The tutor for the day was Geoff Croft, an experienced nurseryman who runs Walnut Tree Nursery and has a special interest in fruit trees. After an initial chat about the history of grafting, the “biology” of fruit trees and about the different sort of rootstocks that can be used, the practical session began.
Geoff made it look very easy (which it isn’t) and we were advised to be very careful as we were using very sharp knives. We were shown how to do a “whip and tongue” graft and then had a go ourselves. There was a wonderful array of old apple varieties from which to choose. Despite a few minor accidents ( the First Aid Kit got an outing), and more than a little mess, we all managed to achieve at least one or two grafted specimens.
Time will tell how sucessful our attempts will be, but anticipation is half the fun of gardening, isn’t it? It was great fun and hopefully we will run other events of a similar nature. Though I’m not sure Ming’s lovely goretex jacket will ever recover from the experience.
The day was brilliantly organised by Rhoda who also supplied a very tasty lunch of homemade soup and rolls. Many thanks to her and to Geoff for a wonderful day.
Photos by Ming.
Thanks for the review Lin. and great photos.
It will be interesting to see how successful our grafts turn out to be, time will tell.
It was good to get together, have some fun and learn a new skill.
Here’s hoping we can stage some other courses during the year.