Tag: University of Greenwich

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London Student Sustainability Conference 2024

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London, a city bustling with energy and innovation, is once again at the forefront of a movement towards a more sustainable future. As the global climate crisis looms ever larger, the need for action has never been more urgent. In the heart of this vibrant metropolis, students from universities across the capital gather for the London Student Sustainability Conference 2024, a beacon of hope and catalyst for change. 

This year students from the University of Greenwich attended, presented and volunteered at the conference. Look below for a few blogs to give you the inside scoop of what the conference was like! 

Sustainable Tourism: Unveiling Challenges and Opportunities in The Gambia 

By Ousman Jawneh Jawara

Introduction: My name is Ousman Jawneh Jawara, a third-year student pursuing a BA in Tourism Management. I was thrilled to be selected to present my project, “Tourism in Gambia: Challenges and Opportunities,” at the London Student Sustainability Conference hosted at Imperial College in London. This research topic has been a source of inspiration for me for over six years, shaping not only my academic journey but also my commitment to contributing to sustainable tourism development in my home country. 

Background: The Gambia, nestled in the heart of Africa, boasts a rich tourism history, abundant natural resources, UNESCO heritage sites, stunning beaches, and a delightful climate. Despite its small size, tourism plays a significant role, contributing 20% to the national GDP and fostering overall development. However, this growth is not without challenges, including climate change, environmental degradation, economic leakage, and a lack of comprehensive tourism policies. 

Research Rationale: My project aims to delve into the reasons behind the frustration in tourism development in The Gambia despite its vast natural resources. Key questions include understanding the draw factors for tourists, the impact of tourism on households, and its contribution to the national economy. Additionally, the lack of academic research in this area motivates this study, aiming to bridge the existing gap in knowledge. 

Passion for Sustainable Tourism: What compelled me to present at LSSC24 is the deep-seated passion, love, and dedication I have for my country. I am committed to achieving sustainable tourism development through research and promoting responsible tourism that not only benefits the economy but also safeguards our planet and involves local communities. Representing my university at this level is an added honor and responsibility. 

Acknowledgments: I extend my heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Fatemeh Mohamadi, my project supervisor, for her unwavering support throughout the presentation process. Special thanks to Andres Coca Stefaniak for inspiring me with his knowledge on sustainability, Samantha Chaperon, Lauren Siegel, Isabella Ye, and to all the dedicated lecturers from the Department of Tourism and Events. 

In sharing my research, I aspire to contribute to the discourse on sustainable tourism, fostering positive change in The Gambia and beyond. 

Embracing Sustainability and Student Leadership: My Journey as a Volunteer at LSSC24 

By Ishan Thakkar

Hello, I’m Ishan Thakkar, a student pursuing International Business at the University of Greenwich. With a fervent interest in sustainability and a deep appreciation for nature, I am always on the lookout for opportunities that allow me to make a positive impact. My journey as a volunteer at the London Student Sustainability Conference 2024 (LSSC24), hosted at Imperial College London, was a testament to my proactive approach and commitment to environmental stewardship. 

As I sit down to pen my thoughts on my recent volunteering experience at the LSSC24, I am filled with a sense of pride and fulfilment. This marks my second year of volunteering at this prestigious event, and with each passing year, my passion for sustainability and student leadership grows stronger.  I assisted presenters and organizers in ensuring the smooth execution of the event. One of the most rewarding aspects of volunteering was the opportunity to engage with presenters and learn about their sustainability initiatives first-hand. Their passion and commitment to driving positive change left a lasting impression on me and reinforced my belief in the power of collective action. 

Proudly student-led and organized by ten universities, LSSC24 showcased the collective efforts of students in addressing sustainability challenges. The commitment of the Student Delivery Group was evident in every aspect of the conference, infusing it with a student perspective and ensuring its success. 

It has reaffirmed my commitment to sustainability and ignited a newfound determination to make a meaningful impact. Therefore, I am excited to announce that I will be working on my own sustainability initiative over the coming year. My goal is to develop a comprehensive project that addresses a pressing sustainability issue and showcase it at the upcoming LSSC25. I eagerly anticipate becoming one of the presenters as well. I am eager to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on sustainability and to inspire others to join me in taking action towards a more sustainable future. With determination and passion, I am confident that together, we can create a more sustainable world for future generations. 

My experience in the Student Delivery Group at LSSC24 

By Michelle Kossowski

My name is Michelle Kossowski and I am a first-year international law student from Canada. I joined the university’s Sustainability team as a volunteer in September 2023. Ever since then, I have supported Clothes Swap events and was a member of the Student Delivery Group for the London Student Sustainability Conference 2024!

I am drawn to the sector of sustainability because improving the environment has a direct effect on people’s quality of life. I believe sustainability is not just about improving the current quality of life, but ensuring it keeps to a high standard in the future. The issue of fast fashion interests me because I often see my peers making unsustainable fashion choices due to the rapidly changing trend cycle. I hope to educate others on the social and environmental impacts of unsustainable fashion. I am also intrigued in the intersection between sustainability and law because the law can be a mechanism to prevent environmental misconduct. I heard about the opportunity of joining the Student Delivery Group from the sustainability team at Greenwich.

I wanted to connect and network with like-minded individuals and my first meeting was electric, as we all had ideas about the event. It was a diverse and welcoming space to give and receive feedback. I settled as the conference’s Social Media Manager and my responsibilities were to create promotional content and content on the day. The opening ceremony of the conference was already filled with excitement and hope.

A highlight of the ceremony was a speech given by Dr. Omnia El Omrani, who is a Climate Change and Health Junior Policy Fellow at Imperial College London. She talked about her work in promoting a health-focused approach to sustainability across the world and how she presented youth efforts on climate and health at COP28 UAE. This set an inspirational tone for the day!

Although I was running around the building with the student photographer getting the perfect shots for social media, I found the time to sit down for a presentation. I listened to Niso Khamraeva’s presentation, “Saving the Aral Sea,” which focused on a region of the world that was completely new to me, Karakalpakstan. She discussed the gender and climate impacts of the community’s diminishing water source and finished the speech with the insightful question: “If every specialist brought with them a bucket of water, would the sea be filled again?” After the presentation, I went to conduct short interviews with the workshop leaders. It was a comfortable atmosphere and the lecturers I spoke with were open about their experiences and motivations surrounding the LSSC24. Attending the LSSC24 was an enriching experience to learn more about sustainability from a student perspective and I intend to foster all the connections I made.

LSSC24: Creating opportunities for students to shine 

By Fariha ‘Faz’ Ahmed

Hi, I’m Faz Ahmed, Sustainability Projects Assistant at The University of Greenwich. I became a part of the UoG fabric around 5 months ago and one of the first tasks I got given was to be involved in the London Student Sustainability Conference 2024. Now, in all honesty I had never heard of this conference (which is shameful considering I just recently graduated in sustainability from a London university), so I turned up to the meetings with very little clue and first-day jitters. 

But what I found was an inspiring group of higher education professionals gung-ho in creating the best and most impactful experience for students interested in a topic near and dear; sustainability.  

Steering group leader, Arthur Shearlaw, spear-headed the event to what it is, ensuring everyone was on the same page, and doing a lot of the less than exciting work; the dreaded admin. I was lucky to have UoG Sustainability Manager, David Jackson to hold my hand through the process and make me aware of the ins and outs. Apart from these shout-outs it was just wonderful to meet such an eclectic group of varied people ranging from lecturers, sustainability professionals and people new to higher education, just like me, who were truly enthused to share their knowledge and experiences in sustainability. 

Now, when it comes the actual event, I made the rather rash decision to manage the student volunteers who so kindly gave up their time to make the event what it was. If I’m being honest, the role did make me want to scream at times, especially when I was running around like a headless chicken on the day. However, the screams quickly turned into smiles once I met such a broad range of young, passionate students with real interest in contributing to how our world is shaped.  

The experience was incredible, and I’ll leave it at that. 

Welcoming our new Sustainability Projects Assistant…

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Hi, I’m Alex and I’m excited to be joining the sustainability team for a year as the new Sustainability Projects Assistant!

Alex enjoying the views of the fjords in Norway

Alex enjoying the views of the fjords in Norway

I’ve got a background in Physical Geography, so I am a geek in anything from climate change to natural hazards to glaciers. For the past year I’ve been doing an MA with Forum for the Future in ‘Leadership for Sustainable Development’.

forum for the future

My masters course has allowed me to sample sustainability in a range of organisations, from a charity to a local authority, from Bank of America to a multi-national company. It also allowed me to look at the idea of ‘systems change’, for example, how can we cause change for sustainability in the complex food system, or the energy system? I’m looking forward to putting my learning into practice at Greenwich.

I’ll be looking after the Sustainability Management System and helping Emily out with other sustainability projects. These projects include Green Impact and the Carbon Management Plan, and I’ll also be helping with sustainability events such as the Green Week. Green Impact is a behaviour change project where teams are rewarded for their efforts, so get in contact with the sustainability team if you would like to know more! I’m especially looking forward to getting to know the sustainability champions and spotting new opportunities for sustainability at Greenwich.

Greenwich is a leader in Sustainability within Higher Education, coming 6th this year in the People & Planet’s ‘Green League’, and this is what made me so attracted to working here. So far everyone has been friendly and welcoming and I’m very impressed with the garden!

As I settle in, you may see me wandering round the campuses so I hope to meet as many staff and students as possible on my travels. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at a.giles@greenwich.ac.uk, or if you have any questions about Sustainability at the University of Greenwich then email sustainability@greenwich.ac.uk.

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Forest Garden Plans

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As the cold weather persists across London we are waiting for the sun and warmth before we get planting in the community garden again. Volunteers, members of the Sustainability Team and James Hallybone from Roundfield have been discussing what to do for when the springtime arrives.

With the addition of a polytunnel to the site late last year the growing season has been significantly extended for us, on top of this we can look forward to starting to plant some varieties that we would have previously been unable to in the local climate and get much better yield from plant like tomatoes and cucumbers that appreciate a little bit of extra warmth.

As we look to the start of 2013 though the first major project we will undertake is the planting of a ‘forest garden.’ Forest gardening is a method adapted from tropical regions in the 1960s for temperate climates whereby the garden is planted to mimic the ecosystem of a forest. The idea is that it creates a low-maintenance garden with yields of fruit, herbs, vegetables and nuts that can be harvested throughout the year.

Here we have the first designs created by Roundfield for the forest garden:

Forest Garden Plans Image
The Forest Garden Plans at Avery Hill
Forest Garden Key
Forest Garden Key
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August Progression in the Community Allotment

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Our community garden at the Avery Hill campus continues to progress and expand! We now have a beautiful shed where we keep our tools:

painting the shed!

Over the course of the last few week some of the Brassicas crops were badly attacked by nasty cabbage caterpillars. These are often found in large clusters and are easily spotted thanks to their distinctive yellow and black patterns (they can grow up to 2 inches!). Plants should be examinated regularly to prevent the damage or gown under fine mesh netting to stop butterflies laying eggs. Beneficial wasps are particularly effective at controlling these pests, or else they can be picked off by hand. Unfortunately we had to remove some badly damaged plants, such as cabbage and radishes.

leaf damage from cabbage caterpillars

radishes were cleared - because damaged by caterpillars

In the meantime, all of the cucurbits are growing particularly vigorous, they require a lot of space and therefore are expanding out of the bed:

cucurbitaceae family bed

The resuts are some delicious courgettes, pumpkins and squashes coming in different varieties and shapes:

growing courgette

discovering a massive squash hidden among the leaves!

very heavy!!

This summer the weather has been particularly wet and tomatoes and peppers have struggled but are now slowly ripening:

ripening tomatoes

shiny pepper

We also harvested our first carrot!

very long carrot (though a little bit pale!)

We also decided to experiment a bit and sow some peas where potatos and tomatoes used to be. In a rotation system, leguminosae plants (such as peas) follow the “heavy feeders” plants (such as tomatos) which use up a lot of the nutrients in the soil: peas roots in fact will fix nitrogen, promoting soil fertility. August is probably not ideal time to sow peas because they often struggle in cold wet soil – we might have to grow them under cloches. However we hope the weather will be relatively mild until October – just like last year – and even if the plants will not produce many pea pods, they will still function as green manure that improve soil fertility.

sowing peas

We also transplanted some young tiny leeks into another bed:

lifting the leeks cluster - they were closely spaced in this patch of soil

As a general rule, when transplanting young plants it is important to minimize root damage: for this reason we should always handle them by the leaves and try to keep as much soil on the roots as possible.

Pam transplanting the leeks

Before transplanting, we first made 6 inches deep holes, 8 inches apart in the bed; we watered well the group of leeks, these were then divided one by one with the help of a fork; each leek was dropped into a hole and watered in order for the soil to gently settle around the roots.

job done! after transplanting, wilting is common but plants will eventually recover

And finally, some beneficial wildlife: a hoverfly

tiny hoverfly checking on the pumpkins

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4th July Work Day

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While the summer struggles to settle in and the sun is very shy, our garden in Avery Hill is looking good and flourishing with vegetables! We finally see (and taste!) the results as we keep on harvesting the abundant products from the raised beds.

our beautiful garden!

The plants must feel slightly confused with all these weather extremes, with moments of sturdy sunny heat followed by long pouring rain: the rocket for example couldn’t resist and bolted – we had to remove all the flowers!

the rocket flowers as they bolted

However some other plants are doing very well, such as the peas – looking gorgeous!

our pea bush!

lots of peas!

Radishes are growing full of flavour and massive in size

Jon with the radishes

Also the lettuces, Swiss chard and spinach are thriving with abundance in their beds; the brassicaceae (the Cabbage family) bed is also looking very happy with beautiful cabbages and lovely kale (the very Italian Cavolo Nero).

wonderful cabbage

In the meantime, the first tiny tomatoes, marrows and beans made their first appearance and are joyfully getting bigger (yummy!) I’m looking forward to taking my first bite!

tiny courgette growing

our first beans!

Last Wednesday we had a very nice full day of work and achieved big results. The toughest one was moving the mountain of compost from the upper side of the garden down to the compost area. This required a good amount of passion and muscle power, happily donated by our own very strong men James, Julian and Stefan.

While we were all working very hard, this tiny lost frog came to visit:

unexpected visitor

Other tasks involved clearing the beds from the weeds that had peeped out from the ground since last week – such as yarrow and fat hen. These are very common weeds that can grow spontaneously almost everywhere and – although can be annoying if you didn’t want them to be there – can be edible and useful. Fat hen for example tastes nice if eaten raw in salads or cooked in tasty risottos; yarrow flowers can be used in infusions against hay fever and are also important source of food for beneficial insects.

fat hen with radishes

scented yarrow flowers

We carried on transplanting some tomatoes seedlings in one of our solanaceae & cucurbitaceae beds (potato and cucumber families) where also courgettes and aubergine are now growing. We also planted giant sunflowers in the corners of different beds and next to their cousins the Jerusalem Artichokes. These sunflowers will soon look spectacularly tall and will make great companion plants as aphids love them and hopefully will hang about up there, leaving our lovely crops alone, for us to enjoy!

The favourite job of the day was to prune the tomato plants as the smell was so nice! Pruning tomatoes is very easy and extremely beneficial to the plant as it will increase fruit size and quality, while also reducing risks of diseases. The basic method of pruning is to remove the lower leaves at the bottom of the plant and the suckers that grow from the leaf axils, you do this by pinching them with your fingers every 7-10 days throughout the growing season.

the first tiny growing tomatoes!

The less pleasurable task instead was moving the stinky pile of organic matter (mostly grass residues) from the first compartment to the second one, this was bravely carried out by me and Stefan in turns. The key to make good compost is to use a mixture of ingredients: young, moist materials, such as grass clippings, known as “greens”, rot quickly resulting in an unbearable smelly sludge; this is why they need to be mixed with tougher, dry items like old bedding plants – “browns” which add the necessary fibre and a supply of air to give the compost a good structure. These can also be scrap papers and packaging like paper bags or cardboard for example – to provide a good balance. The compost area is one of the most important in a healthy garden. This is where organic matter is broken down by microorganisms and other little creatures, like worms and woodlice, which will provide our soil with all the nutrients our plants need.

the compost area

There is still a lot to do and to be enjoyed at the community garden so for those who want to practice their gardening skills or simply have a breath of fresh air on those working days, come along and join us! We are here every Wednesdays!

our very own special gardeners, Jon and Kat, checking on the vegetables

the gardener's best friend: a ladybird larvae

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Two hives from one! Bees at Southwood House

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Last Friday saw our bees at Southwood House in Avery Hill start a swarm and the formation of a new colony. The building services team spotted the bees gathering in a swarm underneath one of the two hives while doing a walk-round check of the campus. After a couple of telephone conversations with our beekeepers, John and Christine Hird (the beekepers for our Southwood House bees) decided to come and visit the bees and see what ought to be done.

Bees swarming on the bottom of the hive

John tries on some of the protective bee keeping clothing

When John and Christine arrived we donned the protective clothing and had a closer look at the swarm that was forming. Bees tend to swarm when they are looking to replace an older queen with a new one and is part of the reproductive cycle of a hive. The hive will create some queen cells and the queen will lay eggs in these, then the hive will stop feeding the queen so that she is lighter and more able to fly. When the old queen leaves the hive (sometimes taking as many as 60% of the bees with her) she will find a resting place while the scouts look for potential new places to form a hive. The scouts go off to look for new loactions and the new location is determined by the level of excitement the scouts communicate about to the hive. This process normally takes around three days and the bees tend to be non-agressive during this time as there is less focus on defending brood.

When we had a closer look at the bees it was clear that this is what they were doing but rather than let the scouts find a new home and lose the swarm of bees John and Christine decided to capture the swarm and place them in a new hive or a ‘nuc’. This would lead to us getting two hives from the one hive that had started swarming. To do this John opened up the hive and started to look to see if the queen was there and look for queen cells. As expected there were a few queen cells and no sign of the queen bee in the hive, this meant the old queen had left and was looking to create a new hive and the remaining bees were looking after the queen cells and brood inside to get a new queen for the old hive. After the hive had been checked we then went to capture the swarm in the nuc.

Checking the hive to see if the queen bee was still inside

Getting a closer look at the bees working on the cells

Normally bees would swarm in a brach of a tree which would then require a litte shake to get them to fall into the new hive but as they were attached to the bottom of the hive this meant we had to take apart the hive and get the nuc right underneath it – with a couple of bashes and a couple of brushes the majority of the bees were in the nuc. The queen went in and soon enough the remaining bees on the bottom of the hive started to diminish as they followed the queen into it. The nuc was then fitted with a couple of frames so that the new hive could stat to form cells for the queen to lay eggs and the hive to bring up some new brood and of course seal off some honey too!

Moving the bees off the base of the hive into the 'nuc'

The nuc - now with the swarm of bees inside along with the old queen

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The Sun is Shining on the University of Greenwich

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With the weather being dark and windy these last few days you may have thought it an odd title for this week’s blog but I must tell you about our brand new solar array!

Last month the University of Greenwich installed an array of photovoltaic solar panels that will be powering some of the student residencies at the Avery Hill Campus. The panels have been installed in time to benefit from the higher rate of the feed-in-tariff before the incentive was reduced in December. They now have been generating electricity for four weeks (at a time with the shortest amount of daytime) and have so far generated: 1,106 kWh this has given the University a combined total saved/earned of £485. On top of this the electricity generated is enough to power five student flats for a week in Aragon Court, (electricity, heating, hot water, the lot!) and all in the gloomiest weeks of the year.

Panels being hoisted onto the rooves at Avery Hill

The completed array on Aragon Court

The panels have a lifespan of around 25-30 years and will be generating electricity for free as long as there is daylight. In fewer than ten years the panels will have paid for themselves and then after this point they will be generating an electrifying profit!

In fact the return on investment for solar is so good that we have seen a few people putting up arrays on their private property. Jon Hudson of the Building Services Team has a small array of 6.5 kW on his house and when John Bailey went back to the west country for Christmas he noticed his mum had popped five panels up on the roof there – not quite the 190 odd we have up on Avery Hill but enough to turn the meter backwards when all the lights are off.

Kevin Behn from Human Resources, who is currently looking forward to starting work on his new allotment and getting on with some D.I.Y, has recently installed some solar panels on his house – and just in time to receive the maximum feed-in-tariff rate. Kevin has managed to get eight panels on his roof, an array that should produce around 1700 kWh per year, and is expecting to see the panels pay for themselves in eight to nine years, after that he still gets the feed-in-tariff for a further 16-17 years and any electricity generated then will be producing a profit. Kevin added a cautious ‘wait and see’ on his estimations but said that he ‘is more than staisfied’ with the panels so far. Like Kevin we’ll be hoping for a sunny 2012 here in the Sustainability Office and hoping that everyone’s solar panels perform as well as we’re predicting!

For those who are interested in finding out more about solar power and generating electricity and energy from renewable sources, the School of Engineering has a solar array consisting of five varieties of panel at the Medway Campus. The School have been testing the panels to see which ones produce the best yields when harvesting the sun’s energy. You can see the panels when you wonder up to the Wolfson Centre and can find out which panels you should be choosing more by contacting Ian Cakebread at the School.

Solar Wall of different panels at Medway

Launching in the next academic year is a new course that covers solar power along with a whole host renewable and sustainable electrical energy generation with the BEng Hons: Sustainable Electrical Power Engineering. This course will give graduates the necessary skills and attributes to take key roles within industry as professional engineers and give them an advantage in the growing clean energy sector. If you would like to find out more head to: http://www2.gre.ac.uk/study/courses/ug/eleng/suseleceng

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New Orchard at Avery Hill

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Today staff, students, local residents, graduates, friends, family, children and a member of parliament came together to plant a community orchard at the University of Greenwich. At Avery Hill Campus a huge group of volunteers (and a couple of experts from the London orchard Project) took a break from their regular working day to get their hands dirty and plant one of 20 fruit trees in the new community orchard.

The orchard will be supplying staff, students and local residents with a tasty array of fruit (apples, pears, medlar, plums, cherries, damsons, mulberries) for coming decades! It has come as a result of a partnership between the University and the London Orchard Project, who are creating new community orchards in London’s unused spaces to promote community production and ownership of fruit. Plus of course helping us rediscover the pleasures of eating fruit grown close to home (or work). These community orchards are contributing towards the ‘greening’ of the urban environment and are creating new and enhanced habitats for wildlife – especially true at Avery Hill where the orchard will be surrounded by long grass and wildflowers which will be great for encouraging bees, insects and the predators of pests such as aphids and codling moths.
A dozen spades prepare for the digging

The orchard planting is part of a wider University push to improve and enhance the biodiversity on campus and promote local food. The majority of trees have been chosen to fruit during University term time and after three years some of the apple trees will be producing about 300 apples per crop. Students at Avery Hill will never need to buy an apple again!

Russell from the London Orchard Project teaching the volunteers how to plant a fruit tree



Claire Evenden, who came with her colleagues from the Student Records, planted an apple tree called a ‘Fiesta’, said she was looking forward to watching the tree grow from her window in the Bronte building.
Paulina Bush from the University of Greenwich nursery came along with a dozen children who planted two of the apple trees (Discovery and Pinova) with the spades they normally use for maintaining their forest garden. Paulina said that the children would be coming back to the orchard regularly to water the trees and of course help harvest the fruit as well!



The volunteers digging away and planting the trees

 The plan is not to stop at just an orchard either. Close to the orchard we have a space on the Southwood Site where work is about to commence on a community allotment and forest garden, with plans for a nut orchard (or is that a nuttery?), a vineyard and hops also being considered for future food growing projects. Of course if you would like to find out more about any of the food growing projects or indeed get involved with the allotment and forest garden please email us at: sustainability@greenwich.ac.uk

Here is a complete list of the 20 fruit trees planted on campus today:

 
Apples:
1. Egremont Russet. Late Victorian English variety, most important commercial Russet, a hardy variety with a nutty, sweet flavour ripe in late September. Originated in Sussex in the early 1800s.
2. Falstaff. Very good disease and frost resistance, crisp and juicy red desert apple, ripe late September
3. Tydeman’s Late Orange. Variety raised in 1930s in Kent, rich aromatic flavour, firm and sweet, orange to red in colour, picking time mid October. A cross between a Laxton Superb and a Cox Orange Pippin, but a lot easier to grow than a Cox Orange Pippin. Picking time mid-October
4. Tentation. New variety, yellow to golden fruit, picking time late September and stores until March
5. Greensleaves. Green to yellow mid-season apple, tasting a bit like a Golden Delicious, picking time mid-September. We think this apple is essential due to the Henry VIII theme it shares with the campus buildings. Fruits mid-September.
6. Fiesta. Another Cox-like apple but hardier. Heavy cropping with brightly coloured, aromatic fruits, picking time early October.
7. Pinova. A hardy tree with Cox and Golden Delicious as parents. The fruit hangs late on the tree and stores well. Harvesting time late September.
8. Discovery. Bright red, crisp, juicy with a sharp fresh flavour. This is an early apple (early August) so will provide fruit for staff/ any students on campus over the summer.
9. Bramley’s seedling. The classic British cooker, grown from seed in a garden in Nottingham, the original tree is 200 years old and still going strong. Creamy white flesh, full of flabour – though there are alternative cookers if you want something more unusual. Also makes lovely sharp juice.
10. Howgate Wonder. A cooker that can also be eaten/ juiced when fully
ripe. Pale green with brown-red flush, fruits early October.
Pears:
11. Doyenne du Comice. French pear grown from seed, first fruiting in 1849. Reached England in 1858 and soon became very popular for its delicious flavour and jucy texture. Picking mid-October.
12. Williams Bon Chretien. Pears known to the Romans, considered by the best pear in the 16th century. Raised by a schoolmaster in Aldermarston near Reading in 1770. Needs to be eaten off the tree in September as does not store.
13. Concorde. A reliable, heavy cropper with melting, juicy flesh. Picking time late October.
Plums and other stone fruit:
14. Marjorie’s Seedling. Excellent late plum (picking time late September). Oval-shaped purple fruit with yellow flesh.
15. Victoria. A classic plum, discovered in a garden in Sussex and named after Queen Victoria. Picking time is August so another fruit for staff and summer-students to enjoy.
16. Shropshire Damson. A hardy damson with some plum-like characteristics. Best used for cooking and has a rich flavour but can also be eaten from the tree if left to ripen. Picking time late August / early September.
17. Cherry Early Rivers. One of the earliest cherries, with very dark skin and flesh, and excellent flavour. Produces a heavy crop, ready for picking in mid-June.
18. Cherry Stella. Juicy dark-red cherries, ready for picking in late July. Fruiting time isn’t ideal for students but it does make a good pollinator for other cherries.
Other fruit:
19. Medlar. A beautiful, squat and spreading tree with attractive blossom. It is also interesting from heritage perspective, being popular in the middle ages and mentioned by Chaucer as being “ripe when rotten”. Picking time is November and the fruits should then be left to decay (blet) before turning soft and sweet.
20. Black Mulberry. A large stately tree that will grow to form gnarled branches and a distinctive form. The fruit is delicious and almost never commercially available. Said to have been introduced in the 16th Century in the mistaken belief that black mulberries harbour silk worms. (In fact silk worms live on white mulberry trees.)