APPLES OF YOUR EYE
There’s a juicy fruit variety for every plot, big or small
You might still be eating apples from last year’s harvest, but now is the time to think of planting and pruning for a bumper crop in the autumn. Every garden needs an apple tree, preferably two for pollination. Growing apples can seem an arcane art, but if you follow a few simple rules, it is quite easy. once your tree is established, you will be rewarded with fruit for years.
There are so many cultivars it can be hard to choose. If you have lots of space, pick rare and heritage varieties, but if you can take just one or two trees, you want reliable croppers.
TRIED AND TESTED
PIXIE, Falstaff, Sunset and Discovery are all good dessert apples. Early Victoria is one of the first cooking apples to ripen and can be harvested from late July. other good cookers include Lane’s Prince Albert and Bramley Seedling. Charles Ross and Blenheim orange can double up as dessert or cooking apples. Apple trees fall into different pollination groups, so find a pair that will pollinate one another.
There are self-fertile varieties such as Greensleeves, Braeburn and Egremont Russet, but even these grow better with a suitable pollinating partner nearby. A good nursery can advise.
Most domestic apples are grown on dwarf rootstocks, so will suit even the smallest garden. They have the added benefit of pretty blossom in spring.
For a large or medium- sized garden, choose a standard or half-standard, or for something fancier try an espalier or fan — often available part-trained.
Suitable for smaller gardens and containers are cordons, which are one main stem trained diagonally up a wall or support. Stepovers are low, horizontally trained trees often used to edge paths, and ballerinas are dwarf trees with one stem and short fruiting spurs.
THE PERFECT PLACE
CHOOSE a sunny planting spot with fertile, well- draining soil, where your apple tree will have room to grow to full height and width. Dig a hole one-third wider than the root system, then drive a stake into the centre of it.
When positioning your apple, use a cane to make sure the soil mark on the stem is level with the surface, spread out the roots, then backfill the hole, without any air pockets. Attach the stem to the stake with a rubber buckle to cushion it.
If you have bought a ‘maiden whip’ — a one-year-old tree without side-shoots — cut it back to a bud at the required height after planting to encourage sideshoots. In its second year it becomes a ‘feathered maiden’.
Select three or four healthy outward- facing shoots and reduce by a half to a third, removing any shoots below. This will form a goblet shape. In the third year, reduce new growth on main branches by a quarter, but leave side-shoots unpruned as these will bear fruit.
When pruning older trees, the key is to let in light and air to encourage fruit growth. using clean, sharp secateurs and wearing gloves to protect your hands, thin out any inward-growing or overlapping branches.
Remove branches that are dead, dying, diseased or damaged. Shorten branches that are too long by cutting them back to an outward-facing side branch. And make cuts as clean as possible at an angle, to allow rain to run off and reduce the risk of rot.