Growing Fruits at the Farm
So many delicious fruits are growing here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Fresh fruit is one of nature's most delicious products. This summer, we've already picked boxes and boxes of raspberries, blueberries, and cherries, but all the others - the peaches, apricots, apples, pears, and quinces are developing so nicely. Here at Cantitoe Corners, I have an orchard around my pool filled with a variety of more than 200 different fruit trees. I also have fruits growing on espaliers and in groves - those I've planted, and those that are original to the farm. I can't wait to harvest the next bounty of sweet and organic fruits.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- This orchard surrounds three sides of my pool. Many of the trees here were bare-root cuttings that we nurtured in pots before planting.
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- We have many, many fruits growing – in part because of the nutrient-rich soil. We have a variety of apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach trees, apricot trees, nectarine, pear, medlar, and quince trees. I am very fortunate to have such an expansive paddock space to grow all these trees.
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- When choosing to grow fruit stock, it is important to select those that are best for your area’s climate and soil. Look closely and see this peach tree laden with growing fruits.
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- We have beautiful peaches! Some of the peach varieties include ‘Garnet Beauty’, ‘Lars Anderson’, ‘Polly’, ‘Red Haven’, and ‘Reliance’.
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- Peach trees thrive in an area where they can soak up the sunshine throughout the whole day. It prefers deep sandy well-drained soil that ranges from a loam to a clay loam.
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- Growing peach trees are self-fruitful, which means that pollen from the same flower or variety can pollinate the tree and produce fruit, so it is okay to plant just one. I have more than 15-peach trees in this orchard.
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- I also planted many types of Asian pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, which is native to East Asia. These trees include Hosui, Niitaka, Shinko, and Shinseiko. Asian pears have a high water content and a crisp, grainy texture, which is very different from the European varieties.
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- Some of the other pears in the orchard are ‘Bartlett’, ‘Columbia’, ‘D’Amalis’, ‘Ginnybrook’, ‘McLaughlin’, ‘Nova’, ‘Patten’, ‘Seckel’, ‘Stacyville’, and ‘Washington State’.
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- Fruit trees need a good amount of room to mature. When planting, be sure to space them at least 15-feet apart. The trees are staked for added trunk support. The stakes also protect them from mowers and weed whackers.
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- This is a medlar, Mespilus germanica – a small deciduous tree and member of the rose family. The fruit is small, about one to two inches in diameter, and ranging in color from rosy rust to dusty brown. Medlars are native to Southwestern Asia and Southeastern Europe. The fruits have to be eaten when almost rotten in a process called “bletting”. And, because of this, they either have to be eaten right off the tree or picked early and put aside for a few weeks to blet. The medlar is very pulpy and very sweet. Its taste is similar to an overripe date with a flavor similar to toffee apples or apple butter.
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- This is a plum. My plum varieties include ‘Green Gage’, ‘Mount Royal’, ‘NY9’, and ‘Stanley’. I also grow various plum hybrids, such as ‘Black Ice’, ‘Grenville’, ‘Kaga’, ‘Pipestone’, ‘Toka’, and ‘Waneta’.
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- And of course, I have a section of delicious apples. I already grow hundreds of apple trees here at the farm – some that were here when I acquired the property and others I planted soon after moving here. These newer apple trees include: ‘Baldwin’, ‘Black Oxford’, ‘Cortland’, ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’, ‘Esopus Spitzenburg’, ‘Fuji’, ‘Golden Russet’, ‘Grimes Golden’, ‘Honeycrisp’, ‘Liberty’, ‘Redfield’, ‘Roxbury Russet’ ‘Windham Russet’, and more.
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- Outside my stable in front of the peafowl and pigeon pens, I have this espalier of pear trees. Espalier refers to an ancient technique, resulting in trees that grow flat, either against a wall, or along a wire-strung framework. Many kinds of trees respond beautifully to the espalier treatment, but fruit trees, like apple and pear, were some of the earliest examples. And, because necessary sunlight reaches every piece of fruit that these trees bear, espalier pruning remains standard procedure at commercial orchards in France.
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- Last year, we planted six ‘Shinseiki’ and four ‘Nijisseiki’ pear trees. ‘Shinseiki’ Asian pear means “new century” and was developed from two of the best Asian pears of the 1940s. The ‘Shinseiki’ Asian pear is round, medium to large, yellow smooth-skinned fruit with little or no russet. It has crisp, creamy white flesh, and a mild, sweet flavor. The ‘Nijisseiki’ pear, or the 20th Century Asian pear as it is often called, is incredibly delicious, easy to grow, and smells just like a pear, but, like an apple, the outside of the fruit is crisp, firm and round.
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- Here is a closer look at some of the growing fruits. I am so pleased with how these pear trees are growing and producing.
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- If you follow this blog regularly, you know I always have many, many blueberries. We still have lots more to pick.
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- Plump, juicy, and sweet, with vibrant colors from red to the deepest purple-black. I love to use blueberries for jams, jellies, and pies, but they’re also wonderful with cereal, in pancakes and cobblers, and of course, in handfuls on their own.
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- These bushes are so full! Bunches are hanging from nearly every branch. I grow many blueberry varieties, including ‘Bluegold’, ‘Chandler’, ‘Darrow’, ‘Jersey’, and ‘Patriot’.
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- On one side of the old corn crib are just a couple of my many quince trees. Are you familiar with quince? Quince is a fall fruit that grows in a manner quite like apples and pears, but with an unusually irregular shape and often gray fuzz.
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- The fruits are still small, but will grow twice this size and turn a golden yellow when ready to pick in autumn.
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- Nearby is one of the original apple trees on the farm. These old trees still produce an abundance of fruit.
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- Here’s another one outside my studio not far from my dwarf apple espalier.
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- Apple trees need well-drained soil – nothing too wet. The soil also needs to be moderately rich and retain moisture as well as air.
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- My dwarf apple espalier is also doing so well. The principle behind espaliering a tree is simple. Plants have a main growing point or stem, known as a leader. If you remove this leader, shoots emerge from buds found on the sides of the stem, and below the cut. The best side shoots are chosen to guide and train them to create the boughs of the espalier tree. The topmost shoot becomes the new leader and, will eventually become the trunk.
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- We should have a great apple season – look at all these fruits. When selecting a place to plant an apple tree, choose a north- or east-facing slope.
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- Across the carriage road is my espalier of Malus ‘Gravenstein’ apple trees. I love this crisp and juicy apple, an antique variety, which is wonderful to eat and great for cooking and baking.
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- These ‘Gravenstein’ apples will mature with a delicately waxy yellow-green skin with crimson spots and reddish lines. Some may also be all red. What fruits do you grow? Let me know – I love hearing from you.
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