One of the finest dessert varieties to grow outdoors in the UK producing sweet and tasty dessert grapes to eat straight from the vine Plant it with? Vines are lone rangers. But you could plant another climber to scramble up it once it is established, or plant the stunningly foliaged but non-edible Vitis vinifera 'Brandt' nearby to complement its autumnal tones Although this is one of the most reliable of outdoor dessert grapes to grow in the UK it still wants plenty of sun and a sheltered spot to do its fruity best A sturdy support such as a pergola is crucial You need to get a handle on pruning if you want it to do more than just throw out great limbs of those beautiful leaves Essentially you must create a framework to cut back to each year and limit the number of bunches so that the plant isn't struggling to ripen too many grapes All vines are a fine combination of theatrical and productive but this one is particularly so its finely-shaped leaves turning vivid shades of coral and scarlet before they fall Buy it We're offering one vine for £9.99, or buy two for £19.98 and get another vine free. All orders include free p&p. Call 0330 333 6856, quoting ref GUA604. Or visit our Reader Offers page Supplied as 9cm potted plants; delivery from January Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Established in 1984 on the site of a dairy farm dating back to the early 1800s is a two-and-a-half-hour trek from Chicago but it’s worth every minute for the lyrical apple experience that awaits Door Creek exists as a magical realm for apple nerds But if you crave a peaceful haven that specializes in strange poetically named heirloom varieties with intriguing pasts like the Belle de Boskoop (introduced from the Netherlands likely in the 1870s) and the Blue Pearmain (a favorite of Henry David Thoreau) This farm harvests and sells one of my personal favorites: the knobbly and weird-looking Calville Blanc d’Hiver known to have been grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello and the preferred variety in France for making a tarte Tatin which some say is the best apple in the world which sounds like an offbeat B-movie cowboy but Tags: Chicago magazine newsletters have you covered We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. We also use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the BBC website. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookie settings at any time British Broadcasting CorporationHome Gardening BBC Blogs | BBC Gardening little rainfall and low humidity means grapevines grow well here and suffer less from moulds and rots as more humid areas and are sweet enough if thinned ruthlessly No it’s the miserable way their glorious bunches rapidly rot given the slightest hint of damp Even water vapour from a sagging gutter was sufficient to make one vine suffer mildew and it’s grapes to rot well before others I highly recommend Boskoop Glory, a tasty black, as this has proved by far and away the most reliable. With space to have several vines Siegerrebe is also worth trying as although running about average in miffy-ness it has an incredibly delicious Muscat flavour The Strawberry grape is contrary; highly productive mildew resistant with rot free bunches the fruit has mediocre flavour- however my children love these purple grapes as the mouth feel is like eyeballs The twins sort of helped with my ‘vendange’ despite eating and dropping more than made their buckets Ages ago I returned to a French farm over a dozen harvests and so it’s all a bit nostalgic- albeit on an absolutely minute scale. I still use my original serpette Of course instead of endless toiling for weeks my harvest takes but minutes The same equipment used to crush and press my apples for juice was intended for grapes though these are much much quicker and proportionately also far more productive but care needs taking not to go so far as to ‘make the pips squeak’ as then off flavours are extracted I rarely go on to make wine anymore; my grape juice is too good so it is promptly frozen in plastic bottles for drinking the rest of the year When I made my juice into wine I ended up drinking both admittedly somewhat inferior wine and inferior (commercial) juice Drinking my own juice and buying good organic wine has upped the quality of both many fold In a better year with more Siegerrebe grapes I would dry some as red raisins- delicious if somewhat seedy. (De-seeding is possible but messy and tedious). And I always dry some of my Muscat Hamburgh and Black Hamburgh indoor grapes The first have unparalleled flavour and make the most exquisite muscatels Chasselas D’or makes excellent sultanas but I have not yet settled on a better currant (Zante is reckoned the best but I’m searching for even more flavour) You can also turn grape juice into tasty jelly or rather a range of jellies as each variety gives a different aroma. But I much prefer some juice as sorbet mainly because I can pig an awful lot of this whilst still feeling relatively guilt free Have you had success with a particular grape variety Perhaps you can offer suggestions for other parts of the UK Bob Flowerdew is an organic gardener and panellist of BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time Sign in or register to comment Jump to more content from this blog For the latest updates across BBC blogs, visit the Blogs homepage You can stay up to date with Gardening Blog via these feeds Gardening Blog Feed(RSS) Gardening Blog Feed(ATOM) If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find our beginner's guide to RSS useful BBC Gardening Message board Drop in with your horticultural queries and conundrums and swap tips with other like-minded gardeners See more at Flickr The BBC holds no responsibility for the content within these sites complete archive These are some of the popular topics this blog covers You're using the Internet Explorer 6 browser to view the BBC website. Our site will work much better if you change to a more modern browser. It's free, quick and easy. Find out more about upgrading your browser here… BBC © 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser you will not be able to get the full visual experience Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Sign In Register The Snug Cove Russet went for genetic testing thanks to the help of local pomology enthusiast Nancy Leonard who also took cuttings and has grafted many of our local heritage varieties to keep the heritage apple tree varieties going The Snug Cove Russet was tested due to its delicious flavour both as an eating and cooking apple bountiful blossoms it produces every spring are as large as a toonie and make it a special tree to have year-round Here’s what the test results came back with: “I tested the “Heritage Russet”… The first thing I found was that ‘Heritage Russet’ (HR) is a genetic match for your ‘Golden Reinette’ (GR) because the next thing I found is that your HR and GR match another cultivar already in our database: ‘Boskoop’ (also known as ‘Belle de Boskoop’) one of the synonyms for Boskoop is ‘Gold Reinette’ (not ‘Golden Reinette’ I have considered my genotype for ‘Boskoop’ to be a reliable one because I tested a ‘Boskoop’ from Bill O’Keefe’s orchard (O’Keefe Grange) and it matched the genotype for ‘Boskoop’ published by the National Fruit Collection in the UK All of this leads me to the conclusion that the ‘Bowen Heritage Russet’ is a ‘Boskoop’ and your ‘Golden Reinette’ is also a mislabelled ‘Boskoop’ possibly because it was originally labelled a ‘Gold Reinette’ Further support for this identification comes from the fact that your trees are triploids, as ‘Boskoop’ is known to be, ‘Golden Reinette’ is a diploid. https://pomiferous.com/applebyname/belle-de-boskoop-id-637 describes it as 'Large Very lightly ribbed on the sides and at the crown' all of which seems to fit your fruit quite well.” the “Snug Cove Russet” is now confirmed as a “Belle de Boskoop” the genetic testers and everyone who is keen to support local apples and Bowen heritage said to produce good crops of dessert or wine grapes outdoors and to be a bit of a wow in the autumn foliage department This has happened whether I've tended or neglected it and a permanent one: the vine does a lovely job of casting shade over my deck but make sure you pick the best cultivar for the job – and now's the time to plant it Diacono goes for 'Lakemont', with its good fruit for eating or wine, and Shirley for 'Schönburger' plum-coloured grape with a high sugar content while Bates chooses 'Pinot Noir': "The leaves go a nice colour in autumn and I love the grapes," she says Buy bare-rooted plants while they are dormant Dig a hole a couple of feet across and the same depth and mix the excavated soil with a good dose of organic matter before backfilling and firming down planting the vine at the level at which it was originally grown Bates suggests cutting back hard in the spring after the first year of growth to promote root growth Shirley suggests spur pruning if you have a wall or structure to cover tying in side shoots (laterals) horizontally to the nearest wire as they grow Once the laterals have grown as far as you want them to Sub-laterals will be formed off these and should be cut back to two buds Buy one 'Phoenix' vine in a 1.5-litre pot for £34.99, or in a three-litre pot for £39.99 (prices include free UK mainland p&p). To order, call 0330 333 6856, quoting ref GU172, or visit our Reader Offers page and we're now suddenly faced with one of the driest summers ever recorded Is our water management adequately prepared the victims of the drought are water animals in dried out streams and ditches and the occasional company that is no longer permitted to discharge warm water Society is not suffering and the taps are still freely open reassured director-general Michèle Blom of the Department of Public Works on 2 August following the weekly meeting of the National Water Crisis team extra work is required to limit the damage: that means keeping drying dikes wet It's not really surprising how little we are troubled by the drought: we live in a delta of one of Europe's largest rivers after all Are the farmers and their withered corn the victims Will the cows go hungry for grass next winter Or is it all still manageable as long as we have drinking water and there is no hosepipe ban And so the Rhine supplies enough water for purposes other than drinking water and the IJsselmeer and Markermeer lakes jointly provide a massive water buffer: each centimetre of water they contain is good for 14 million m3 litres This stock of water is therefore freely available to help supplement drier areas Yet there is a problem: some parts of the country cannot benefit from the water buffer particularly the higher-lying sandy areas in the eastern and southern Netherlands There are no canals or large pipelines there to enable supply of water from elsewhere These regions are therefore completely dependent on rainwater and the groundwater level agricultural land may no longer be irrigated by pumping water from ditches a similar prohibition applies to the groundwater particularly in nature areas which might suffer permanent damage due to drought showing the Twente Achterhoek region for example The fact that dry sandy soils are sensitive to drought is old news: the same problem occurred during the previous dry summers of 1962 Ideas have been proffered to solve the issue There was the bufferboeren project: ensure a higher groundwater level on farming land introduce extra organic matter into the soil so it retains water more effectively and grow crops or species of corn which root more deeply and are therefore less sensitive to drought such measures have never progressed beyond the pilot stage Farmers and water boards will therefore need to take a more active approach Another problem in times of drought is salt Salinisation is an issue all along the coast This is partially due to freshwater and salt water coming into contact resulting in salinisation of the freshwater The most extreme case is found at the Nieuwe Waterweg where the silty seawater enters the Netherlands freely the average annual flow of the river is 2200 m3/s when the flow is halved as is currently the case (though still 1000 m3/s) the influx of the salt reaches much further The situation in the North Sea Canal is slightly different again Although there are sluice gates at IJmuiden Equally important is the saline seepage which permeates the soil from the North Sea The islands in Zeeland are particularly prone to this but so too is the Haarlemmermeer lake and the Friesian-Groningen region along the Wadden Sea Tackling the salt through freshwater flushing we have mainly combated the salt by flushing freshwater through the soil The Zeeland region has a special agricultural water pipeline for that purpose which taps water from the freshwater basins in the Biesbosch area A freshwater supply of 200 to 300 m3/s is sufficient for drinking water keeping the groundwater at a workable level and preventing salinisation we require 1000 m3/s to combat the encroaching salt via the Nieuwe Waterweg which is more than is currently supplied by the Rhine This is why the salt is also advancing via the Nieuwe Waterweg The volume of Rhine water currently used to hold off the salt in the Nieuwe Waterweg is not available for other purposes Water management in the Netherlands is mainly determined by one principle: water must be discharged as quickly as possible while pumps keep the low-lying Netherlands dry we dispatch immense volumes of water into the sea large parts of the Netherlands would be underwater and do not need them as long as the rivers continue to supply water and there is a sufficient volume in the large freshwater basins the flow rate of the Rhine was still 789 m3/s into the Netherlands If we were more capable of predicting drought we could opt to store extra freshwater during winter and spring as we take a reactive approach to the situation the Netherlands is very wasteful with freshwater as long as the Rhine continues to supply it at Lobith do we need to structurally take a long hard look at ways of retaining the freshwater for longer rather than mainly discharging it into the sea as we do now If you found this article interesting, subscribe for free to our weekly newsletter! Opening photo: Archive image Department of Public Works Meld je aan voor de nieuwsbriefVond je dit een interessant artikel, abonneer je dan gratis op onze wekelijkse nieuwsbrief. EurekaMobiliteitKoolstofvezels maken treinen lichter en duurzamer ColumnOnderwijsOnderzoekRolf Hut ziet ze vliegen dankzij helium Lissjudy from Liss Forest Plants heads the UK entries at Plantarium (The Netherlands 22-24 August) Email: hwsupport@haymarket.com Register Subscribe Subscribe Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time Nashdale Fruit Company is a family farm outside Orange that specialises in growing what most farmers don't Three great old apples are newly picked this week: cox's orange pippin bramley's seedling and belle de boskoop Cox's orange pippin has a creamy- coloured flesh with an orange-like fragrance It doesn't keep well so never became a commercial variety Bramley's seedling is a tart apple that cooks down to a fluffy puree The belle de boskoop is an old Dutch variety renowned for its great flavour The apples will be sold at growers' markets: Orange Grove the weather in the shitake room at Huon Valley Mushrooms in Tasmania mirrors a Japanese autumn: 21C and 95 per cent humidity In those conditions the mushrooms sprout and grow to harvest size in less than a week humidity and carbon dioxide levels are changed to imitate winter and the mushrooms are dormant until after a week of spring and another of summer Huon Valley is one of only two shitake growers in Australia and the only one to use this growing method Five grams of shitake spawn are sown into bags of sterilised eucalyptus sawdust which produces five kilograms of shitake over five months Wild shitake grow on oak (the word means ''oak mushroom'') and Japanese consumers say they enjoy the different eucalypt flavours in Huon Valley shitakes Mushroom lovers can challenge their palates to identify these subtle notes while they await our autumn and wild mushroom season Heirloom apples...you can buy traditional varieties at growers' markets around Sydney FingerlimeFingerlimes are picked from early January until early winter but autumn is the peak season for this native fruit ''Fruit ripens on the trees at different times,'' says grower Lindsay Boyd ''so we'll go out every week and collect what's ripe.'' Boyd's company grows five varieties with different coloured vesicles ranging from very pale to ruby pink and lime green The fruit is sold in punnets of mixed varieties It will keep for a month in a fruit bowl and even longer in the fridge The pulp can also be frozen without destroying the shape of the vesicles WAYS WITH FINGERLIMEBoyd likes the pulp with a few drops of lime juice atop an oyster then add fingerlime pulp and coriander leaves Figs Black-skinned fruit is available loose and in punnets Lemons Hard to come by and don't give up much juice when found Pears Williams are freshly harvested; lots of bargains on last year's leftovers Plums Blood plums and yellow-fleshed plums are delicious; also try plucot Spinach Ruined by the weather; choose broccolini instead Tomatoes Great colour and flavour choice in cherry sizes Follow Cuisine on Twitter @Cuisine Nashdale Fruit Company is a family farm outside Orange that specialises in growing what most farmers don't Three great old apples are newly picked this week: cox's orange pippin Cox's orange pippin has a creamy- coloured flesh with an orange-like fragrance It doesn't keep well so never became a commercial variety Bramley's seedling is a tart apple that cooks down to a fluffy puree The apples will be sold at growers' markets: Orange Grove Wild shitake grow on oak (the word means ''oak mushroom'') and Japanese consumers say they enjoy the different eucalypt flavours in Huon Valley shitakes ''Fruit ripens on the trees at different times,'' says grower Lindsay Boyd ''so we'll go out every week and collect what's ripe.'' Boyd's company Lemons Hard to come by and don't give up much juice when found Pears Williams are freshly harvested; lots of bargains on last year's leftovers Blood plums and yellow-fleshed plums are delicious; also try plucot The visitors to Groen-Direkt Spring Fair in Holland have proclaimed Lomandra longifolia White Sands bred by Hoogeveen Plants BV in Hazerswoude as the best novelty Hydrangea macrophylla 'Ruby Tuesday' by De Jong Plant BV from Boskoop has won the title of Best New Plant at Plantarium 2015 as judged by the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society jury Trish Deseine takes us through tips and techniques for whipping up the perfect tarte tatin based on a recipe in her book 'Nobody Does It Better'.Tarte TatinLegend has it that many years ago who ran a café in Paris experienced a little misadventure with an apple pie that one of the sisters was caramelising apples and forgot to put pastry at the bottom and added it later so as not to waste the delicious caramelised apples; the second that she tripped taking her apple pie from the oven and it fell face down on the floor of the restaurant Unwilling to waste her work and her ingredients she slipped it back on to the plate and served it upside down Everybody loved it and tarte tatin was born It is in fact no more or less than a simple upside down apple tart Subscribe to our podcast to be kept up to date with all cookery items In a cast-iron frying pan or any heavy-based pan heat the 100g of sugar with 2 tablespoons water let it bubble gently until it begins to caramelise Swirl the pan about to help spread the caramelisation throughout the syrup (do not stir with a spoon or it will crystallise) When it has reached a golden brown colour (1-2 minutes) take the pan off the heat and add the butter Stir it very gently with a wooden spoon until it becomes smooth Add the quartered apples and cook them gently for 3-4 minutes in the hot caramel Pop the pan back on a low heat if the caramel has solidified arrange the apple quarters in a spiral or concentric circles If you will be cooking the tarte in a cake tin arrange the apples in it and pour the caramel from the pan over them If you are preparing the tarte for cooking later let the apples cool down before putting the pastry on top Leave the tarte in a cool place (the fridge is too cold) until you are ready to cook it place the puff pastry on the apples and tuck it around them like a blanket on a bed Put the pan or tin in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes Take the tarte out of the oven and let it stand for about 5 minutes before turning it out onto a deep plate to catch all the caramel and cooking juices Mix the 2-3 tablespoons sugar with the Calvados or Pommeau stir in the cream and serve with the hot tarte It will also be delicious with plain crème fraiche double or clotted cream or vanilla ice cream cracking curry or unbeatable bread and butter pudding Browse our selection of Cook The Perfect... recipes Browse our selection of recipes from top chefs cooks and food writers who have joined us on Woman's Hour Download or subscribe to the Cook The Perfect.. Browse over 13,000 recipes on the BBC Food website has won best new plant at Plantarium 2012 in Boskoop The new plants to be launched at Plantarium 2015 in Boskoop have been announced Luxurylaunches.com is an award winning premium lifestyle website It features the latest and the best from the world of extravagance and opulence