Bare necessities
Now’s the time to plant bare-root apples, says
THIS year we’ve had a bumper crop from our three apple trees, so they should keep us going for at least three months. That’s one apple a day each, cut up on our breakfast muesli, and I’m a firm believer in the old adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Apples are rich in fibre, antioxidants and in vitamins A, C and K, so they help the dietary system, the immune system and thyroid function. Also, the pectin reduces cholesterol. Most importantly, they taste wonderful and, if you grow your own, they’re free. If you’re organic, they’re also pesticide free.
I think a lot of gardeners decided to plant apple trees in ‘lockdown’, because a lot of potted fruit trees sold out in spring. And now is the perfect time to order bare-root apple trees. These trees are field-lifted and sent out once they lose their leaves.
It’s worth preparing the ground now, though. Add some well-rotted compost to your hole and cover the site with cardboard and then you should be able to plant your new tree in most conditions, except very cold weather.
You may have to heel the plant into the ground somewhere sheltered if the ground is frozen. Avoid maiden trees, which arrive as sticks, and spend a little more on two-year old bush trees. Use a fruit specialist, such as Blackmoor Nursery ( blackmoor.co.uk ✆ 01420 477978) or Keepers Nursery ( keepersnursery.co.uk ✆ 01622 326465).
Soak your bare-root tree thoroughly before planting, and put the stake in the hole before the tree to avoid damaging the roots. You should be able to see the soil mark on the trunk when you plant, but the most important thing is to make sure that the graft is a couple of inches above the soil. Shake the tree after planting to get the soil right around the roots.
The exciting bit is choosing which varieties to grow and I was mad-keen to grow ‘Blenheim Orange’, a thin-skinned dual-purpose apple that you can’t buy in supermarkets. The original seedling was found growing against the boundary wall of Blenheim Park in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, by a local man called Kempster. He transplanted it in his garden and it became known as ‘Kempster’s Pippin’, until a Worcestershire nurseryman called Biggs obtained permission from the Duke of Marlborough to market the variety as ‘Blenheim Orange’.
Armed with a posher name, ‘Blenheim Orange’ went on to win a Banksian Silver Medal in 1820. It’s my favourite apple, because the sweet flesh has a floral hint, reminiscent of rose-flavoured Turkish Delight. My ‘Blenheim Orange’ took seven years to fruit and I once threatened it with relegation to the compost heap and mentioned the name ‘Bramley’s Seedling’.
It was worth waiting for, even though it took eight years to produce a decent crop. It’s a vigorous triploid variety, so there’s little or no pollen, and you will need two other apple trees in the same pollination group to pollinate it. This tree definitely has a biennial tendency and the branches splay out rather untidily, but it’s a wonderful dual-purpose apple!
I grow two aromatic eaters, ‘Pitmaston Pineapple’ and ‘D’Arcy Spice’. Both crop well, but the small yellow apples of ‘Pitmaston Pineapple’ are the grandchildren’s favourite and they stayed on the tree when the wind tore through the garden. I ordered the same M26 semi-dwarfing rootstock on all three trees because this is meant to keep them below 3m (10ft) in height. However, each tree is different. The ‘Blenheim Orange’ is an unruly octopus, ‘D’Arcy Spice’ is an upright guardsman and ‘Pitmaston Pineapple’ is a Jewish candelabra or menorah.
Apple trees are extremely good for wildlife and they could attract 93 species of insects. Many birds feast on the fallen fruit and the spring blossom sustains bees. Meanwhile, the apples sustain us!