Apricots, Pinot Noir Grapes Commercialy Grown In UK For First Time Ever

[hatrack]

It's the year of the apricot. In the remorseless march of global warming, a small golden fruit hanging from a branch may make 2005 one of the most significant years for Britain. In early summer this year, that sweet sun-loving fruit from the lands of vines and olive trees grew on a branch in Kent, part of the first-ever commercial harvest of apricots in the UK. Sainsbury's has just marketed them in 250 stores. You think climate change isn't happening? The Sainsbury's apricots, with the Union flag on the punnets, say otherwise.

The harvest was a small but notable progress point in the shift that climate change is likely to bring to a world in which, among much else, we may see fruits and plants from hotter climates flourishing in British orchards and gardens.

EDIT

Their key characteristic is early ripening, so they require fairly high temperatures in spring and early summer. Although apricots have long been grown in Britain in a warm corner of a cottage garden or on a sheltered south-west-facing wall, they have never till now been cultivated on a commercial scale. But the 2005 harvest from Kent was substantial - about 1,200kg (filling 3,000 punnets) from an apricot orchard of 1,800 trees planted three years ago. Sainsbury's was surprised by the quality. "They were much bigger than I would have expected," says the company's product technologist, Theresa Huxley. "The colour was superb, a beautiful dark orange with a beautiful sheen; I thought they'd be quite pale. They had a very rich, perfumed, aromatic apricot taste, quite stunning. I think they should be one of our premium brands."

Because so few insects are present to pollinate trees during the British winter and early spring, the growers worked with two self-pollinated varieties. But without the warmer seasons, the enterprise would not have stood a chance. "We know summers are getting warmer, and we thought it was worth trying," Huxley says.

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Perhaps the strongest evidence of how the climate has already changed in Britain, in terms of growing things, is a wine grape: the pinot noir. This is the grape of classic red Burgundy, of Beaune, Vosne-Romanée and Chambertin. It needs far more sun than the hardy white grapes that have been the backbone of the nascent English wine industry over the past five decades. No one ever envisaged the pinot noir growing in England. Yet for several years now, it has been growing successfully on the south-facing chalk slopes of the North Downs near Dorking in Surrey - 25 miles from central London - at Denbies, the largest vineyard in Britain, producing a powerful, perfumed and delicious (if expensive) version of Burgundy, English style.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/article302875.ece

[NNadir]

1. Time to buy a wheat farm in Northern Greenland. n/t

[NickB79]

2. Join the club, I'm growing peaches in MN

My Reliance peach tree out at my dad's farm has small peaches on it for the first time since it was planted several years ago. Barring a really early frost, they should be ready by late Aug-early Sept.

[Viking12]

4. The problem with peach trees ...

...in the upper midwest is not the growing seasons, but the harsh winters. Peach trees are not particulalry hardy. MN has had several mild winters which have probably kept your tree from getting killed. Enjoy it while you can.

[unschooler]

3. Lemons in the Pacific Northwest?

I'll take our old-fashioned apples and strawberries, thank you.