Autumn Fruit Fit For A Queen

29th September, 2008

The Queen's orchards at her Norfolk residence of Sandringham, where the Royal Family traditionally spend their Christmas break has produced a bumper crop of Apples. The 65 acres produces a range of fruits and a selection of apple varieties including Bramley apples for cooking, Cox Orange Pippin's, and the rare Egremont Russet. A large part of the crop goes to presses to be made into juices.

In these time's of rising food prices and an upturn in grow your own, a fruit garden could provide you with a small crop of fruit at this time of year. You don't need huge fields either, minitaure fruit trees can be placed on patios and decking and plum and cherry trees doe not need to take up to much space. Fruits like blackberries and gooseberries can be made into jams, or frozen until needed to make pies etc. Apples can be stored for many months in wooden trays, so you don't need to eat them all at once!

If your garden is slightly bigger and you're thinking of planting a tree or two then opting for fruit trees is a great idea. They are good for local wildlife and birds, come into blossom in spring and in Autumn provide you with free food.

Fruity Choice

Here is some suggestions to help create your own mini fruit orchard.

Blackberries - Black Satin.
This variety has no sharp thorns making picking a lot easier and good for children to pick.
available at www.vanmeuwen.com

Apples - Winston
A desert apple that is disease resistant, pick in October and can be kept until the following spring.
available at www.blackmoor.co.uk

Plums - Victoria
A traditional reliable garden favourite. Tree will grow 7-8ft and fruit can be used for jams and pies or straight from the tree.
available at www.thompson-morgan.com

Cherries - Crown Morello
An excellent plant for a north facing wall as it thrives in shade and is very frost resistant, produces juicy cherries that can be mixed with other crops to make delicious crumbles.
available at www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk

Rhubarb - Champagne Rhubarb
An old high yielding variety, producing sweet sticks that can be frozen for use with your autumn fruits.
available at www.gardenxl.com