Green Fingers: How to be fruitful with apples in your garden
It is very satisfying to be able to pick some fruit from your own garden and eat them immediately.
This is a gardening year with mixed results. The reality was that many plants suffered and even some long-established plants died with the long prolonged wet weather, as we did not get the normal burst of sunny periods in between.
On the other hand it was great for many plants, especially those that thrive in wetter conditions, such as certain vegetables, flowers and of course many fruiting plants gave a bumper harvest. Plums, pears and apples in particular produced sizable quantities of quality fruit, which remained generally unblemished by pests or diseases.
When planning to get some apple trees, there has been a small interest in having some of the old varieties that existed in the local area. The reasons have been a mixture of nostalgia, coupled with the idea that since they have survived so they must be resistant to local diseases and therefore easier to grow. This may be partially true and of course no one area is isolated now as diseases have been transported far and wide and some old local varieties, much to the surprise of advisors, have fallen to diseases.
What and how many fruit trees to plant all boils down to available space and what you like to have.
Find out what is suitable to grow in this country and work out how many plants you can accommodate. Perhaps begin with those plants that grow with little or no aftercare. We do not like sprays for pests and diseases and by choice only grow plants that can take care of themselves without any chemical additives. Regarding fruit we then search for plants that taste good and also fit into a harvesting period that suits us, as too many fruit at one time leads to a surplus, which might be hard to handle.
The trend is to select fruit that you like in the shops, such as ‘Braeburn’ and ‘Pink Lady’ apples, but unfortunately they do not grow well in this country as they need drier and warmer conditions to succeed. I suppose what we are looking for is a crisp, tasty, juicy apple and for that there are many to choose from but are not that well-known. I will list a few of them in the order in which they ripen ready for eating. Discovery (August), Katy (early September), Sunset (late September), Elstar (October) and Winston (late October). It is very satisfying to be able to pick some fruit from your own garden and eat them immediately.
Limited space should not pose a problem to having a few of these plants in your garden as it is just a case of planning it out, and they are usually attractive in their own right, with any fruit being a bonus.
Our hanging baskets have been taken down and the contents have been added to our compost heap. We will be doing the same to other pots and containers as and when they look past their best and rearrange the last remaining ones where they still can be enjoyed.
We have already planted up six pots and containers of various sizes with autumn bedding plants and under-planted with some mini bulbs, and will leave it at that for the winter.
If you have any comments or queries you are welcome to share them with me on 051-384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com and if of general interest I will include it in a future article.
