Our three year old heritage apple trees have yielded their first fruits this year and the taste is out of this world!.
September has arrived and with it, the first crop of apples from our recently planted heritage apple orchard and although the yield is
Scotch Bridget
not vast, the taste and quality of the fruit cannot compare to the bland supermarket varieties.
We planted five eating apples and five cooking apples, all of varieties suited to a northern climate and all grafted onto dwarf rootstock, which should give us more manageable plants.
Our apples were supplied by Adam's Apples in Devon and we sought their advice on the best varieties suited to our region which would tolerate being grown as cordons or small trees. On tasting, I have to say, the selection is outstanding; the eating apples have such diverse flavours and colours and the cooking apples have wonderful textures and flavours.
The crop this year has not been big enough to store but some of the cooking apples have been prepared for the freezer and should last well into the winter.
We always garden organically, using no pesticides or fungicides and as a result, one or two of the fruits may have the occasional blemish but these are nothing more than slight skin imperfections and in no way detract from the flavour of the fruits.
The trees will be given a good mulch and feed this winter and we look forward to next year's crop.
More information
Adam's Apples - Talaton plants in Devon supply a huge range of heritage apple varieties along with very helpful advice and expertise.
