316. Propagation

I recently wrote this article for the newsletter of the Northern Fruit Group . . .

Propagation

I have been a regular at the Dewhurst allotments for four years. Four long, hard winters of digging and mulching. Four summers of weeding.
            I exaggerate. Dewhurst gets better weather than the Costa Del Sol, not that I’ve ever been there, or would admit it if I had. More importantly, I have learnt a great deal. Winter pruning of orchard trees, the modified lorette system for restricted forms, the difference between a minarette and a ballerina. How Hilary makes apple juice, what Peter eats for breakfast. The surprising science-art of grafting.
            And I have caught the bug. The magic of working with fruit trees. Outside, in the air, in the soil. We need the trees, for our wellbeing, but what I also love, is that the trees need us. Mankind. Without human agency, the wonderful heterogeneity of fruit trees – over 2 000 cultivars in the UK, over 200 at Dewhurst – would become the acidic, dull, insipid homogeneity of wildings (well, you try and tell them apart).
            My own plan is for 100+ varieties, and recently I have started digging up my lawn and installing cordon lines. Just like at Dewhurst.
            My wife was unsure, but at night I whisper the names. ‘Belle de Boskoop, Beauty of Bath, Maiden’s Blush, Lady Sudeley, Chiver’s Delight, Hambledon Deux Ans. I am Lord Lambourne, The Duke of Devonshire.’ I could go on all night. Sometimes I do. ‘Pitmaston Pineapple. Winter Banana. Red Devil.’
            The names are soft, sensual, lyrical. Soothing.

In other words, I’m a believer.
             And ready, to spread the message.

In January, I received a phone-call from my brother, a Governor at a primary school in Llangollen.
            ‘Can you spare any fruit trees? I am setting up a school orchard.’
            It was what I had been waiting for, and I spent a happy day, digging up one-year grafted maidens. Court Pendu Platt, Spartan, even a family tree with Lord Lambourne and Sunset.



Thank you Hilary, Dewhurst, NFG.

 
 

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