Apple Cider and Cider Vinegar Time Again!

I have been making Apple Cider (even a semi Pear Cider) and Cider Vinegar using a very very very veeerrrry simple recipe now for 3 years running, so simple in fact that you Do Not Need a Fruit Press!

Organically Grown Jonagold Apples – Cider & Vinegar Making

What you need is: Apples, Water, Container/s (5ltr / 1 Gal), Sugar (1 Cup), Knife with Chopping board … and Time – That’s It!

What I recommend is to get hold of a few different varieties of apple (even some pears), try your best not to use only one apple variety.

Click the Link Here for the full recipe with explanation between Cider only and Cider Vinegar as the final result.

Cheap Fruit Trees – Now on Sale Feb. 2016!

If you live in the UK, you may be aware that every year around November, the big shopping chain ASDA usually sells bare rooted fruit trees in store at a good low price (usually £5 each).

Create Your Own Inexpensive Mini Orchard

When you consider that a young (probably same age) fruit tree sells at the major garden centre stores like HomeBcase and B&Q for minimum £10 per tree, this is a great bargain! The only difference is that perhaps (although I’m not sure) the trees in B&Q or HomeBase might be slightly older and able to bare fruit the same year or season after purchasing (keep in mind, the trees in the latter are potted whilst in ASDA they are bare root).
Now, November is well gone and ASDA have sold off all of their stocks since around December, but at the moment, the Tesco Superstores have just received their stocks of bare rooted fruit trees and soft fruit such as blackberries, raspberries etc.
Although they are slightly more expensive per tree (£6), you can save by buying two trees for £10.

A friend of mine told me his Tesco Superstore also had Cherries (Cherry ‘Stella’) on sale, my local one only had the following in stock:

• Two Pear varieties including the well known ‘Conference’ pear
• Four Apples (Cox’s Orange Pippin, Jonagold, Discovery & Golden Delicious)
• One Plum (Victoria)

This may mean that the stock has already been around for some weeks so I would advise anyone with a garden or allotment to get to one asap! The trees are grafted on dwarfing root stocks and therefore are set to grow to a maximum height of 3 – 3.5 meters (9ft 10in to 11ft 5in) which is ideal for home growing and harvesting.

I would advise you to visit the store a few times in one or two weeks to be able to catch the new stock replenishment.

One comparison note I would like to advise anyone interested between the ASDA trees and the Tesco ones is, The ASDA ones come with full information on the year on year pruning regime, the root stock info, what pollination partners the tree needs (if not self pollinating), where best to plant & when to expect fruit etc. whilst the Tesco ones only advise how to plant. One other point that seems to be a positive about the Tesco trees is that the stem thickness seems quite a bit larger and this likely means more mature plants that may develop fruit sooner!

If any readers here know whether the large Sainsburys also stock bare rooted fruit trees please do comment below and lets us know which part of the year they usually stock them!

Cheapest Fruit Trees .. Available NOW (November)

Last year’s survivors – A Plum, Apple and Cherry

I stumbled upon these accidentally last year 2013 when grocery shopping, I was skeptical at first as they were bare root fruit trees of various fruits and with my experience in purchasing bare root fruit bushes (which about 50% of the time were dead before I bought them), I decided to only buy two, plant them and if after one week the branches were still ”bendy” then I would go back and get more.
They were Apples, Pears, Cherries and Plums in ASDA for only £6 a pop!! Small varieties that, since they were root ball (meaning they don’t have a pot full of compost on the bottom, they instead have had their roots wrapped in water retaining material covered in plastic).