsleeves apple which I'm growing as a bush tree. Looking back at it now I think I could probably have left the leaders alone this year instead of cutting them back to half the new growth. I think from next year I will revert to maintenance pruning only and see how the tree develops.
The other apple trees got similar treatment. The only apples that didn't get pruned were the cordon (Blue Pearmain) and the Annie Elizabeth bush. That has been growing really slowly ever since it was planted. It has a dodgy graft from the nursery which is really swollen. I was hoping that it would recover as it got bigger but it doesn't seem to be the case. I think I might have to take it out or try some fancy bridge grafting on it. It's a shame because it is the only cooking apple in the garden. I decided that it would be good to have a better balance so I am planning to graft three new cooking apple varieties onto the existing apple at the end of the garden. I've had some success with grafting half of it with Egremont Russet and Merton Russet. There are still three or four branches of the original unknown variety that I am happy to lose so I ordered scions of Newton Wonder, Grenadier and Rev W Wilks from Deacon's nursery that I will graft onto those. I will have to wait a while but if they all take I should eventually have cookers from August through to March. I pruned a couple of other trees too. I reduced the height of the quince tree as it was getting a bit taller than I wanted. My intention was that it would sit below the Tydeman's Late Orange standard apple behind it. The top was starting to compete with the apple for light so I took a few feet from the side closest to the apple, cutting back to the next main branch below. I also reduced the height of the Nottingham cob which was getting up to about 2.5 - 3.0m, a bit taller than I wanted. Hopefully it won't reduce it's productivity too much. Only time will tell. It's about 2-3 months since I grafted the mature apple tree at the back of the garden. Most of the grafts were growing quite strongly a month ago, but one only started to grow in the last fortnight. I tidied up the tree by cutting off shoots from the branch below the scion. I also took off the grafting tape from some of the grafts which looked as though they were quite strong. I had a change of heart part way through as I remembered that one of the cats likes to climb the tree and might dislodge them. I put together a short video which shows the progress. It's interesting to compare with the pictures back in May here. I'm really pleased with the progress. Of the 17 scions I grafted, 14 have taken; 8/9 of the Merton Russet, 5/6 of the Egremont Russet and 1/2 of the Katy/Scrumptious (I mixed these up so don't know which is which). Most of the scions are growing away strongly now. The Merton Russet seem to be more vigorous than the Egremont Russet. Interestingly some of the scions came into flower as they started to grow, much later than the rest of the tree.
I decided that I was going to experiment with grafting one of the apple trees in the garden. There is an existing apple tree at the end of the garden which bears fruit each year but it has a couple of problems. Firstly the fruit don't keep for more than a few weeks and secondly it has been suffering from codling moth quite badly. I had thought about replacing the whole tree, but it seemed a shame to start from scratch when the tree as a whole is fairly healthy. I decided I would try grafting on two different varieties - Egremont Russet and Merton Russet. I don't have any other russet varieties so thought I would give them a try. Egremont Russet is one of the varieties recommended in Martin Crawford's Creating a Forest Garden. It ripens in October and stores until December and has some resistance to scab. Merton Russet is a later apple, ready to eat between December and March. I bought 9 scions of one and 6 of the other from Deacon's nursery. These arrived a couple of months ago and have been kept in the fridge since then. I also planted a couple of trees at my kids school recently. I pruned them after planting and kept the prunings as well, so I had a single scion of both Katy and Scrumptious (both earlies). I have never grafted a tree before so was a little nervous about the best way to do it. I have a couple of books on the subject - The Grafter's Handbook and Grafting for Fruit Trees, but the best source of information I found was Stephen Haye's YouTube channel which has practical demonstrations and information on tools etc. Based on the size of the branches I had I decided to use rind grafts. For most of the grafts I used two scions per branch but for the Katy and Scrumptious varieties I only put one scion per branch. Once they take I will probably choose the healthiest on each branch and remove the other.
The only tools I used were: a sharp Opinel folding knife, Tenax grafting wax from the garden centre and Parafilm tape from ART. Having cut each branch off and tidied up the end I made a small cut (~2cm long) through to the cambium layer and eased the bark away from the inner wood. Then I cut the scion from both sides at a shallow angle to make a sharp end and slid this under the flap created in the branch (see here for a demonstration). Once I had done two of these I applied the warmed wax to seal all the open edges and wrapped it in the tape. Lastly I put some labels made from a cut up ice-cream tub on the branches so that I know which are which. I left about one third of the original branches to draw the sap. I may leave them in place if the nematodes I used last year have got rid of most of the codling moths. I'm not sure if I did it right, but the process was fun and I'd recommend trying it out. Hopefully at least some of the grafts will take. If they all do I'll have a tree with five varieties in total that will provide apples from August through to March. There was some stormy weather last night. Lots of rain and strong winds. Looking around today quite a few pears had been blown down. Luckily I had picked about 20 of the ripest yesterday. I've been keeping a record of the produce in the garden and the pears are nearly catching up with the rhubarb in the most productive stakes. You can see the tally at the bottom right of this page. I spent some time yesterday building a simple rack for ripening the fruit out of the wooden base from a washing machine and some bamboo canes pinned to it. I've hung it up inside so that there is plenty of air circulation and so no rodents can get to them. I will probably need something bigger when I get more pears and apples, but it will do for this year.
The wind also blew down about 20 apples from the existing apple tree at the end of the garden. Two thirds of them were maggoty and rotten before they hit the ground. It confirmed what I had suspected that the tree suffers quite badly from codling moth and probably sawfly. Last year I got almost no useful fruit from the, but blamed apple scab which was my own fault due to too frequent spraying with seaweed solution. It got me thinking that it is time to do something about it. If I don't do anything I pretty sure that the pests will transfer over to the newly planted apple trees once they bear fruit. My neighbour also has a large apple tree - it had a great crop last year but this year has almost none. It is probably due to no pruning last year, but it made me think that biennial bearing could be useful pest control strategy for an isolated fruit tree - breaking the life cycle of the pest organism and reducing numbers considerably. I couldn't find anything on the internet, but I suspect I may have read that somewhere? Because I have a number of young apple trees if I am going to reduce the number of pests I will probably need to do something before they all start bearing. I'm not interested in using pesticides but I have a few possible courses of action: 1. Control measures like picking up all the dropped fruit (I do that anyway), and tying sacking around the trunk to catch overwintering moth larvae. 2. Removing all the blossom and fruit next year to break the life cycle of the pests. 3. Grafting over the apple tree to a new variety. 4. Remove the apple tree completely and perhaps replace it with a different fruit. This might seem a little drastic, but I suspect I have too many apple trees in the garden to be trouble free. On the downside I would probably disturb my asparagus and strawberry beds nearby. I'm favouring option 3 at the moment. The tree is well established so would give the new variety/ies a head start. The tree wouldn't bear fruit for a year or two so it would also achieve the same result as 2 (although I may have to leave a nurse branch). I don't know what the current variety is but I suspect it is relatively early bearer and I would rather have a keeper. There are some great videos on YouTube with examples of grafting technique and orchard management here by Stephen Hayes. Definitely worth a look. As for what varieties, I would probably use scions from the one or more of the other trees in the garden. A different variety would be nice, but I am not sure where to get the scion wood from and the other trees I have would be the easiest option for now. I don't have to decide until I begin pruning the trees as any grafting would be done in early spring. If anyone has any experience of doing something similar or other ideas I would love to hear about them. |
AboutA blog following the development of a small edible forest garden in Salisbury, Wiltshire, first planted in winter 2008.
AuthorA forest gardening enthusiast with an interest in growing food sustainably, locally and with minimal effort. More blogsAnni's Perennial Veggies
Bangor Forest Garden Project Forest Garden Plants Fruit Forum Graham Burnett Have Some Pi Help Save Bees Il Giardino Foresta Maddy Harland Moulsecoomb Forest Garden Mortal Tree Oak House Permaculture Project Of Plums And Pignuts Otter Farm PermaculturePower PermieHomestead Plants for a Future Plant Trees, It's Self Defence Really Useful Gardens SelfSufficientish Southwoods Forest Gardens Sustainable Forest Garden Farm Project The Cultural Wilderness The Field The Unconventional Gardener Transition Culture Two Go Forest Gardening Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Food Champions Ynysmon's Blog Other links
Check out the resources page for lots more forest gardening websites, books and videos.
Details of my young forest garden are here and photos here. Produce 20161 Jan - 31 Mar
0.640kg Babington leek 0.417kg Cabbage 0.742kg Celeriac 0.005kg Coriander 0.343kg Daikon 0.003kg Fennel 0.091kg Garlic shoots 0.005kg Goji berry leaves 0.259kg Lettuce 0.002kg Mint 0.020kg Pak choi 0.233kg Parsley 2.100kg Potatoes 0.041kg Radish 0.006kg Red veined sorrel 2.069kg Rosemary 0.888kg Ruby chard 0.002kg Thyme 0.065kg Winter purslane 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.008kg Alpine strawberries 0.555kg Babington leeks 0.003kg Basil 0.989kg Beetroot 1.987kg Celeriac 0.019kg Chillis 0.076kg Chives 0.466kg Cleavers 0.227kg Coriander 0.075kg Courgettes 0.034kg Fennel 0.045kg Garlic shoots 0.004kg Gooseberries 0.048kg Holly leaves 0.006kg Lemon balm 0.541kg Lettuce 0.005kg Lime leaves 0.012kg Mint 0.108kg Nettles 0.440kg Oca 0.295kg Parsley 0.003kg Radish 0.241kg Raspberries 2.570kg Rhubarb 0.052kg Rocket 0.001kg Rosemary 2.338kg Ruby chard 0.022kg Sage 0.099kg Spring onions 0.464kg Strawberries 0.001kg Sweet violet 0.064kg Wild garlic 0.001kg Winter purslane 1 Jul - 30 Sep 0.030kg Alpine strawberries 22.360kg Apples 0.003kg Basil 0.317kg Blackberries 0.706kg Blackcurrants 0.595kg Blueberries 0.085kg Chillis 0.002kg Chives 8.255kg Courgettes 0.003kg Fennel 0.205kg Gooseberries 2.674kg Hazelnuts 0.429kg Japanese wineberries 2.404kg Jostaberries 0.209kg Loganberries 0.025kg Mint 0.167kg Mulberries 0.006kg Nasturtium 0.004kg Parsley 4.068kg Pears 4.097kg Rapsberries 3.988kg Redcurrants 0.016kg Rocket 0.522kg Rosemary 0.026kg Spring onions 0.837kg Sweet cherries 0.234kg Tayberries 2.142kg Tomatoes 1.229kg Whitecurrants 1 Oct - 31 Dec 2.263kg Apples 0.317kg Chillis 2.697kg Courgettes 0.060kg Mashua 0.030kg Mint 0.250kg Oca 0.080kg Parsley 0.581kg Pears 1.360kg Potatoes 0.011kg Rocket 0.056kg Rosemary 0.050kg Sage 0.651kg Tomatoes Produce 20151 Jan - 31 Mar
0.187kg Babington's leek 0.031kg garlic shoots 0.005kg mint 0.560kg salad 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.021kg alpine strawberries 2.074kg Babington's leeks 0.017kg basil 0.975kg blackcurrants 0.434kg cabbage 0.016kg chives 0.095kg coriander 0.009kg dill 0.156kg garlic shoots 0.443kg gooseberries 1.801kg kohlrabi 0.297kg lettuce 0.015kg lime leaves 0.035kg mint 0.033kg mustard leaves 0.231kg nettles 0.089kg onion 0.470kg oregano 0.013kg pak choi 0.013kg parsley 0.626kg peas 0.107kg peppermint 0.871kg purple sprouting broccoli 4.219kg raspberries 1.406kg red onion 0.048kg red-veined sorrel 1.751kg rhubarb 1.618kg ruby chard 0.324kg spring onion 1.157kg strawberries 0.577kg sweet cherries 0.242kg tayberried 0.001kg thyme 0.160kg wild garlic 0004kg winter purslane 1 Jul - 30 Sep 0.003kg alpine strawberries 0.002kg apple mint 37.964kg apples 0.033kg basil 0.753kg blackberries 7.207kg blackcurrants 2.441kg blueberries 0.073kg cabbage 0.039kg celeriac 0.019kg coriander 6.329kg courgettes 15.960kg cucumber 0.012kg dill 0.466kg french beans 0.312kg garlic 1.447kg gooseberries 12.822kg hazelnuts 0.967kg Japanese wineberries 2.390kg jostaberries 0.205kg lettuce 0.001kg lime basil 0.848kg loganberries 0.018kg mint 0.203kg mulberries 0.005kg oregano 0.041kg pak choi 0.004kg parsley 2.010kg pears 0.006kg peppermint 8.529kg raspberries 6.138kg redcurrants 0.005kg rocambole 2.198kg ruby chard 0.024kg sage 1.605kg sour cherries 0.191kg strawberries 0.843kg strawberries 0.651kg tayberries 0.001kg thyme 15.138kg tomatoes 0.977kg whitecurrants 1 Oct - 31 Dec 0.117kg chilli peppers 0.018kg coriander 0.022kg courgettes 6.716kg cucumbers 0.008kg dill 0.223kg french beans 0.115kg hazelnuts 0.025kg lettuce 0.002kg mint 0.065kg parsley 0.524kg pears 1.412kg ruby chard 0.072kg spring onion 6.489kg tomatoes Produce 2014
1 Jan - 31 Mar
0.308kg Babington leeks 0.034kg garlic shoots 0.001kg parsley 0.004kg red veined sorrel 0.011kg rosemary 0.025kg sage 0.016kg thyme 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.010kg alpine strawberries 1.350kg Babington leeks 0.104kg blackcurrants 0.012kg chives 0.210kg garlic shoots 0.092kg gooseberries 0.006kg lemon balm 0.529kg loganberries 0.015kg oregano 0.006kg parsley 0.035kg peppermint 5.655kg raspberries 0.177kg redcurrants 0.051kg red veined sorrel 7.180kg rhubarb 0.120kg salad 0.006kg salad burnet 0.896kg strawberries 0.509kg tayberries 0.084kg wild garlic 1 Jul - 30 Sep 5.121kg apples 0.008kg alpine strawberries 0.857kg blackberries 1.190kg blackcurrants 0.904kg blueberries 1.840kg garlic 6.102kg hazelnuts 0.467kg Japanese wineberries 0.716kg loganberries 0.313kg mulberries 3.742kg pears 2.752kg raspberries 2.349kg redcurrants 0.054kg rocambole 0.050kg sage 1.655kg sour cherries 0.021kg sweet cherries 0.298kg tayberries 0.242kg whitecurrants 0.078kg worcesterberries 1 Oct - 31 Dec 0.113kg salad 0.382kg oca 0.200kg potatoes Produce 2013
1 Jan - 31 Mar
0.024kg garlic shoots 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.326kg Babbington leeks 0.222kg blackcurrants 0.363kg garlic shoots 0.147kg gooseberries 0.002kg lemon balm 0.121kg lettuce 0.004kg lime leaves 0.058kg mizuna 0.121kg oregano 0.010kg pea shoots 0.015kg peppermint 0.223kg raspberries 0.020kg red veined sorrel 3.900kg rhubarb 0.400kg salad 0.005kg salad burnet 0.008kg shitake mushrooms 0.076kg strawberries 0.013kg thyme 0.136kg wild garlic 1 Jul - 30 Sep 0.101kg alpine strawberries 13.653kg apples 0.276kg blackberries 2.816kg blackcurrants 1.380kg blueberries 0.159kg broad beans 0.965kg courgettes 1.340kg garlic 1.808kg hazelnuts 0.118kg Japanese wineberries 0.493kg loganberries 0.008kg mulberries 4.368kg pears 0.036kg peppermint 1.143kg potatoes 0.063kg quince 9.226kg raspberries 0.699kg redcurrants 0.223kg rocambole 0.150kg salad 1.448kg sour cherries 0.064kg spearmint 0.660kg spring onions 0.863kg strawberries 1.622kg sweet cherries 0.156kg tayberries 0.721kg whitecurrants 0.010kg worcesterberries 1 Oct - 31 Dec 0.938kg pears 0.095kg quince 0.091kg oca 0.242kg mashua Produce 2012
1 Jan - 31 Mar
0.050kg fennel 0.009kg garlic shoots 0.030kg goji berries 0.050kg rocket 1 Apr - 30 Jun 0.004kg alpine strawberries 0.480kg cabbage 0.323kg garlic shoots 0.050kg lemon balm 0.002kg loganberries 0.050kg mint 0.402kg mushrooms 0.360kg potatoes 0.730kg raspberries 0.030kg red veined sorrel 0.130kg redcurrants 4.000kg rhubarb 0.540kg rocket 0.020kg sorrel 0.134kg strawberries 0.007kg tayberries 01 Jul - 30 Sep 0.020kg alpine strawberries 0.180kg apples 0.552kg blackberries 0.178kg blackcurrants 0.711kg blueberries 1.020kg garlic 0.201kg gooseberries 0.263kg hazelnuts 0.051kg Japanese wineberries 0.028kg loganberries 3.354kg pears 1.610kg potatoes 0.910kg raspberries 0.353kg redcurrants 0.063kg sour cherries 0.049kg strawberries 0.014kg tayberries 0.192kg whitecurrants 1 Oct - 31 Dec 7.690kg Jerusalem artichokes 0.211kg oca 0.010kg peppermint 0.820kg potatoes 0.010kg thyme Produce 2011
1 Jan - 20 Mar
Firewood Rosemary Sage Chives Salad burnet 21 Mar - 31 May 0.035kg chives 0.070kg lemon balm 0.005kg nasturtium leaves 0.017kg raspberries 4.060kg rhubarb 0.060kg rocket 0.020kg rosemary 0.280kg sage 0.070kg salad burnet 0.050kg sorrel 0.065kg spearmint 0.429kg strawberries 0.012kg sweet fennel 0.003kg tayberries 0.010kg thyme 1 Jun - 31 Aug 35.2kg 29 different crops: 0.030kg alpine strawberries 8.884kg apples 0.492kg beetroot 0.258kg blackberries 0.377kg blackcurrants 0.337kg blueberries 0.010kg chives 7.095kg courgettes 0.001kg fennel 0.946kg garlic 1.481kg hazelnuts 0.001kg Japanese wineberry 0.007kg lemon balm 0.005kg mashua leaves 0.004kg nasturtiums 0.100kg pears 0.005kg peppermint 11.920kg potatoes 1.130kg raspberries 0.262kg redcurrants 0.005kg rocket 0.064kg salad burnet 0.460kg sour cherries 0.024kg spearmint 0.558kg strawberries 0.311kg sweet cherries 0.086kg tayberries 0.087kg whitecurrants 1 Sep - 31 Dec 11.633kg apples 0.040kg aronia berries 1.299kg beetroot 0.036kg blackberries 2.472kg courgettes 0.034kg hazelnuts 6.205kg Jerusalem artichokes 4.250kg mashua 1.801kg pears 37.135kg potatoes 0.371kg raspberries 0.024kg strawberries 0.044kg whitecurrants Produce 2010
A record of produce from the garden in 2010. I expect this list to get much longer in later years.
1 Jan - 20 Mar 2010: Firewood - kindling and small logs for wood burner Herbs - rosemary Vegetables - 5 leeks Greens - Handfull of sorrel, salad burnet and dandelions. 21 Mar - 4 Jun 2010 3.600kg rhubarb 0.250kg sorrel rosemary salad burnet mint chives rocket a few strawberries 5 Jun -> 1.120kg garlic 1.063kg raspberries 3.430kg rhubarb 0.165kg strawberries 0.104kg sweet cherries 0.065kg tayberries 0.130kg gooseberries 0.029kg alpine strawberries 0.100kg loganberries 1.710kg sour cherries 0.486kg blackberries 0.039kg blackcurrants 0.220kg blueberries 3.264kg courgettes 0.240kg lettuce 8.375kg pears 3.820kg potatoes 9.300kg apples 0.076kg hazelnuts See archives from October 2009 below for last year's produce. Archives
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