The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
An apple a day...
John runs through the options available to those who want to grow apples – great as a healthy snack or in countless recipes
Growing an apple tree is easier than you think, and breeders have a variety for all gardens.
Growing an apple tree has never been more popular.
The breeders have been busy creating forms suitable for any size of garden and it has not been lost on them that we want flavour, a good red skin colour, an apple that can store a few months and a tree that has strong, disease-resistant leaves able to withstand attacks of scab and mildew.
We do not need an apple that only grows to an even, commercial size, requires frequent spraying throughout the growing season to keep it pest and disease-free and has a long shelf life enhanced by even more chemicals.
Our home-grown apples are very healthy, as they have been grown without chemicals, apart from a spring dressing of fertilizer to get them growing strongly.
Today we have a choice ranging from large standard trees for the big gardens down to spindle bushes where all fruit is picked from the ground. For those with very limited space, the choice is a fan, cordon, an oblique cordon or an espalier to plant against a wall or fence.
After this, tree forms get even smaller with the upright columnar Starlight tree range and the dwarf stepover forms to plant along the edges of borders.
A garden with an apple tree with bright red fruit will always impress, as they stand out from the crowd.
However, apples as a snack fit in very
Today we have a choice ranging from large standard trees for the big gardens down to spindle bushes where all fruit is picked from the ground
well with modern, busy lifestyles, and for those who can cook, the Bramley is perfect for numerous recipes.
For those who like to count the calories and are conscious of eating a healthy diet, a daily apple fits the bill. They are absolutely packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre. The apple season starts in August with the earliest varieties, like Oslin, but with cool, airy storage others will last until March.
Thereafter, if it is back to supermarket apples, remember to wash the skin thoroughly to remove any chemicals bombarded on the apples while in the orchard and, after harvesting, in the packing shed.
In terms of form and rootstocks, Rootstock M27 is very dwarfing so it is used for columnar shapes, dwarf pyramids and stepover trees.
Rootstock M9 is a dwarfing type used for cordons, dwarf bush and spindle trees but as it lacks vigour, the trees need permanent tree stakes
or support systems. M27 and M26 and MM106 are still dwarfing but will give a bigger tree than the previous ones, growing up to 10 to 12 feet.
Where tree size is not a problem, use trees grafted on to rootstocks MM111 or M25.
Apples for Scottish soils and climate are plentiful so look for Discovery as a great early, then Katy, Scrumptious, Falstaff, and Fiesta for main crops, with Red devil as a great apple in storage, though Fiesta is also a great keeper.
For cooking, it is hard to beat Bramley, which also stores up to the end of March in a cool, airy, dark store.
My preference in the upright Starlight range is the red Firedance.
When it comes to pruning and planting, dwarf apple forms are usually grown on a spur system, where summer growth is cut back to about four or five buds, which are then further pruned in winter to a couple of buds.
With other forms, shoots are left for three or four years then removed back to a younger shoot, which takes its place.
Upright shoots are removed, as they would be too vigorous at the expense of fruiting.
Bare root plants are planted in the dormant season but today most plants come in containers, to be planted all year round.
As trees are in the soil for a long time, prepare a good planting hole by removing topsoil and adding compost to the subsoil and forking it in, and then replace the topsoil, mixing in some planting compost.
After planting, add some fertilizer and water the plants.