It is July so that means it is time for the Great Yorkshire Show, followed a week later by RHS Tatton show. We will be at both shows with our display of soft fruit so why not come along and say hello. The Great Yorkshire Show is this week from Tuesday 9th to Thursday 11th July. You will find us in the floral marquee just to your right as you enter through the main gate.
Mount Grace Priory are holding a garden event Saturday Sunday 22 and 23 June. The N.F.G. will have a stand next to the old orchard inside the priory grounds, between 11am and 3pm both days to answer questions about fruit growing. Why not have a nice day out in beautiful suroundings and come and see us.
On Sunday 19 May we will be holding an open day at our Dewhurst Rd. teaching garden in Huddersfield. Come along between 11am and 3pm to see what we are doing and admire the blossom. Refreshments and produce will be available.
How to find us:
Dewhurst Road runs between Bradford Road (A641) and Woodhouse Hill. The entrance to the allotments is on the back street behind the garages near the Woodhouse Hill end, post code HD2 1BW. There is limited parking on site.
Buses run along the B641 (X63/363) and Woodhouse Hill (328). All leave from the bus stops in George Square outside the rail station. Get off before the bus starts climbing the hill and walk along Dewhurst Road to the garages.
The next members’ meeting will be held on Saturday May 11, at 1.00pm, in the Jubilee Room in the Learning Centre at Harlow Carr. This meeting will feature a very informal “Fruit Growers Question Time”; please come armed with your questions, queries and observations. Remember you will need to show your membership card to get free entry to the gardens
We will be carrying out restoration pruning on the apple trees at the Great Yorkshire Showground on Thursday 14th March. All members are welcome but contact Margaret Drury in advance so she knows how many to expect, contact details in your last newsletter.
You will need a packed lunch and hot drink as there will be no facilities open on site and good boots and tough gloves are advisable.
If you have loppers, pruning saws and secateurs please bring them along but some equipment will be available for those without their own.
Our next meeting is the annual scion exchange (otherwise known as the stick swap) this Saturday, February 9th at 1pm. Full details and directions are in your January newsletter. Please bring along any spare scions (clearly labelled!) that you think might be of interest to other members and/or go away with any that take your fancy. Remember, you don’t have to give to receive, some members have more surplus than others and are happy to see scions go to a good home. Many of the scions on offer will be from unusual varieties but there is always plenty of helpful advice available.
The January edition of the Newsletter should have reached members by now, by post or email according to their preference.
Last year, we celebrated twenty years of production with a look back at our first four issues, in 1998, and a few more retrospectives have crept into this latest issue. The Fruit Novice is storing quinces in a very old-fashioned way, member Stuart Denton has found a cache of old magazines and promises to entertain us with snippets from the 1930s and 40s, and yes, there really was a Granny Smith. In addition to her (it?), George Baker looks at the origin of some his local apples, as does James Ellson (to avoid losing at scrabble yet again) and Anne Lee is back on the trail of Ernest Oddy’s old notebooks. Plus we have reports on some past events and information on events to come, appeals for help, some research results on mulch, Chris Simmonds on eating fuchsia berries (truly), Celia Cropper on quinces, and lots more.
Not a member? Join now to be in time for the April issue.
