Your latest news from the Shaftesbury Orchard Town initiative
The Shaftesbury Orchard Town initiative is delighted to let you know that, come December, we’ll have twelve top quality, nursery-grown apple trees available for planting in your garden.
The six varieties we can offer are listed below (we have two of each). They’ve been chosen because we think they’ll do well in Shaftesbury. They’re on semi-dwarfing roots so they won’t grow more than three to 4.5 metres (10 to 15 feet).
All these apple trees are one year old maiden whips, which means they’re young and single stemmed. Imagine a short bean pole with buds and you get the picture. But being so young, once planted they’ll establish quickly and should grow strongly. With a bit of formative pruning you’ll have a very handsome specimen or two (and when it comes to planting and subsequent pruning, we can assist you with either if that’d help).
We can’t give them away for free but they are available on a first come, first served basis to anyone living within the Shaftesbury parish boundary for half of the cost price, which means just £13 each.
This is a wonderful opportunity to add some wildlife-friendly edible beauty to your home and our town. If you’re interested then please get in touch via planetshaftesbury@gmail.com.
Pitmaston Pineapple
Eater. A small russet eating apple with a big flavour. Fruits are golden yellow, oblong conical in shape. First recorded in the late 1700s. Pick early Oct, ripens Dec.
Kidds Orange Red [pictured]
Excellent late-season eating apple with skin both red and russeted. Tastes a bit like a Cox but sweeter. Raised in New Zealand in the 1920s. Pick Oct, best eaten before New Year.
William Crump
Excellent flavour, crisp and juicy, nice balance of sweet and acid. May be eaten out of the hand or cooked. Perhaps the most delicious cooker. A Worcestershire variety raised in the late 1800s. Skin brown-crimson/purple flushed over yellow. Ripens mid Oct, stores well until Feb.
St Edmunds Pippin
A very fine flavoured golden russet apple from Suffolk, 1875. Mid-season eater. Sweet, juicy, vanilla flavoured. Raised in the 1870s. Ripens Sept.
Discovery
Popular, disease-resistant. Ready early, from August. Best eaten straight off the tree or at least within the week. Bears bright red fruits, juicy, often but not always with a hint of strawberry. Crops best with other apple trees nearby for cross pollination. Hails originally from Essex, 1949.
Laxton’s Epicure
A dessert (eating) variety from Bedfordshire, 1909. Fruits are greenish-yellow, flushed orange-brown and streaked with red. Aromatic, sweet and juicy with some Cox flavour. Reliable and delicious. Ripens Sept-Oct. Good natural disease resistance. Tendency to crop biennially (every other year).
