Published: 24 Sep 26
From Karen Tordoff – Orchard Champion
Well, it has been quite a challenging year for our orchard on a variety of levels. A wet late spring, a very hot summer and restrictions on watering with the hose. Nevertheless, our orchard champions and groundsmen have nurtured and maintained the fruit trees. As we move into autumn, the trees have had their last prune of the year, just to tidy and tie down branches to shape and restrict the trees from getting too tall. We have sadly seen low fruit yields this year compared to last year. A number of factors have played a part in this outcome. Hot weather has caused a few of the trees to shed their leaves, also known as "summer leaf drop". This is a mechanism the trees use to lower levels of stress and protect itself until better weather returns. We were also made aware of young people taking the fruit in early spring, as they were forming and using them to cause mischief. Let's hope for better results next year.
Lastly, some good news. We will be planting a new apple tree this autumn. This replaces the cherry tree that had grafting issues, so was unable to grow. Our orchard champions have nurtured the young tree offsite, so as to give it a great start when planted in the orchard.
Photos of the orchard - Aug 2026
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