Apple Juice Competition RESULTS!

We asked how many bottles of apple juice would result from these many apples:

On Wednesday we went to Haywood Park Farm Shugborough to collect our apple juice. These are the results after a nightmare journey on the M5/M6 and it was even worse coming home!

The result was the grand total of 77 bottles!!  See below for competition results.  It's amazing how many joint placings there are!!  Guesses ranged from a pessimistic 12 to a very optimistic 125!!! Congratulations to the winners - we look forward to all you winners calling round to collect your bottle of apple juice!!

SILVER MEDAL

Our silver medal certificate arrived whilst we were away - all beautifully framed.  It's hanging in the conservatory in pride of place!

......& whilst the sun was shining....

......and work was finished; time to admire a little autumn colour!

Major Greenhouse Clear Out

It's been a lovely surprise to find that despite being away so long, we haven't actually missed autumn - well, not all of it.  I had half thought that all the leaves would have fallen when we returned home but not a bit of it!  There is still plenty of colour although they are falling fast now and today's heavy rain accelerated the leaf fall......more clearing up to do!.

The greenhouse was overdue for a major clear out.  time to pull out all the old tomato plants and remove all the cane supports, cut back the Geraniums and Pelargoniums and generally have a good clean up.  The vine was pruned back, the staging rearranged and both staging and woodwork was re-stained.  Gone is the green lush and verdant look of summer.  The green leafy ceiling provided by the vine leaves has also gone so as to maximise light in the ever shortening days.  Having slabbed beneath the low level staging on the left has meant that there's more storage area for overwintering geraniums. Maybe oiling the old tiles and the brick path was taking things a bit too far but it does give the colours much more depth.  As long as no one slips on them - ahem!

No More Cowboys & Indians!

Near Grand Junction, Colorado.

Head Gardener & Chief Blogger is back having travelled 3,500 miles between Minneapolis & Phoenix via 'awesome' National Parks, Indian Reservations and  geographical & geological features for which there isn't an adjective in the English language!  It was real cowboy country. We didn't find too many gardens BUT we did find the Boyce & Thompson (yes Thompson!) Arboretum which was very garden like!  The planting was totally alien with cacti and succulents thriving in the high desert conditions.  Check out:  here!  Because our altitudes varied between 2000 and 12,000 feet we enjoyed huge variation in both the natural vegetation and the temperatures.  At the higher altitudes, the trees were mainly coniferous but with Birch & Aspens in among them. The buttery yellows and golds stood out against the much darker conifers. Descending down to the desert couldn't have been more different.  See massive cacti growing wild on the slopes and hillsides was quite something.  All these sights were far removed from anything seen here at Pear Tree Cottage and today was mowing and hoovering up fallen leaves!  It really is back down to earth - shame about the jet lag!

Highway 60 outside Globe, Arizona.

Winning News

Katy apples

The 'Glove' Urn

A visit to this year's Stoke Bliss Ploughing Match, Homecraft & Produce Show meant a few wins for the folk at Pear Tree Cottage!  We did surprisingly well this year with a total of five first prizes, one second, three thirds and two highly commended.  It was super appropriate that we got a first for our desert apples as they were a variety called Katy and given to us by our neighbour: Rob Holloway who is so busy harvesting cider apples right now.  We also had a first for homemade wild cherry brandy.  The judges liked it so much, not only did they write very flattering comments, they drank so much from the bottle!  We were much amused how much had disappeared from the bottle!

  MORE PHOTOS

Of course - this being Saturday, so much winning meant 3 visits to the show (to set up exhibits, return for lunch and return again to retrieve the exhibits!) which all took place between acquiring a new garden urn, digging out an entire border, lifting and dividing loads of Violets, Primroses, Agapanthus and some Gladiolus Cummunis.  Having done that, we put in a base and Chris manfully lugged the urn from the back of his truck and into a barrow (with a flat tyre!) and then onto its plinth.  It looks REALLY elegant and is even uplit at night by the light in situ.  When it was tipped up out fell a pair of gloves in the old compost - hence its name!

Check out the level!!!

The End of the Beginning of the Apple Harvest.

Another sunny day and it was the last of the apple harvest in the orchards around Pear Tree Cottage. Sally-Anne was at the helm as the apple harvester picking up all the fallen fruit which had been blown out from beneath the trees and onto the grass avenues between the rows. Rob was at hand with strategically parked empty trailers. How could I resist rushing out with the camera?  It was a great example of girl power! I was just in time to see the last 2 rows and, after the hustle bustle and activity of the past few days, the orchards fell strangely silent again.  

As the youngest trees were started first, all the activity will move to the other orchards with more mature trees.  I hope the weather remains dry for them all.