@orchardnotes.com
Darren Turpin (@darrenturpin.bsky.social) #Orchard enthusiast & amateur pomologist Based in Manchester, UK Pro Gardener / Horticulturist @ National Trust Quarry Bank #orchardist, #allotmenteer and fruit grower Website: https://orchardnotes.com
Idly browsing the Superfruit Range on the Jurassic Plants website. Wondering where I can get my hands on an under-used glasshouse range and/or a spare half acre... 🤔
jurassicplants.co.uk/collections/...
It's nice to have a dream 😁
Apple Games and Customs book with a screen printed yellow apple on the front in a hand
Man holding up a copy of A Vagrant's Pomona
Woman wrapped up against the cold with an espalier apple behind reading The Apple Anthology book
Here's some of our staff team's favourite orchard books for #WorldBookDay:
🍏A Vagrant's Pomona by James Fergusson - Fergus, Glasgow PM
🍐Common Ground's Apple Games and Customs - Sarah, Communications
🍎The Apple Anthology @ninearchespress.bsky.social - Daniella, Network Co-ordinator
What's yours?
A 'Brown Turkey' fig tree, growing against a wooden shed in a garden, with lots of long branches, before pruning.
A 'Brown Turkey' fig tree, growing against a wooden shed in a garden, with fresh cuts showing where branches were removed during pruning.
A jumble of fresh 'Brown Turkey' figs. Yum!
A short post on winter pruning our back garden 'Brown Turkey' fig tree. Awkward branches removed, lengthier stems shortened, top-growth thinned a bit, last year's fruitlets stripped out, that sort of thing.
orchardnotes.com/2026/03/06/w...
A pruning cut on a medlar tree.
Pruning cut. Large branch removed from a medlar. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
Two cordon apple trees in the process of being planted. A large blue trug behind them.
Focusing on the root system on a cordon apple tree in the process of being planted.
Our newly-planted cordon apple trees on an allotment site, with a concrete slab and a watering can in the background.
I've planted seven new cordon apple trees in the past couple of days. I'm planning to graft 40+ more new trees in the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll be planting a fair few more next year.
Where to begin..? 😂
(A few fruity suggestions here: orchardnotes.com/bibliography/)
High visibility in long grass, and the bloodstains don't show. Top-notch design, that 😁
Yep! That's pretty much exactly what I said, and subsequently did 😁
Ouch! 🤕
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...
To the first aid kit!
Diagnosis: serves me right for sawing *towards* my hand (silly fool should've known better, health & safety nightmare this bloke, etc.)
Prognosis: I'll live.
Having tried a few times to establish it, I was chuffed to find a young Mistletoe plant today on an apple planted winter 2017/18. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @orchardnotes.com
The Orchard Project’s Certificate in Community Orcharding students pruning veteran fruit trees.
The Orchard Project’s Certificate in Community Orcharding students pruning veteran fruit trees.
Certificate in Community Orcharding student with veteran fruit tree.
It’s #WorldWildlifeDay and we're celebrating the many benefits of veteran fruit trees for wildlife. Our students (pictured) recently learnt some valuable skills in veteran tree care at Bethlem Royal Hospital's amazing old orchard in London. #CommunityOrchards
It's a bit of a puzzle isn't it? But as long as the apple is delicious, that's always the most important thing 😋
Well, this is a first, and a rather delightful one at that. Thank you Adam, for your very kind words. Much appreciated 😊
For our Plums, Spring has sprung in today’s sunshine.
🌱 #Gardening #UKGardening #FlowerFeed #BloomScrolling
Downing (1872) seems to concur with the illustration rather than the photo...
Maybe the modern version you sampled was a bit more sun-blushed, or just growing in different soil conditions, which is why it was more highly-coloured?
A 'Nine Square' apple tree, before pruning
A 'Nine Square' apple tree, after pruning to lift the canopy by removing lower branches
A 'Nottingham' medlar tree, after pruning to lift the canopy by removing the lower branches
A section of a 'Conference' apple tree, after pruning to reduce overcrowding by removing whole branch sections
Winter #pruning season is in full swing and today on the blog, I've discussed the significant alterations I've made to three trees - two canopy-lifts and a lot of canopy thinning - on a 'Nine Square' apple, a 'Nottingham' medlar and a 'Conference' pear:
orchardnotes.com/2026/03/01/w...
Thank you very much 😊
A 'Nine Square' apple tree, before pruning
A 'Nine Square' apple tree, after pruning to lift the canopy by removing lower branches
A 'Nottingham' medlar tree, after pruning to lift the canopy by removing the lower branches
A section of a 'Conference' apple tree, after pruning to reduce overcrowding by removing whole branch sections
Winter #pruning season is in full swing and today on the blog, I've discussed the significant alterations I've made to three trees - two canopy-lifts and a lot of canopy thinning - on a 'Nine Square' apple, a 'Nottingham' medlar and a 'Conference' pear:
orchardnotes.com/2026/03/01/w...
Beehive against a blue sky in an orchard
Deadline to apply for a subsidised place on our new Certificate in Community Orcharding Course at #RHSWisley is 2 March! At £250, it offers a significant saving on the full course price (conditions apply).
👉 www.theorchardproject.org.uk/events/cicow...
📷️ RHS Wisley
#CommunityOrchards
Apple seed germination, seeds from long Clewson red fleshed,
Illustration of man grafting.
Winslow Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator. Born in 1836 he became prominent American oil painter. Winslow Homer captured the practical side of orchard life in this wood engraving "Spring Farm Work-Grafting" published in Harper's Weekly, Apr 30 1870. #apple #grafting #art
Children in a long line carrying tools
A group of children digging a hole for a tree
A group of children admiring their newly planted tree
A group of boys cutting out a piece of turf
Great feedback from children at St David's Catholic school in Swansea about how our project manager Kate could have made creating their new orchard better: "Make the trees grow faster!" Inspiring the next generation to care about the environment is one of the best things we can do. #CommunityOrchard
Anna apple flowers
Cornus Mas trees on full flower
The food web is far more complex than most people realise
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
A ladybird is nestled amongst the fruiting spurs of an apple tree.
A nicely maturing fruiting spur system on apple 'Devonshire Quarrenden', with sun-warmed ladybird.
You're welcome 🙂 And thank you very much 😁
Cheers, mine's a pint of O.P. 😋
The small, white flowers, with yellow centres, of a Chaenomeles x superba, growing against a trellis, with a greenhouse in the background.
First #blossom of the year, out for a couple of weeks now, is on Chaenomeles x superba, in our case a white-flowered form of the hybrid Japanese Quince, or bush quince.