It’s that time of year again. I’m writing this just as the early apples, the Oslin and Emneth Early, are ripe and deliciously crisp and sweet from the tree. The plums, the Marjorie’s Seedling and the Czar, are at their best, and more are ready to ripen. Crunching through the new season apples is a great pleasure, and I love to watch the main crop of apples and pears ripening, with their vivid reds, oranges, and greens.

Apple Day at Elcho Castle by Perth.

The ripening fruit makes this a wonderful time of year. Mists and mellow fruitfulness. It’s also an exciting time for those of us – a growing band you might say – of apple enthusiasts who have taken to planting and enjoying the many varieties of fruit which grow in Scotland’s inimitable climate.

There are around 40 indigenous Scottish apples including the White Melrose, the James Grieve, the Cambusnethan Pippin and the most North growing apple, Coul Blush, which grows as far north as Ullapool. There are many other non-native varieties that thrive here too, like Katy and Discovery, George Cave and Laxton’s Fortune, to name some favourites. Over the past few years, there’s been an explosion in interest in new community orchards and school orchards across Scotland and beyond. It’s been my personal passion for the past few years to make Scotland fruitful, and it’s been great fun. Along the way, we’ve planted with everyone from homeless children, travelling people, school children, parents, grandparents, company directors and bankers, and even with Prince Charles during his Holyrood week this June past.

A social enterprise

The Commonwealth Orchard – a social enterprise which I run – aims to get children and families planting and enjoying fruit growing. It’s designed as a cheap, easy and fun way to get people started on local food growing, by getting communities to plant, grow and eat their own apples, pears, plums and cherries. Inspired by the Commonwealth Games coming to Scotland, we decided to plant communal fruit trees for everyone’s commonwealth. We got interested in the idea of commonwealth – which has an ancient meaning that predates its association with Empire:

Common Good or Commonweal.

It’s that older, down to earth meaning we’d like to regain. We’ve started to change Scotland to being a more fruitful place, as many schools and community groups have taken to planting thousands of new trees across Glasgow, Edinburgh and many other parts of Scotland. It is an idea which has taken root! So when’s the best time to plant an apple tree? It depends… A good horticultural answer is between November and March when trees are dormant. But 20 years ago is a better answer, and the next best time is now! The idea of the Commonwealth Orchard is to let children plant their own trees, and to see their own fruit growing.

Over a period of time, they can really see that fruit grows on trees – and it’s a scientific fact that things taste better when you grow and pick them yourself. Both the children and the apples grow by doing this. So many children growing up in urban areas haven’t seen fruit growing or had the pleasure of picking and eating it from a tree. It’s a wonderful experience – I remember picking ripe plums in my aunt’s garden when I was two, and it’s something all kids should experience.

Children from Oakgrove Primary in Glasgow show off their haul.

Variety

The Commonwealth Orchard is about more than simply planting fruit trees. An important part is to save existing Scottish orchards, and heritage varieties which have been in decline over many decades. We would like to get people to know some of the old heritage varieties of apples and pears which have a long history in Scotland: the Golden Pippin, The Lass o’Gowrie. October sees the Commonwealth Orchard tour, displaying a collection of 100 or so Scottish apple varieties, with the help of John Butterworth, Scotland’s leading apple grower. This is going to Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh Botanics, and to various other places across Scotland, and is a great opportunity to see the fruits of Scotland. Another aspect of the orchard is that we’d like other Commonwealth countries to take on the idea and plant fruit trees with children in other parts of the world. These could be apples in New Zealand. Or perhaps mangoes in India.

Picking and using the crop from existing fruit trees is a key part of the project. It’s a real shame that many old orchards and fruit trees are not picked while fruit is imported from across the world, and tons of fruit here is wasted. We encourage volunteers to help plant the trees, pick the fruit and to maintain the trees. Our aim is to get communities to have their own wee orchards, and to get people trained up to know how to look after them, and to pick the fruit. The real aim is to give children and their communities the skills and knowledge to grow their own food.

The Commonwealth Orchard is all about helping ordinary people to plant for everyone’s well being and creating stronger and more capable communities in the process. What is developing across Scotland is a new form of small scale community orchard fit for the world of the 21st century. And hopefully, the next generation of kids will grow up knowing and seeing that apples really do grow on trees!

fieldfacts

We’re looking for volunteers, schools, and communities to get involved, as well as sponsors and donors of fruit trees, landowners, developers and local authorities. For information, contact: John Hancox 0778 606 3918. John.d.hancox@btinternet.com. www.commonwealthorchard.com