Do you have some old fruit trees to which you would like to give a new lease of life? We can help! This is a worthwhile undertaking if the trees are basically healthy.
- We rejuvenate neglected trees
- restore and prune old trees
- identify existing varietes
- recommend pollinators
- optimize fruit production
“Real English Fruit” is increasingly becoming a challenge. British fruit growers are turning to international varieties – Fuji, Gala, Pink Lady, Red Delicious and many others – in order to comply with supermarket demands.
But “real English fruit” is something different. Traditional English apples privilege taste over yield. They offer a fascinating blend of flavours and fragrance, differently to today’s commercial varieties that are relentlessly crisp, sweet and juicy, but often bland and even boring.
After decades of work in this area, we at RealEnglishFruit have seen that the British Isles have a huge heritage of old orchards, once productive but now abandoned after repeated changes in ownership.
Our mission is to help the new owners of old orchards to give their ancient trees a renewed lease of life, principally by restructuring them and ensuring that their environment is suitable for keeping them healthy. By reviving neglected trees, we can bring old orchards back into production and ensure the survival of this precious genetic heritage.
There are multiple benefits. A healthy, traditional orchard adds value to a property. It provides wonderful fruit and offers a unique environmental resource. It offers sustenance for a huge number of insects, birds and animals, adding to the genetic and monetary value of the property. It optimises the setting and helps preserve a unique facet of the British heritage.
Further information on how we can help restore your trees
Just send Dan Neuteboom an email (enquiries@realenglishfruit.co.uk) or use our web contact form, with a description of your problem and preferably with a few photos. We will respond with an initial overview and an estimate for our services, which can be provided remotely or in person. Payments by bank transfer or cheque. See our Consulting page for further information.
January 2024 – garden orchard update
Fruit trees are now in dormancy, and so this is a good time of year for planting new trees. There are many other jobs that need to be performed in order to ensure that both the trees and their immediate environment are conducive to tree health and good cropping. and capable of producing good fruit.
Check stakes and ties. Make sure the supporting stakes have not rotted off at ground level. Loosen ties where needed, if too tight. Check that rabbit and deer guards are in good working order.
Start pruning apple, pear and mulberry trees that have reached regular cropping. Watch a video tutorial on winter pruning.
Apply farmyard manure where trees have been struggling.
If you have fruit stored for the winter, keep an eye on the fruit to ensure that it stays in good condition.
Click here to read more fruit tree care tips for January.
How to prune fig trees
We are receiving a lot of requests from readers asking how to prune fig trees. On this website we provide information on how to trim a fig tree, and there is also a video on how to grow fig trees successfully.
Growing quality fruit trees
This website presents information on the entire spectrum of fruit trees for the garden:
- advice on which trees to plant
- advice on how to plan a new garden orchard
- planting fruit trees
- how to deal with fruit tree diseases
- how to look after older trees
- pruning fruit trees
- thinning
- training fruit trees as espalier, fan, cordon or stepover
- and much more.
Use the menu at right or top, or the site map below (scroll down) to find the topics you need.
Video channel
The videos published on this website illustrate the critical stages of fruit development, from the period from blossom to fruit formation, in a chronological sequence throughout the year. Click here to see the videos currently available.
Watch a video tutorial about Tydemans Late Orange, a biennial-bearing apple variety.
Site map
Consulting
Consulting – advice by Dan Neuteboom on fruit growing in gardens and orchards
Blog – news, articles, and examples of Dan’s consultancy
Video channel
Video channel – videos in which Dan Neuteboom explains many aspects of fruit growing, providing tips on pruning, thinning, pollination, grafting and more. With camera work by John Paddy.
Planning a garden orchard
Index of fruit tree varieties – from Adams Pearmain to Worcester
How to choose which apple varieties to plant
How to choose the best site for fruit trees
Garden law, high hedges act, height restrictions
Climate
Soil
Shelter belts
Rootstocks and tree size
Trees for a tree house
Growing fruit trees
- Aphids
- Apple sawfly
- Apple scab
- Apple splitting
- Apricot dieback
- Armillaria honey fungus
- Bacterial canker
- Bird damage
- Bitter pit
- Blossom wilt
- Boot lace fungus
- Brown rot
- Canker on apple trees
- Canker on plums, greengages, damson
- Capsid bugs
- Cherry blackfly
- Cherry fruit drop
- Cherry splitting
- Codling moth
- Collar rot
- Foxes
- Greenfly on apples and pears
- Ivy on fruit trees
- Mealy aphid on plums, greengages, damson
- Mildew on apples
- Peach leaf curl disease
- Pear canker
- Pear leaf blister mite
- Pear midge
- Pear scab
- Pear virus
- Pigeon damage on plum trees
- Plum moth
- Plum sawfly
- Red spider on apricots
- Scab
- Silver leaf on plums
- Wasps
- Whitefly
- Woolly aphid
Natural and eco-sustainable solutions:
Fruit growing year – a month-by-month list of tasks in a garden orchard
- January fruit tree care tips
- February fruit tree care tips
- March fruit tree care tips
- April fruit tree care tips
- May fruit tree care tips
- June fruit tree care tips
- July fruit tree care tips
- August fruit tree care tips
- September fruit tree care tips
- October fruit tree care tips
- November fruit tree care tips
- December fruit tree care tips
How to plant a tree bought online
- How to train free-standing fruit trees
- How to train espalier fruit trees
- How to train espalier apple trees
- How to train fan-shaped fruit trees
- How to train cordon fruit trees
- How to train stepover fruit trees
- How to train apricots as fan-shaped trees
- How to prune apple trees
- How to prune espalier apple trees
- How to prune pear trees
- How to prune espalier pear trees
- How to prune plum trees
- How to prune fig trees
- How to prune cherry trees
- How to prune apricot trees
- How to prune espalier apricot trees
- How to prune mulberry trees
- How to prune crab apple trees
- How to prune quince trees
- How to prune medlar trees
- How to prune walnut trees
- Radical pruning for restoring old trees
How to get trees into production sooner
How to grow an edible hedge (fruiting hedge)
- How to grow cherries
- How to grow plums
- How to grow greengages
- How to grow hazelnuts
- How to grow medlars
- How to grow quince trees
- How to grow apricots
- How to grow fig trees
- How to grow raspberries
- How to grow almonds and walnuts
How to look after old fruit trees
- A tree improves with age
- What can you do with an old fruit tree?
- The 6 factors in keeping older trees in production
- The metabolism of older fruit trees
- How to renovate old fruit trees
- Problems encountered with older fruit trees
- How to move an older free-growing tree
- How to get a large tree quickly
- How to move an older potted tree
- How to transplant a tree from a container
How to grow a wildflower meadow
Fruit trees and climate change
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