Our Grow Your Own weekend proved exceptionally popular on the weekend of 7-8th March. As part of the event we celebrated the 200th birthday of the famous cooking apple ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ AGM.
Jim Arbury and his team in the Fruit and Trials Department planted the tree at the edge of the Fruit Field, near the Fruit Mount. They dug a hole, used a plank to assess the correct planting depth, firmed the tree in and inserted a stake at a 45 degree angle. (This will anchor the tree for 4 or 5 years and is easier to remove and less damaging than a vertical stake).
Our 2 year old plant was propagated from the original tree that is still alive in Southwell, near Nottingham. It is grafted on an M25 rootstock which means that it should grow to about 20-25ft. We expect it to fruit in 3 or 4 years time.
Look out for a lot more about the Bramley apple as part of our Taste of Autumn celebrations in October.
The first 'Bramley’s Seedling' tree was grown from a pip by schoolgirl Mary Ann Brailsford in 1809. In 1846 Matthew Bramley bought the cottage with the tree in the garden Local nurseryman Henry Merryweather, took the first graft in1856, and began to raise trees for sale. The RHS awarded Bramley’s seedling a First Class Certificate in 1893. Now, nearly 70,000 tonnes of Bramleys are produced each year and we enjoy them in pies, crumbles, chutneys, juice and cider.