Great year for quince at the orchard.

We picked the quince fruit yesterday at the orchard.  They are still as hard as rocks, but the pips are mature when you cut the fruit open and they pick easily from the tree. This is the first year we've had a good crop on this young tree, which we planted 5 years ago. The tree name is Serbian Gold which is one that can survive north of the Watford Gap.

They need to be cooked to soften the fruit, and they have a wonderful perfume which scents out any room where you store them. We're making quince jelly this year, ready for Christmas. It's excellent on toast or as an accompaniment to meats and cheese.

Quince from our Serbian Gold

We found one of the fruit on the ground beneath the tree with teeth marks in the surface. Someone must have had quite a surprise when they tried to bite into it thinking it was an apple.  

Within a few days we've converted half the crop in to delicious quince jelly (no, there's no gelatine in there, just natural pectin). It is beautifully clear and fragrant with a delicate pink colour. I guess some people might get a jar of this in their Xmas hamper. 

Quince jelly made from Turnditch Orchard fruit.

First Harvest in the Orchard

Yesterday we took our first harvest from the orchard. We picked a basket full of Cobra apples. These apples have a wonderful sweet flavour and the fruit is nice and crisp. The young tree was laden with fruit this year. We've left a similar amount of fruit on the tree for later picking.

The quince tree is looking good with quite a few fruit on its branches, though they are rock hard at present. At present they are nowhere near maturity. We also have a good crop of Conference pears which should be ready in a couple of weeks. There's a good crop on the Egremont Russet apple tree, but they won't be ready until 6 weeks has passed.

It was a nice reward for all the hard work over the past four or five years. Last winter we applied some general purpose fertiliser and also some magnesium supplement to the base of the fruit trees. This seems to have paid dividends in the vigour of the trees this year. We've also watered the tree about twice a week this summer. It's been a long dry summer. 

This suggests the soil in the field needs some additional feeding over winter to restore the many previous years of neglect by previous owners of the field.

On the river bank, the Bullace tree is laden with purple fruit so we'll be picking those towards the end of September. This will delight my gin swilling friends/family down in London.