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nafex - [NAFEX] Fwd: [organic-l] Re: Apple varieties

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  • From: Lon Rombough <lonrom@hevanet.com>
  • To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Fwd: [organic-l] Re: Apple varieties
  • Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 16:47:17 -0700

This is from a list based in the UK. I thought NAFEX members would find the different viewpoint interesting.
-Lon Rombough

Julia's suggestion that you go to an apple day is spot on to my mind -
adding the rider that it needs to be a local one. Apples are (or at least
were) bred for specific locations and often do badly elsewhere. Since you
are in Northamption I presume you have a fairly heavy soil so I would
eschew the Cox and, alas, the finest winter apple of them all, to my mind,
the d'Arcy Spice - East Anglian readers please not, if you aren't growing
it already get it at once. It loves light sandy soils and the flavour is
something that has escaped from Paradise. I would have reservations about
Julia's St Edmund Russett for the same reason - it likes a free draining
soil and appreciates a bit of peat in its construction - it does
brilliantly for my fenland relatives and theirs tastes far better than it
does grown around here. I've still planted it because even at reduced
flavour its lovely but my baby tree hasn't borne yet. Rather than Julia's
Sunset my own pet Cox relative is the Holstein Cox. Its a wonderfully
reliable bearer, the flavour is even better than Cox to my mind and it
doesn't care a bit about soil conditions or weather as far as I can tell.
Its only problem is that it is as vigourous as a bramley so on an allotment
you would probably want to espalier it - mind you on an allotment I think I
would espalier all my apples. James Grieve is an absolute given - good
flavour, beautiful, dead reliable, and the Ashmead's Kernel is another that
every garden should squeeze in somewhere. Also from Julia's list the
Discovery is a given. The other early that is absolutely reliable for us is
Katy. Not the world's greatest and doesn't keep but one of the best
straight from the tree and very reliable and utterly beautiful and blossom
and fruit. The juice is very good and a wonderful colour - children fight
over it. Lady Sudely also gives particularly good juice. Blenheim Orange is
another that gets better and better in late autumn and early winter - it
goes on the Christmas table with the Egremont Russett in this house. For an
early cooker I would always want to have the Rev Charles Wilkes - he's
actually dual purpose but there are so many other eaters around when he is
ready that we always drop him into the pot - he's a very good standby to
provide the pectin for the blackberry jelly. As I look out the window I can
see our biggest ever Bramley crop - Bramley may sound hackneyed but it
still makes lovely pies and crumbles and fluffs though you need another
firmer cooker or a sharpish eater for those dishes where you want the fruit
to stay intact such as a Norman apple tart. Anyway we have serious Bramley
problems this year. The M109 stock simply didn't give strong enough wood to
hold this year's monster crop (all other varieties have done very poorly)
off the ground so we have all sorts of props underneath the branches and
half of them are still on the ground. Next winter will see them very
heavily pruned - fortunately we have another in a different part of the
garden so we won't do without. We have about 30 varieties but many of them
are local, grown partly for flavour but partly for curiosity value. Each
has their season and their place on our dinner tables or in our glasses. As
Julia says, you need to taste lots and lots. You also need to decided
whether you are growing trees, bushes, espaliers or cordons. To bore
everyone with the reminder once again when I was a child we had a dozen
apples, as well as pears, plums and currants, as cordons round our 20 x 30
foot back garden and we got enormous crops off them. But on an allotment I
think I would espalier on the north side so that shade fell only on the
path between plots and didn't mess up either my own or my neighbour's
veggies. Absolutely critical in any restricted situation is to get the
right rootstock. Most of the serious fruit nurseries' websites have good
information on this. I've been disappointed in the quality of trees I
bought from Deacons. Future Forests here in Ireland have a good range and
excellent quality at low prices but I don't know whether they export. What
are Keepers like? They seem to have the best range of all but don't export
to Ireland so I haven't been able to try them out. (I'm thinking of getting
them to ship to my son in Birmingham this winter and collecting from him so
I would be grateful for feedback from those who have bought from them.)

Sue - in answer to your question about what we do with all those apples -
eat them fresh, cook them, juice them, make friends with people who don't
have apple trees, make pectin to set low pectin jams such as blackberrry,
raspberry and strawberry, eat more. An apple a day keeps the doctor away so
think what half a dozen a day can do. But yes, we do have more than we can
eat but not more than other people can.

kathryn

At 22:41 03/09/2004, you wrote:

I'd also lilk to plant a couple of apple trees on my
allotment. When and what varieties have people
prefered?
Cheers
Ian

The best way to choose would be to go to an Apple day (usually in
October) and try as many as possible. Failing that our favourites
are St Edmunds Russett, Discovery, Elstar, Sunset & Greensleeves.
Also it depends whether you want them to be keepers, or to eat
relatively fast. Also if they will pollinate each other.
We also grow Ashmeads Kernel, James Grieve, Egremont Russett, Kidds
Orange Red and Pixie, and only the first and the last can be stored
for any length of time. Then you have to check the appropriate
rootstock. Lots of things to consider. The Dr Hessayon book of Fruit
will tell you which will pollinate which, etc.
Good luck!

Julia
in N.Cheshire, after a gorgeous sunny day








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