Today we have all decamped to the office as the weather is awful, cats, dogs and allsorts with the lazy Norfolk wind pushing them horizontally, (we call it lazy as it cuts right through you rather than going around you!)

Plant wise the season has produced some really good trees this year, despite the early dry spell , summer rains have boosted growth and we are looking forward to lifting top quality stock when the leaves fall. Our printed fruit list is now available if you need a paper format, just drop us a line.

Jobs for the moment include a copper spray or ‘Bordeaux mixture’ for all the stone fruits, this will help clean up any spores of peach leaf curl or bacterial  canker , and, when all the leaves are off , the grapevines and any greenhouse fruit can have a clean up with some Winter tree wash . This will help clean up any over wintering eggs of red spider and mealy bugs.
Now ( or at least when it stops raining ) is a good time to prepare the ground for any new fruit trees or soft fruit such as raspberries, of which we have several new varieties this year, ‘Joan J’ is particularly good primocane  ripening early August with large berries and exceptional flavour.
For all organic growers especially, a new product this year is the SB Plant Invigorator, made from plant extracts this is great at combating nearly all pests in a harmless (to us) way. Very effective with no harvest interval , it also has the benefit of foliar feeding the plant at the same time.

Best wishes.

Stephen & Debbi