A community initiative has developed a new apple variety specifically to be grown in London.
The London Orchard Project (LOP) is a charity that promotes fruit-tree growing in the capital and announced this week that 100 trees of the new cultivar will be planted in more than 40 orchards in public spaces, parks and schools across London in December. Fruit from the trees will be available to local communities.
LOP has also launched a campaign on Twitter to find a name for the new variety which has as its parents Cox-types Pixie, bred in the 1940s, and the 1904 Laxton Fortune.
The charity has worked with Trees for Life, a Herefordshire nursery to create a disease-resistant variety with the right qualities for its trees to thrive in the harsh conditions of London. The unique cultivar has been nurtured from a single seed and has taken 10 years to develop.
Kath Rosen, LOP chief executive, said: “London has a strong fruit-growing heritage, which The London Orchard Project strives to rejuvenate. We are now introducing a new variety to community orchards to further increase these environments, a variety that London is home to, that is durable, delicious and makes fresh fruit that is free and readily available to local communities.”
The volume produced by the first 100 trees should reach eight tonnes when they are in full bearing in about five years’ time.
No comments yet