Riverside Community
Orchard
The orchard was established in 2012 by Riverside Community Council with funding from Forth Environment Link and has been going strong ever since!
Every month we spend a little bit of time nurturing and maintaining the orchard.
Volunteering with us is a great way to meet new people within our community, it gives you a chance to learn new things and you can truly make a difference by making Riverside even more beautiful and help heal our planet at the same time.
We meet on the last Saturday of each month at 9.30am, no experience is necessary and all help and enthusiasm is welcome.
Enjoy some pictures of our 2020 Orchard Blossom and Fruit here, taken by Paul Dumbleton, one of our trustees.
Each year we have issues with our trees being stripped before the community get the opportunity to benefit from the harvest. Unfortunately this is not a unique problem for Riverside and we are often asked how to address this issue.
Orchard Revival has an article, with advice from Police Scotland for concerned community groups. You can read it here.
Our Fruit Trees
We have a wide selection of fruit trees in our Orchard. This changes over the years as some trees need to be replaced due to age or disease and some are added to expand our range.
You can find out more about our trees in our interactive map below just click on a tree.
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Apples
#11
Belle De Boskoop - This species is an apple cultivar which originated in Boskoop, Netherlands. It is greenish/grey tinged with red and is both a cooking apple and can be eaten straight from the tree.
Cooking & Eating
#27 & #29
Bloody Ploughman - This Scottish apple has a dark story: A gamekeeper shot dead a ploughman caught stealing apples from the Megginch Estate. When his body was returned to his wife, she found stolen apples in his pockets and threw them onto a rubbish heap. One of the resulting seedlings bore apples of a deep, blood red. This tree gave rise to the cultivar that was named after the unfortunate ploughman.
Eating
#26
Cambusnetthan Pippin - The Cambusnethan Pippin is an old Scottish variety that, according to one source, originated at the Cambusnethan Monastery where it was known as ‘Cam’nethan Pippin’. It dates from pre-1750 and this small apple has a slight taste of hazelnut.
Cooking and Eating
#19
King of the Pippins - A popular 19th century apple, very widely grown in Europe at the time, and versatile for cooking and dessert uses. It also keeps its shape after cooking.
Eating
#31
John Downie - Our crab apple grows small fruits in abundance and will make an excellent jelly. This tree was kindly donated by Paul Dumbleton, one of Riverside Naturally's founding trustees.
Eating
#18
Lady of the Lake - From a tree near Errol Carse of Gowrie in Perthshire and collected in 1958 and introduced into the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale. It has an elongated shape, the fruit isn't huge but it crops heavily and thrives in wet, cold areas.
Cooking
#24
Laxton's Fortune - The Laxton Brothers Nursery created the 'Fortune' in 1904 from an orange pippin and a Wealthy
apple. It was release for commercial growing in 1931. This is considered a rare apple tree.
Eating
#12 & #21
Michellin - This is a popular cider apple, developed in Normandy and brought to England in 1883 (approx). It is popular due to having a reliable and plentiful crop.
Cooking
#2 & #14
Red Devil - Apple Red Devil is a red fleshed eating apple, with the bright red skin colour bleeding into the white flesh and pinkish red stain and has a sweet strawberry-like flavour. Apple Red Devil originates from Kent in 1975 and is self fertile, which means it doesn't need another apple tree to pollinate it and is ideal for smaller gardens. The fruit is ripe for picking in October.
Eating
#1 & #8
Scotch Dumpling - Widely grown in Scotland with unknown origins, though some think it may originate in Clydesdale. It is ready early to mid August with large cooking apples with a sharp flavour. It has lovely pink blossoms in spring.
Cooking
#3 & #13
Scotch Bridget - Widely grown in Scotland and Lancashire in the 1900s. this is a very good cooking apple for northern gardens. Very hardy, and produces heavy crops of conical yellow-green fruit which are often prominently ribbed, Britchetts were know to have been grown in the Lyth valley, Cumbria as far back as the 1780s. The fruit is of rich sub-acid flavour, and keeps it shape when cooked.
Cooking
#23
Scrumptious - Widely grown in Scotland and considered a modern variety of apple and gets its sweetness from Golden Delicious, Worcester Pearmain and Discovery varieties. It is a lovely sweet eating apple.
Eating
#15
St Edmund's Pippin - This is a russet apple which seasons slight earlier than the more well known Egremont Russet and does not keep as well, however this is made up for in a superior flavour. This is an eating apple but is very juicy and used often for cider.
Eating
#17
Tam Montgomery - This is an eating apple tree and we currently have no further information.
Eating
Pears
Number 10
Beurre Hardy Pear - This is a popular French dessert pear dating back to the early 19th century. They have light green, brown russet fruit have and are great straight off the tree and in a pudding.
Number 6 & 9
Conference Pear - A medium-sized pear with an elongated bottle shape which is ready in mid Autumn This variety of pear was developed in Britain by Thomas Francis Rivers from his Rivers Nursery in Hertfordshire. It was named after it won first prize at the National British Pear Conference in London in 1885.
Plums
#16, #22 & #28
Mirabelle Cherry Plum - This plum is a speciality of the French region of Lorraine which is identified by its small, oval shape, smooth-textured flesh, and especially by its red, or dark yellow colour which becomes flecked in appearance. The Mirabelle reaches maturity and is harvested from July to mid-September.
#7
Pershore Yellow Plum - The fruit is medium-sized to large, oval, and ripens to bright yellow. It is a traditional cooking plum from the Vale of Evesham in the West Midlands and is great for baking and jams.
#4, #5 & #20
Victoria Plum - The Victoria plum is a type of English plum. It has a yellow flesh with a red or mottled skin. The name "Victoria" comes from Queen Victoria (1819–1901). Though there are a number of alternative suggestions to explain the true origin of the variety. It was introduced commercially in Sweden in 1844 by a nursery owner, Denyer, under the name of Denyer's Victoria. This strain quickly became very popular in Sweden in the late 19th century.
Quince
#25
Quince - It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yellow pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear. Ripe quince fruits are hard, tart, and astringent. They are seldom eaten raw, but are processed into marmalade, jam, paste (known as quince cheese) or alcoholic beverages.
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Caring For
Our Orchard
November, December, January
Carry out any replanting needs
Removing any dead or fallen fruit and continue to harvest any late growing fruit
Rake up leaves and dead wood to avoid disease
Begin winter pruning
Check tree guards
Re-label trees if necessary.
February, March
Continue any winter pruning up until March
Apply organic mulch/feed
April, May
Feed trees
Commence scab control measures at bud burst
Pick off powdery mildew shoots
Hand pollinate weather if to bad for flying bees
Monitor for pests and diseases
Irrigate trees if necessary
Remove dead or dying trees
June
Thin numbers of fruit if prolific
Commence Summer pruning of Plums and other stoned fruit
Continue to monitor for pests and diseases.
July, August
Check guard and ties as the trees grow
Prop up any heavily laden plum branches
Continue summer pruning of apples and pears as required
Remove unwanted extension growth and suckers
Continue to monitor for pests and diseases
September, October
Harvest early fruits for immediate use
Pick and store the better quality late fruits for storage for later use
Continue to monitor for pests and diseases.
Pruning
Remove the dead, dying and diseased wood
Eliminate crossing/rubbing branches
Prune to create an open centre or branches
Remove upright growth from the top of the tree
Cordons and restricted forms, cut back to fruiting spurs on restricted framework if not done in summer and thin our crowded spur systems
