Fruit, glorious fruit!

A guilty pleasure of mine is flower and seed catalogues: luscious pictures, exuberant descriptions, a good catalogue is gardening porn!  My favourite two always arrive in January and I can while away many a happy hour with a cup of tea making all sorts of fanciful plans.  

Following our trip to Wisley, I couldn't resist a quick trip to the garden centre and came home with a magnolia, blueberry bush and apple tree.  I've never attempted to grow fruit before, but following my dismal beans and tomatoes last year, I decided, on a whim, to try fruit in the growing bed by the garage.  It's amazing what you can fit in a Smart car with the roof down, I have the weekly shop in there as well!  

I have to admit to loving the idea of growing fruit, it looks the perfect combination of beauty and use... that's if the fruit will grow!  I have had a happy and productive week learning a few new things; my apple tree is now sat in a copper-lined membrane to restrict it's root growth and improve its crop and the blueberries are mulched with pine needles from our Christmas tree, which we are leaving to dry for burning next winter.

Back to my catalogues and I have found both my apple tree and blueberries.  I was picking through the old stock at the garden centre (they're good, so you know the plants are good, just maybe not exactly what you're getting!) and had only a couple of pretty faded labels to give me any clues.

The blueberries are Bluecrop: hardy, practically unkillable (though they've not yet me yet...!) and bountiful.

The apples are Katy, don't they look lovely?  A "very attractive cross... bright red fruits... firm, finely textured flesh."  Noted for being "Sweet and very juicy... with a hint of strawberry... excellent for juicing as it produces beautiful pink juice."  I could go on...

See, what did I tell you, gardening porn ;o)