March is apple and pear harvest month at Holt Cottage

 

March is apple and pear harvest month at Holt Cottage.  I’ve just been looking back at the dates I recorded last year and they are fairly consistent with this year.  We picked the big pears from main pear tree (unknown variety) 28 February and finished off picking the ones we left behind on the 17 March.  The small ones grow a lot in the couple of weeks when the load is removed from the tree.  This year there is a much smaller crop after an enormous crop last year, so much so that I haven’t bottled any but frozen them instead.  The Doyenne du comice pear we picked on 14 March.  Last year I learnt about the need to let these mature in cool storage and so they sit in the fridge for almost a month.  This allows them to become sweeter and less coarse.

Apple Mrs Peasgood Nonsuch was picked on 3 March followed by the eating apple (which I’ve nick named Red 218 – this was grafted from one of the existing ringbarked trees in the garden when we first arrived) on 5 March.  I let the birds tell me these are ready even if the pips are not quite brown.  My young apple trees Monty’s surprise and Mrs Ryan’s Hospital (grafted from local historic garden) had a handful of apples (second year fruiting) and were picked 12 March.  Holt’s chance (grafted from local roadside tree) and Yorkshire Greening were picked 19 March.  Black Prince on the 21 March.  Leaving only the Sturmer to harvest. 

This season I used a biological control agent Madex 2 to see if I could start to reduce the amount of codling moth.  Except for the Black Prince tree, which was badly affected, I think there is less damage.  It was supposed to be applied at three weekly intervals but due to weather and being away, I only managed one application.  I also thinned all apples this year and that has resulted in more good-sized apples.  I estimate the crop is about 140kg and of course, that is far in excess of our needs.  I am not sure what I was thinking planting so many trees, except that I wanted to make sure the varieties were saved for another generation.  Next season, I need to thin much harder and also try summer pruning to reduce the size of some of the trees.  Perhaps we can utilise the excess fruit somehow in the future.  Apple pie production maybe??