Chilly evenings and dewy mornings, my favourite time of year is fast approaching. The mature fruit trees in our garden were planted many years ago in rows, giving the appearance of an orchard. We’ve always wanted our very own orchard and that’s how we refer to our wonderful old trees.
Dripping with fruit in shades of green, purple, red and yellow, the garden has never looked so colourful since moving here late January. Greengage and early plums are finishing now, tipsy wasps litter the lawn, feasting on fallen fermented plums alongside occasional Red Admiral butterflies.
The garden is very wide and therefore open in most places, fruit trees are a great way to provide cover to free-ranging chickens from aerial predators. We have a few more fruit trees to plant this autumn; Scrumptious apple will replace a small ornamental cherry that isn’t doing very well, Cox’s Orange Pippin and a Bramley apple. It’s almost time to release them from their temporary containers where they’ve lived happily since moving here.
I’m jam making again with gorgeous Victoria plums, it’s unbelievable the amount of fruit the Victoria tree has produced.
A pretty Comma butterfly seemed to watch me from one of the pear trees, it stayed quite still while I snapped away with the camera.
There are two pear varieties and three apple varieties in the orchard that we need help with identifying, along with an early plum (mid July fruiting). If you recognise a variety from the photos please do leave a comment.
What beautiful old fruit trees. What stories they could tell.
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Lovely, I am so envious. I would just love to have an orchard. One day…
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Very jealous. We’ve planted apples and pears but they are still very young and won’t bear fruit for a few years.
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Your fruit trees are so gorgeous. I would love to move to the edge of the city to have more land and an opportunity to grow fruit trees.
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What an incredible harvest you are going to have this year. Due to having to give our plum tree a massive prune last year, the tree has managed to produce exactly one plum, which the wasps are enjoying! Hopefully it will come into its element next September!
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Love the beautiful old fruit trees! Orchard envy LOL!
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Beautiful pics …can’t wait for our apple trees to get fruit this year…will be wonderful to have some productive life in these surroundings :)
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I don’t recognise the trees but I sure wish they were in my garden. Having said that they wouldn’t fit but still, I can dream :)
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Lovely pics! I am lucky enough to have an orchard too, and I LOVE it!
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How wonderful to have your own orchard and to hear that you’re looking forward to this time of year! Such a nice change from people focussing only on the end of summer. Lovely post :)
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What lovely old fruit trees – the pears in the image above the Bramley apple tree look like they might be Beurre Hardy.
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Just stumbled upon this blog – what a beautiful orchard – makes me miss New England for sure! Thanks for sharing!
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How wonderful! I hope to plant a small orchard next year.
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We just bought a house in the country and the firs thing I want to do is plant fruit trees this spring. I know it will take a few years, but I can’t wait until I have an orchard like yours.
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