Northern allotment fruit tree choice

[Noosner]

Hi all

My allotment is in Yorkshire, is windy, floods about 3 times a year and has heavy clay soil. Over the past two years, I've planted a Victoria plum, two cob nuts (probably a mistake) a Charles Ross apple, a Louis Bonne de Jersey pear cordon and a Humbug pear. I have room for one more tree and am thinking of a culinary apple or maybe a greengage. I'd go for M26 rootstock for the apple to stop it going mad and have been thinking of a Newton Wonder but I gather they can be quite vigorous even on dwarfing rootstock. I know nowt about greengages. Any recommendations, anyone? I'd be grateful.

[alldigging]

Damson.

mmm

[FB.]

Why Newton Wonder?

[Noosner]

Well, FB, when I was a child we had a Newton Wonder in our garden and my Dad always swore by it. We would store the apples for months in the attic and eat them all through the winter. So, sentimental reasons I guess, though I'd love apples that would store.

[Noosner]

All digging, what can be done with damsons (apart from making jammy jam jam)?

[SarzWix]

I've got a Spartan in my back garden which has cropped well for years, it's pretty boggy in winter and my garden is in the middle of a 'wind corridor'.

[Noosner]

Thanks SW, that's v useful and sounds as if you are near me! (Ilkley). I'm really after a cooking apple though, as we've already got James Grieve/Coronet in the garden.

[boundtothesoil]

we had a Newton Wonder in our garden ..... We would store the apples for months in the attic and eat them all through the winter.

I've a twelve year old Newton Wonder on MM106, growing in a heavyish clay soil in wet, west Wales. It's definitely a good old fashioned cooker (and passable eater when stored for a couple of months) and yields pretty well after a slow start. Newton Wonders are relatively dry fleshed and were regarded as one of the best cooking varieties for making mince meat with. The downsides from my experience are that they are moderately susceptible to scab (wet climate?) and codling moth , plus bird pecking - I lose about 30-50% of fruits to these most years. It's also a rather leggy tree on MM106, so I'd imagine M26 is a better choice if space is limiting.

If I was choosing just one cooker for my kind of climate/conditions (sounds fairly like yours), and it wasn't Bramley's, it would definitely be Annie Elizabeth. Besides being unaffected by any pests and diseases in my area, the fruit cooks and stores well, plus it produces a pretty compact tree on M26, yielding well, both regularly and very quickly. The apples are of fine quality. This variety was quite popular and grown commercially during the early decades of the 20th C.

[orangepippin]

If you want a green gage then Denniston's Superb is probably the hardiest. It will reach about 3m-4m on St. Julien A rootstock. It seems OK here in windy (but drier) East Yorkshire.

For cooking apples, Grenadier or Keswick Codlin are pretty reliable in wetter climates - although perhaps not quite as versatile as some of later cookers which have been mentioned.

[alldigging]

All digging, what can be done with damsons (apart from making jammy jam jam)?

Damson wine.

[SarzWix]

...sounds as if you are near me! (Ilkley)

Aye, just over t'other side of Skipton

Don't forget, you can adapt your soil somewhat to help out varieties that don't want to sit in wet clay - dig out a much bigger hole than needed, fork some pea gravel into the subsoil and mix the backfill soil with more pea-gravel, sand and compost. It won't be perfect, but should help. The spare soil you'll be left with will be good to add to raised beds etc.

[Noosner]

BTTS, I've heard Annie Elizabeth recommended elsewhere, so will defo have a look at one of those. Appreciate the greengage advice, OP, and the damson wine idea, AD! I looked up some damson recipes online, and read ,'few fruits thrill like the tarter-than-tart damson, says Diana Henry'. Who'd have thought it. SW, that's a great idea esp as I have some gravel to hand. Thanks one and all for these excellent tips.

[Noosner]

Realised there was room for two new trees!! So bought a Denniston's Superb greengage and a Howgate Wonder cooking apple on M26 stock. Thanks for your help everyone!