An Apple A Day…

Hi everyone! All my regular blog followers will know I love apples, especially the ones you can pick straight off the tree and eat there and then. There is nothing quite like picking your own apples and eating it right away. If you’re not as lucky as me to have apple trees in your garden, don’t worry, now is the perfect time to plant your very own apple tree and you could be picking your own this summer! Here is my list of the best apples to grow in your garden so you can easily have an apple a day…

Me when I was littler, eating one of our home grown apples

1. ‘Chivers Delight’

This is a late flowerer and cropper referred to in the trade as a ‘Cox Plus’. It has as much flavour (if not more) than ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ and better acidity, which it keeps in storage. Cox famously go woolly quickly in storage, whereas the flesh of ‘Chivers Delight’ remains firm and nutty. This fell out of commercial favour because of its colour irregularity. If the sun is on it, the fruit goes red, but it will not colour up on the shady side. This does not affect the flavour but makes them difficult to sell.

2. ‘Spartan’

Nothing has the same richness of colour as ‘Spartan’, a lovely deep plum red, with almost bright white, contrasting flesh. It’s a beautiful apple, which stays late on the tree and makes a fabulous eater with very juicy fruit. It’s the one I use at Perch Hill for Christmas wreaths and, being a good storer, is widely available late in the year.

3. ‘Blenheim Orange’

A fabulously aromatic, peppery, almost spicy apple with a softer nuttiness than you get with the similar-flavoured ‘Egremont Russet’. This variety is a bit prone to scab, so is best grown on its own and certainly away from very scab-prone varieties such as ‘Crispin’.

4. ‘Egremont Russet’

A famous apple with a wonderful nutty, woody texture and a very characteristic taste, floral and heady, so you can almost smell the blossom. It stores well, with the flavour deepening to honey.

5. ‘Pitmaston Pine Apple’

This is a very unusual apple, difficult to find but, in Henry’s view, worth the effort. It eats like a ‘Greensleeves’ early on, but you can store it until April when the flavour morphs into pineapple.

6. ‘Greensleeves’

A light, crispy, full-of-flavour apple, lovely and crunchy straight off the tree. This is the one ‘Golden Delicious’ aspires to be, with excellent flavour in a beautiful pale yellow fruit.

7. ‘Discovery’

This is one of the first to harvest (in August.) If we get a sunny July and August, the redness leaches from the skin into the flesh. Then if you press it, you’ll have a beautiful pale pink juice.

8. ‘Worcester Pearmain’

A rich, creamy apple with a really strong flavour, one of the original varieties brought over by the Normans. It’s just about surviving in the UK, but you don’t see it often, apart from in the Wye Valley where it’s usually pressed into juice.

9. ‘Howgate Wonder’

A great all-rounder apple – a good cooker early on, it also presses well and mellows the later you leave it, with the acidity dropping away, so it can be eaten as a dessert apple from the store or tree. It’s one of the few varieties where you can leave the fruit on the tree, start harvesting in August and carry on until the end of October at least. It performs well whatever the weather and is often a challenger for the largest fruit.

10. ‘Médaille d’Or’

Our final recommendation is this wonderful bittersweet cider apple, still abundantly on the tree, until the end of November. The tree’s appearance is unique, knotted and gnarled in the winter and very late to blossom in the spring. You think they’re dead and then out the flowers come towards the end of May. The fruit is small and very acid, essential tannin for flavouring cider. They are pruned to weep in the Aspall orchards, with graceful branches arching down almost to ground level. You can get right in underneath and be enclosed in an apple den.

Once your apple tree is established, remember to keep it pruned to make sure it stays healthy, looks pretty and provides the best possible crop. To read all about how to do that then click here.

If you have a lot of apples or your little one isn’t big enough to eat apples straight off the tree, turning them into a yummy puree which can also be frozen is a great idea.

Happy growing and remember to eat an apple a day!

Hugs & kisses,

Lulu xx

Peek-a-BOO!

Q:What’s a vampire’s favourite fruit?
A: A nec(k)tarine!

Hee hee! In case you haven’t noticed it’s Hallowe’en this week, a time for ghouls and ghosts and of course, my favourite, the pumpkin lantern! I love pumpkins as they are easy to grow, lovely to eat and fun to carve. Oh and they have a funny name too 😉 This week I am sharing with you my top tips for growing pumpkins and Mummy’s favourite pumpkin soup recipe.

How did that light get in there?!

How to Grow Pumpkins

Pumpkins are easy to grow. Try growing them from next Spring and you could have some of your very own pumpkins to eat and carve by next Hallowe’en. Here’s how:

You can easily grow pumpkins from seed. You can grow them in a pot indoors to start them off and plant them out once all the risk of frost has passed or just sow them where they are to grow. Sow between April and June.

If you are growing in a pot start with a small (7.5cm) pot. Plant the seed on its side about 2.5cm deep in soil and cover. Once the roots come through the bottom pot onto a larger pot.

When you are planting outside choose a sheltered spot and remove the weakest seedlings once they have germinated.

Look after your seedlings by adding a mulch and a feed (tomato fertiliser is fine) and water regularly during the growing season.

As your pumpkins grow, raise them by adding some wood or a brick underneath which will stop them from rotting.

Remove any leaves which are shading the fruit – they need maximum light to ripen.

If there is a risk of early frost protect your pumpkins using cardboard and straw.

Keep the pumpkins on the plant as long as possible to make sure it is fully ripe. Once the stems starts cracking and the skin is really tough it is ready.

Cut your pumpkin off with a long stalk. You can store it for 4-6 months.

If you are looking for a variety to grow which will make a good pumpkin for next Hallowe’en, try “Jack of all Lanterns”. It also stores and cooks well. And if you have plenty of pumpkins, a yummy recipe which is perfect for this time of year that you can ask your Mummy & Daddy to help you cook is…

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

2 large onions
2 carrots
3 large butternut squash
2 large pumpkins
4 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Beef stock
Vegetable stock
1 tin of tomatoes

Pumpkin soup, perfect for this time of year – serve it in a pumpkin for the ultimate effect!

Method:

1. Cut the pumpkin and butternut squash into chunks. (We just want the flesh not the skin or seeds.)
2. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with oil , season with salt and pepper and some crushed garlic.
3. Roast in a hot oven (190C) for 30 mins.
4. Chop the onions and fry until soft. Chop and add the carrots and soften for a few minutes.
5. Add in a pint of vegetable stock and a pint of beef stock (you can make this with just vegetable stock if you prefer) and add the tin of tomatoes.
6. When the pumpkin and butternut is roasted add it to the pot and simmer for twenty minutes.
7. Put everything into a blender and blend and then pour back into the pot.
If you want to be super fancy (!) you can serve your pumpkin soup in small pumpkins which have been hollowed out and made into bowls and add a swirl of cream on top 😉

For a wonderful Halloween themed craft project have a look at this blog:

Halloween Leaf Ghosts!

Happy Hallowe’en everyone.

Lulu

Sssshhhh. Lulu’s Secret Blog…

Mwahahahaha! My name is Lulu and I’ve taken over this blog from my mummy & daddy. They don’t know that I’ve commandeered it, in fact they don’t know that I know anything about blogging. You see, I’m only 17 months old and they clearly underestimate my technology skills so I’ve decided that I’ll be keeping this blog up to date from now on.

Hi, I’m Lulu and this is my blog

So what’ll I write about? Well, mummy & daddy (from now on I’ll refer to them as M&D) run two gardening businesses and love everything to do with gardens so from a very young age (I’m a big girl now, did I tell you I was 17 months old??) I have been out & about in gardens whether it be visiting them, tending to them or even designing them! The long & short of it is I’m beginning to garner quite a nice set of green fingers (and not just from my crayons) so I thought I’d use this blog to share the things I enjoy doing or the things I learn. I’ll show you pics of the gardens we visit (M&D are always taking pics of me so I’ll have plenty to choose from!) and tell you fun ideas for things to do with your mummies & daddies & friends in your garden. Sometimes I will give you advice and tell you things that only experts like me normally know but mummy says it’s important to share so that’s what I’m gonna do.

Anyway, I’ve introduced myself now and I hope you find what I post of interest. If you like things here then please share this with your friends. Just don’t tell M&D what I’m doing…

Lulu