If you want to make your desserts, smoothies, and fruit salads tastier, then grow Red Custard Apple for a delightful tropical treat!
01.08.2023 - 14:57 / gardenerstips.co.uk / hortoris / About Trees
Late blossom arrivals in 2015 looked like being a good year for apple blossom and thus fruit in the North of England. And iut was with some great crops in my Yorkshire garden.
A cold and late spring delayed the buds and blossom until the worst of the weather was over. Energy has been diverted into fruit production rather than new wood after judicious pruning. There has been no significant late frost to damage blossom and there are now many pollinating insects on the wing. Hopefully these are signs that we will have a good crop of juicy apples this year. Just in case here are a few tips to help nature along.
Prevention is better than cure for many of these insect and fungal problems hence the spraying I suggested. I am happy to publish any ideas on organic treatments for these problems but in my garden I am regrettably going to stick to proven methods for the time being.
If you want to make your desserts, smoothies, and fruit salads tastier, then grow Red Custard Apple for a delightful tropical treat!
How to Grow and Care for Braeburn Apple Trees Malus x domestica ‘Braeburn’
A cheap tip for members of the RHS is to borrow books from their libraries. I am reading the entertaining Techniques and Tips for Gardeners from the BBC Gardeners Question Time Team.
Great April weather has produced a harvest of blossom on my apple trees. With no danger of frost and plenty of insects there should be no problem with pollination. Even the later flowering apples trees have open blossom and this means the essential cross pollination by more than one species will be taking place.
Thyme has over 350 varieties and can make an interesting collection. Thymus is claimed to have volatile oils that have anti-ageing properties and good anti-oxidants to aid health. It retains its flavour after drying and can be stored successfully.
The common crab apple grows wild in hedgerows and woodlands of western Europe. It is also cultivated for the blossom and small crabapples.
Plum Blossom with stamen and pistils waiting for bees to pollinate the flowers.
There are over 7000 different varieties of apple tree including those classed as eaters, cookers, crab or cider apples. 10% of these are available from RHS plant finder recommended nurseries.
Magnolias flower before or just as leaves are arriving. They pick their time and sometimes fall foul of the frost. Time and again I try protect the best of these flowering plants that are very hardy other than for the delicate flowers.
In 2008 a google search for sunflowers would have found gardeners tips in the top 3 results. Now it would be luck to be found in the top 3 million. We are number 115th for the more specific ‘sunflowers gardeners tips’ as Tips for Easy Sunflowers from 2015.
Yes it is well past time to look at geraniums again. Since this blog started there have been over 60 pages of tips about geraniums. The most popular have been about scented, regal and dwarf geraniums but zonals and bedding also retain much interest. (You can find these and more links by using our search button).
However you spell Peony you will still be captivated by this family of Northern Hemisphere perennials. Lush flowers and foliage are a major attraction but there is also the opportunity to study and become involved in more detail with a concise family of interesting and often endangered species.