Category Archives: Orchards
Fruiting Season
The trees are bulging with fruit. We’re enjoying Discovery apples and Beth pears at the moment…
Posted by Tom Adams on 10th September 2019, under Orchards
Planting season
tinified (6) We’ve started lifting trees now they are dormant. Once they are dug out of the ground they are ‘heeld in’ to a bed with very light soil where they can be easily lifted as they are ordered.
Posted by Tom Adams on 27th November 2018, under Orchards
Tree nursery
This photo shows young growth on apple trees budded in August 2012.
Posted by Tom Adams on 25th June 2013, under Orchards
Grafted Hawthorns
These Doyenne du commice pears are growing on a 20 year old hawthorn. The scions were cleft grafted in April 2010. So far so good! This Medlar ‘Nottingham’ was budded onto a self set hawthorn in April 2010 and is growing away nicely. The first growth at the beginning of the season got knocked off […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 29th September 2011, under Edible landscapes,Orchards
New Shed
A lot has happened at the nursery since I last updated this blog. Here are some photos of a shed I built using Douglas Fir and European Larch. I take commissions for all sorts of woodworking projects. Please contact me if you would like to discuss your ideas.
Posted by Tom Adams on 12th July 2011, under Orchards,Woodworking
‘Top Working’
These pictures show different techniques for ‘top working’ an existing apple tree. On the left shows a successful rind graft of Lord Lambourne. The right hand picture shows one failed and one successful cleft graft on the variety Worcester Pearmain. Both grafts have taken very well, putting on some very healthy growth. I’m surprised at […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 2nd March 2011, under Orchards
Hedgerow grafting
These photos were taken on the 23rd July. Left shows a Pitmaston Duchess pear cleft grafted onto a hawthorn. The graft has taken well but hasn’t put on much extension growth. This is probably due to the excessive shade created by nearby trees. The photo on the right shows my most successful graft this season. It’s […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 26th August 2010, under Edible landscapes,Orchards
Tree Nursery
The new nursery site was topped last week. I decided to top it rather than take hay off it in order to keep the fertility on site. Today I ran a mole plough through the site. This was a very impressive sight. Three tines are dragged through the soil at a depth of up to 18 inches. The […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 26th August 2010, under Orchards
Grafting Success (so far so good)
This is a Transparent Gage I budded onto a hedgerow damson in August 2009. Despite some rabbit damage it is growing away nicely. Below left shows the Pear, ‘Pitmaston Duchess’ with the leaves about to open. This was cleft grafted onto a hawthorn in March this year. The right picture shows the Pear ‘Doyenne du […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 8th June 2010, under Orchards
Grafting
Having recently found out that Pears, Quince and Medlar can be grafted onto Hawthorn I’ve been experimenting with cleft grafting these onto existing hawthorn trees. This is Doyenne du Comice pear cleft grafted onto a 20 year old hawthorn. I have grafted onto a stem about 2 inches in diameter. The stem behind has been […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 14th March 2010, under Edible landscapes,Orchards
Nursery Mistake!
This picture shows where I left non degradable grafting tape on the Adam’s Pearmain tree for the whole of the last growing season. The tape has restricted the growth of the girth and also the height of the tree. I had negleted to remove the tape off about 15 of my trees in the nursery. All […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 10th March 2010, under Orchards
Harsh Pruning
This is the tree before pruning…….. ……and this is the tree after It’s very harsh but in this particular case was necessary. I wouldn’t normally advocate pruning a tree like this but sometimes it’s the best option. This tree didn’t have any formative pruning carried out. As a result it was growing in one […]
Posted by Tom Adams on 26th January 2010, under Orchards