Merry Christmas from the Charingworth Orchard Trust!

Pruning advice under a snowy sky

This morning Jim Aplin, a market gardener and experienced orcharder, came to Charingworth to give me some pruning advice. It was very useful to walk around with a pair of experienced eyes and helped to give me some confidence before the New Year's assault.

Jim was saying that a cold spell is often good for the health of an orchard as it helps to kill diseases and pests within the trees. It will also help the sap to sink out of the branches and reduce the stress from pruning.

The weather was bleak and moody.

Charingworth Orchard Trust in the National Trust orchard newsletter!

This is 'Orchard Matters', a newsletter produced by Kate Merry who is leading the National Trust's recent traditional orchard renaissance. At the end of the summer I sent her an article to include in the Auntumn issue. Just in case you missed it, here it is (let me know if you want me to email an electronic version of the whole newsletter):



Shifty pose? I think so!

Four quality blogs I have recently encountered

http://www.tomtheappleman.wordpress.com/

Tom is also in the orchard restoration game, but at a more professional level than me. Have a look at some of his projects involving seriously overgrown sites. He can also lay hedges and dry stone wall. Skills to pay the bills!

www.davidcooksonimages.blogspot.com/2009/08/fruitful-day.html

This photography blog is excellent, and the link above should take you straight to the post entitled 'A Fruitful Day' where he has managed to snap two illusive bird species that are real orchard specialists. All the more impressive since he lives in Lancashire, where orchards are pretty thin on the ground.

www.jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.com

James Russell has written a book on the history of traditional orchards entitled 'Manmade Eden' - it's on my Christmas list! He is also researching 'The Naked Guide to Cider', 'a quirky and encyclopedic book about cider and the culture surrounding it'.

http://www.avondiary.net/?p=91

This diary is written by a keen angler who has some very sensible things to say about the countryside around the river Avon. See if you can find his picture of a stage beetle, it is epic.