GARDEN
ONE FRUITFUL TREE WILL GIVE A HUGE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
Shake off those winter blues and put some preparation into spring bulbs.
For reasons I won’t bore you with, our apple is a Granny Smith – a peculiar choice since I am not much inclined to make apple jelly or do any of the other things that Granny Smiths are good for. I just wanted a tree from which I could grab an apple and eat it. What was I thinking?
In its second year, the tree became the target of every codling moth in the vicinity and grew tall and spindly, and nothing like the climber-friendly trees I remembered from my childhood.
I didn’t give it much thought until I visited a friend recently who took me for a walk through her orchard. I grabbed an apple off one of her trees and ate it. Heavenly. Every home should have one.
There is no reason not to have an apple tree in your garden. The popular excuses – they grow too big, they get too many pests and diseases, apples are so cheap it’s not worth growing your own, you’d have to eat a trillion to get any health benefits – are, well, bollocks.
The “growing too big” excuse is the most common and while it may have been true at some point in history, it isn’t now. An apple grown on dwarf rootstock will reach a height of two to three metres, so you can have a couple planted a metre apart. Ballerina columnar apples are even more efficient space savers. They’ll grow in containers, and give you both a fruiting tree and an ornamental vertical accent plant. They’ll only reach three metres and retain an elegant slenderness at about 700mm wide.
Not convinced? Then you can espalier a tree. Training the tree to grow along a flat plane allows you to harvest fruit from a tight space while adding a trendy touch to your outdoor living area.
In spite of the codling moth, some of today’s apple varieties are bred to have greater disease resistance – good news for those who are reluctant to do a lot of spraying. And apparently (I have yet to see this happen to my Granny Smith) trees can become naturally more resistant to pests and diseases as they get older. So don’t deprive yourself of the taste of a fresh-from-the-tree apple just because it might get a disease.
Then there’s the argument that apples are so cheap, it’s hardly worth the effort of growing them. It’s a valid point still, potatoes are cheap too, but just think of the taste of your own, home-grown new potatoes on Christmas Day.
I rest my case.
And finally – who can say whether eating an apple a day has health benefits? Well, just briefly, recent studies suggest that apples may provide a “whole body” health benefit. Studies have found fibre and phytonutrients in apples can lower blood cholesterol, improve bowel function and may be associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, prostate cancer, type 2 diabetes and asthma. So there.
Warm, dry summers and cool winters are the ideal growing climate for apples, and ENZA says they must have a dormancy period under 7.2 degrees of at least 1200 hours per year.
I’ve read there are more than 7000 named varieties of apples with New Zealand breeders, so you should be able to find one to suit your space, your environment and your taste buds. You should plant in winter so you still have a few weeks to make up your mind.
Choose an open, sunny position with shelter from the wind. Good drainage is important. Fertilise in early spring and autumn, and remember to keep your tree well watered, with the occasional luxury, deep soakings.