Fruits Growing at My Farm
There are so many delicious fruits growing here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Fresh fruit is one of nature's most delicious products. In midsummer, we pick boxes and boxes of raspberries, blueberries, and currants. In late August, we pick delicious peaches fresh off my trees. And soon, we'll be picking bounties of apples, pears, and other autumn fruits. Here at Cantitoe Corners, I have an orchard around my pool filled with a variety of more than 200 different fruit trees. I also have fruits growing on espaliers and in groves - on trees I've planted and on trees that are original to the farm. It will be a very fruitful fall.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- This orchard surrounds three sides of my pool. I wanted it filled with a variety of apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, pear, and quince trees. Many were bare-root cuttings when they arrived and now they’re beautiful mature specimens producing an abundance of fruits.
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- I planted several types of Asian pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, which is native to East Asia. My trees include Hosui, Niitaka, Shinko, and Shinseiko. Asian pears have a high water content and a crisp, grainy texture, which is very different from the European varieties. They are most commonly served raw and peeled. Some of these are ready for picking.
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- This year, the trees are laden with beautiful, sweet pears. Here’s a close look at just some that are weighing down the branches on this tree.
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- The other pears in this orchard are ‘Bartlett’, ‘Columbia’, ‘D’Amalis’, ‘Ginnybrook’, ‘McLaughlin’, ‘Nova’, ‘Patten’, ‘Seckel’, ‘Stacyville’, and ‘Washington State’.
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- The pear trees, and all the other fruit trees in this orchard are planted in full sun, with good air circulation and well-drained soil.
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- In another area of the orchard are the fruits of the medlar, Mespilus germanica – a small deciduous tree and member of the rose family. These fruits are not ready yet – we’ll pick them in late October or early November.
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- Many are not familiar with the medlar. This fruit is about one to two inches in diameter, and ranges in color from rosy rust to dusty brown. Medlars are native to Southwestern Asia and Southeastern Europe. The fruits have to be eaten when almost rotten in a process called “bletting”. And, because of this, they either have to be eaten right off the tree or picked early and put aside for a few weeks to blet. The medlar is very pulpy and very sweet. Its taste is similar to an overripe date with a flavor similar to toffee apples or apple butter.
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- And of course, I have a large section of apples. I already grow hundreds of apple trees here at the farm – some of my apple trees were here when I acquired the property and others I planted soon after moving here. These newer apple trees include ‘Baldwin’, ‘Black Oxford’, ‘Cortland’, ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’, ‘Esopus Spitzenburg’, ‘Fuji’, ‘Golden Russet’, ‘Grimes Golden’, ‘Honeycrisp’, ‘Liberty’, ‘Redfield’, ‘Roxbury Russet’, and ‘Windham Russet’.
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- Just outside the orchard and near the old corn crib are quince trees – three of the many.
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- Are you familiar with quince? Quince is a fall fruit that grows like apples and pears, but with an unusually irregular shape and often gray fuzz. These fruits turn a golden yellow when ready to pick in fall.
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- Next to the quince trees is this “ancient” apple tree, which is original to the farm. The upright supports on the left are holding up old, heavy branches.
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- Last year, I decided to plant a maze of hedges, espaliers, and shrubs in the pasture across the carriage road from my Winter House terrace. My living maze is a puzzle of tall plantings – tall enough to prevent those walking through from seeing the paths ahead. The maze includes rows, openings, and various dead ends, but only one true route leading to the center. These apple espaliers are planted in one row of the maze – look at all the fruits.
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- Espalier refers to an ancient technique, resulting in trees that grow flat, either against a wall, or along a wire-strung framework.
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- This espalier is filled with green apples – one can walk through the maze and pick a fruit.
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- Outside the maze are six Gravenstein apple espalier trees. I planted these in 2010 when they were about five or six years old. Malus ‘Gravenstein’ – is well known for cooking, sauce, cider, and eating out of hand. The fruit is large, with crisp, white flesh and a distinct, juicy flavor.
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- These apples are in the dwarf apple espalier behind my carport. These trees are also very productive this year. Apple trees need well-drained soil – nothing too wet. The soil also needs to be moderately rich and retain moisture as well as air. And the best exposure for apples is a north- or east-facing slope.
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- Behind the main greenhouse, I have a grove of pawpaw trees. Asimina triloba, the American papaw, pawpaw, paw paw, or paw-paw, among many regional names, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada.
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- These are the developing pawpaws – greenish-blackish fruit, usually three to six inches long.
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- The taste of a pawpaw is a mix of mango-banana-citrus all in one. It’s a big favorite for some here at the farm.
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- There is always something growing here at my working farm. I am so very proud of how it has developed over the years. I’ll share more photos at harvest time – it won’t be long now.
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