Orchard Notes

@orchardnotes.com

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#Orchards, #Fruit, #Cider &c posts by @darrenturpin.bsky.social #Orchard enthusiast & amateur pomologist based in #Manchester, UK Pro Gardener @ National Trust Quarry Bank #orchardist & #allotment #fruitgrower website: https://orchardnotes.com

A strawberry, showing signs of phyllody, with miniature leaves growing from the middle of the fruit.
Two dark green, unripe fig fruits growing from the branch of a fig tree, against a background of garden foliage.
A leaf- patterned bowl of purple blueberries 🫐
A patch of woodchip, with scattered green and reddish-coloured apple fruitlets that have dropped from the trees above.
A large, mature, 'Worcester Pearmain' apple tree, with healthy leaf growth on the left-hand side, and sparse, stunted leaf growth on the right-hand side. In the background: a large greenhouse, and a half cloudy / half blue sky.
A young apple tree, badly affected by apple canker, around the point at which the two side-stems meet the main stem.
A row of new apple trees, grafted earlier this year, on an allotment plot. To the right is a line of long plastic planters containing strawberry plants.
A pair of reddish, oval-shaped apple fruitlets, one of which has a split skin, surrounded by green apple leaves.
A peach fruitlet with many squirrel-shaped teeth marks
A single 'Pitmaston Pine Apple' fruit, surrounded by dark green leaves.
A cluster of white-and-pink apple blossom, with green leaves in the background.
A stem of an apple tree at the end of a growing season, with bourse shoots and new buds.
A group of trained apple trees on an allotment. Two of them are growing in black air-pots, the other two are planted in the ground. In the background are compost bins, sheds and a greenhouse.
Blueberry flowers and leaves
White cherry flowers against the background of a brick wall.
An 1871 recipe for "Apple Pie Which is Digestible" by Dr. Alvin Wood Chase. Please follow the link in the post for a full-text version on orchardnotes.com.
A page from the 'Herefordshire Pomona' vol 2 (1885) with illustrations of four types of apple, and apple blossom. From top to bottom, L to R, they are: College Apple, Norfolk Beefing, Striped Beefing, and Herefordshire Beefing.
Two clusters of pink apple blossom surrounded by bright green leaves
A spray of bright, white pear blossom on a pear tree branch
Bright green apricot fruitlets growing against a brick wall.
Pear trees, dotted with white blossom, growing against a tall brick wall in a walled garden, with planting beds in the foreground.
Tightly furled, pale pink and dark pink buds of apple flowers, with curled green leaves.
A wooden sign reading 'Berry Fields Orchard' stands in front of a group of apple trees in a grassy area, with larger woodland trees in the background.
Apple buds just beginning to break open in spring.
A horizontal branch with clusters of white pear blossom against a brick wall.
A 'Brown Turkey' fig tree, growing against a wooden shed in a garden, with lots of long branches, before pruning.
A pruning cut on a medlar tree.
Two cordon apple trees in the process of being planted. A large blue trug behind them.
A hand holding a (very sharp!) pruning saw, bearing the marks of an incautiously executed pruning cut, in the form of a gashed and bleeding thumb...
A 'Nine Square' apple tree, before pruning
A ladybird is nestled amongst the fruiting spurs of an apple tree.
The small, white flowers, with yellow centres, of a Chaenomeles x superba, growing against a trellis, with a greenhouse in the background.
An advertisement from an 1873 horticultural newspaper, for R. Halliday and Co., Hothouse Builders and Hot-Water Engineers. Follow the link in the post for a text version on OrchardNotes.com if you're interested.
A section of apple tree branch with an apple canker lesion in the middle.
A neat and tidy pruning cut on an apple tree.
A section of apple tree branch with a pruning cut and a tear in the bark where the saw snagged.
A mature 'Catshead' apple tree, with a row of houses in the background.
Using a pruning saw to make a cut on a branch of a quince tree.
A row of apples trees in the walled garden at National Trust Quarry Bank, January 2026.
Frosted crab apples glowing in the winter sunshine.
Assorted cooking apples on a wooden table
A 'Red Sentinel' crab apple, a 'Cox's Orange Pippin' apple, and a 'Withington Welter' apple.
A large, green 'Howgate Wonder' apple and a small, red, 'Red Sentinel' crab apple.
A line-up of 59 apple varieties, plus two quinces, in five rows, on a wooden table top. Follow the link for lists of the varieties on show in the accompanying blog post.
A selection of autumn-ripening apples on a wooden table.
'Ashmead's Kernel' apples
A recipe from 1862 for 'Bishop (A la Prusse)', a roasted-orange (or lemon) infused wine dish, usually served warm and smoking. Please follow the link in the post for an all-text version.
A recipe for 'apple ginger' from Gertrude Mackay in 1913. Follow the link in the post for a text-only version.
A single 'Howgate Wonder' apple, covered in raindrops, hanging from a branch of an apple tree
Mini baked apples with a flapjack stuffing, in a bowl of custard.
An 1887 recipe for 'Apple Snow' from the pages of Good Housekeeping' magazine. Follow the link in the post for a text-only version.
A bowl of red currants and a bowl of black currants.
A leafless apple tree with fruit still dotting its branches, on a sunny autumn day, with a large glasshouse in the background and blue sky above.
A tray of apples, cored and ready for stuffing with a flapjack mixture
'Delbard Jubile' apples on a cordon apple tree.
Cassette cover of Monsters game for the BBC Microcomputer model B