Apple Cider Recipe

Have you ever thought of making your own cider ready to enjoy on those summer evenings? It’s easy to make either using your own apples – or if you don’t have any then apple juice will work fine.

To make 4.5litres of apple cider you will need the following:

• 4litres of pure apple juice (either from crushing your own apples or you can make your life easier and use readymade apple juice without preservatives)
• 50-200g of sugar
• Pectalose
• Yeast nutrition
• Good cider year
• Citric acid

To make the cider, add all of the ingredients in the fermenter except for the yeast. At this point you should test the cider and see if it is acidic enough. You can increase the acidity using more citric acid to get a sharper cider or increase the sugar to sweeten it.  Either way make sure any additions are done slowly otherwise you could ruin the initial mix

Once the taste is right add the yeast, gently stirring it in.

The cider can then be left at room temperature with the airlock on the fermenter for about a week. At this point pour it in to swing top bottles through the syphon, leaving behind any sediment. If you want to get a sparkling drink add some priming sugar and leave the cider for a further week.

Then sit back, relax and enjoying your refreshing homebrew.

 

The Circle of Life

Many children are not aware that fruit can grow from a single seed.  A great way to teach them about the lifecycle of fruit is to take a few seeds from an apple they have eaten and show them how they start to grow.

You can do this by taking a paper towel and dampening it then ask the children to put the seeds in the paper towel and gently wrap them up. 

Get them to place the damp towel in a plastic sandwich bag and almost completely close the bag or fully close it and create a small hole to let in some oxygen.

The bags can then be put in the fridge for 6 weeks. This is like stimulating the winter season for the plants.

Occasionally remove the seeds to let the children identify any new growth. When the sprouts start to appear the seeds can be transferred in to plastic cups with little potting soil and then placed in the sunlight by a window.

The sprouts will need to be watered and kept moist.

It is important that the children know that these will not grow in to apple trees straight away as that can take years, but it will teach them how that process starts.

Time to Get Planting

Given that better weather is finally here we thought that it might be useful to provide some planting tips to help you prepare for any new fruit trees you are planning on planting this year

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail

Preparation is a very important part of planting! We recommend that if you have time then it is best to double-dig the site where you are planning on planting so that you can thoroughly break up and aerate the soil.  That means if you can you should dig the hole for your tree(s) a couple of weeks prior to planting and re-fill it, then dig through it again when the tree is just about ready for planting.  A 3 foot wide by 3 foot deep plot should be sufficient per tree or a 3 foot wide trench if you are planning on planting several trees in a row. The idea is to have a hole that allows for about 3 inches all the way round the soil ball that the plant comes in, in the pot.

Extra tip! Don’t forget to make sure all the weeds have been removed from the area as much as possible before planting – this will save you a lot of hassle in the years to come!

Ready, Steady, Plant!

1. Once you have dug your final hole (but before you plant your tree) it is a good idea to add some fertiliser in the bottom, to give your tree(s) the best start possible – we would recommend Bonemeal. It would also be wise to invest in some topsoil if your soil is very clay or chalk based.
    
2. Just before planting you want to fork over the bottom of the hole so that you create a bit of a mound in the hole for the tree to sit on and water the plant in its pot.  Next place the pot in the hole. To remove the tree cut down the side of the pot and carefully pull it away from the soil
    
3. You want to place the tree so that the top of the container is about 1 inch below the ground level after planting. 
    
4. Once the tree is settled in the hole the next stage is to look around the soil ball and gently cut away any tangled roots, without upsetting the soil too much.

Extra tip! If you are planning on using a stake and tree tie, now is the time to get it in place.  You want to position the stake away from any prevailing winds and drive it in to the ground at a 45 degree angle. You will need a tie to fix the tree and stake together (once the tree has started to establish itself in the soil you can loosen the tie and continue to adjust it as the stem thickens)

1. Finally surround the roots with ‘planting mixture’ - that is the soil taken out of the hole, mixed in with some fresh topsoil as necessary and more of your Bonemeal. As you put in the planting mixture around the roots shake the tree a little so that it can get in to all of the nooks and crannies, then firm down the mix (not too hard or else you could damage the roots).  Continue to fill up the hole with planting mixture until it reaches the level of the ground again. As you fill the hole, lightly firm down the soil around the tree with your hands. 

Extra tip! It is also a good idea to leave a slight dome of soil around the stem to help form a ring-like basin around the tree. This will help it trap rainwater which can then be taken up by the roots.

Just to help you along we’ve included this handy planting video from our sister website Ornamental Trees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qfyTtOjfg

Good luck and happy planting!