When I couldn’t sleep at night, I found the alphabetic descriptions of apple lists just interesting enough to read to pass the time. Then, of course, I wanted to find out what they tasted like.

I’ve a few multi-grafted espaliered trees in my small town garden in Bristol, UK. I’ve also been fortunate enough to persuade my partner’s family to let me have a corner of a field on their farm on the top of Dundry Hill just south of the city to plant some full size orchard trees. It’s high ground, exposed to the south west weather with views across the Bristol Channel to South Wales. The soil is thin, poor and stony above limestone and the season is about two weeks shorter than in the lush Somerset pastures below.

I’m growing a variety of apple types including local cider varieties, heirloom culinary and dessert and newer disease resistant varieties. I’ve learned grafting from Skillcult’s excellent YouTube series, and I’ve planted a Belgian Fence inspired by JinMA’s beautiful project. I’m still collecting and sharing scions, and planting a few seeds just to see what comes up.