Why Grow Them?

If there is a wise investment in future food for the family then the cooking apple tree must rank up there with the best. Now is a good time of year to think about planting one. Just think about it. An established tree can reliably supply you with a huge harvest of apples which, in the case of some varieties, can be picked, stored and used whenever needed, from Autumn right through until the following April. If you like apple tarts, apple and blackberry crumble, tarte tatin, stewed spiced fruit, apple strudel and countless other apple based delicacies, and resent paying up to €1.00 per fruit for a few apples on a tray covered in plastic,-then you will get the drift.

The cooking apple grows fabulously well in our climate- unlike in most other parts of the world. A good tree will keep producing for many decades –with relatively little attention (some tall, old fashioned, so- called “standard” trees in mature gardens are still fruiting after 80 years, with little in the way of annual feeding or maintenance). Their ease of cultivation, high yields and the fact that many go to waste as windfalls should not devalue them in any way.

Sizing

Before planting a cooking apple tree it is wise to consider it’s eventual size.  Apple trees are grown on particular rootstocks to make them small, medium or very large trees.  Small to medium sized fruit trees have a rootstock which reduces vigour.  Further control over the eventual size of your fruit tree can be achieved by careful choice of variety, and by pruning, to ensure that the tree never grow too much above head height.

If  space allows, as in larger gardens or community orchards, consideration could be given to planting some of the full size (up to 20 ft high) standard apple trees which can provide enough cooking apples to supply a neighbourhood when fully mature. These fine trees were once the standard size apple tree in the days before dwarfing rootstocks made for smaller trees. They are available from specialist fruit nurseries.

Bear in mind most varieties of cooking apple, will need at least one pollinating partner- an apple tree which produces blossom around the same time. (Bramley apple trees need two pollinating partners).   However apple trees in nearby gardens or even a slow growing, small crab apple tree may do the job for you, as long as the blossom time overlaps with that of your tree.  An alternative could be a “family” tree-one with two to four varieties grafted onto a single rootstock.

Varieties

Bramley is the best known, and most reliable culinary apple grown in Ireland.

It makes a big tree which has specific pruning needs –making it too big for small gardens. Fortunately the choice is wide.  Lane’s Prince Albert produces more spherical, glossy fruits than Bramley, but stores just as well. Blenheim Orange is a good dual purpose tree. The fruits are pleasantly sweet enough in January to enjoy them as an eating “dessert” apples.

Rev.W. Wilks is a more compact growing variety which stores well. Many of the native Irish varieties from the Irish Seed Savers Association which have survived the test of time have been revived by this great association. These apples are showing their good characteristics yet again,-eminently suited for the climate in which they have grown for donkey’s years 

Planting

Most aspects, including a north facing wall are fine for cooking apples.

Ensure the garden has good drainage-if you see waterlogging for weeks after heavy rain, or dank soil with a lot of moss, or plants such as rushes growing, -it is probably not a suitable spot.

As with planting all fruit trees, don’t stint on the time and effort you give to the planting hole and make it really big and deep. Plant your tree so that the graft union (where the tree was joined to it’s rootstock) is above soil level.

Backfilling with well chopped turves of lawn, and adding bonemeal to the garden soil gives the young tree a moisture retentive and sufficiently fertile medium.

Make sure you water the root system well in the first spring and summer to ensure the tree “takes” well. (a pipe sunk in the ground beside the tree helps)

Stake the tree and leave it in place for the first 3-4 years.

Pests and Diseases

The practice of fortnightly spraying with potent insecticides/fungicides and winter washes is something the organic gardener will wish to avoid.  Although cooking apples are susceptible to a broad range of pests and diseases there is usually a fine enough harvest to ensure that losses should not matter too much.

The bigger, vigorous standard trees have a resilience to match their size.

Some apple varieties have good in-bred scab resistance (scab can particularly affect storage potential).

Harvesting

It is possible to harvest culinary apples slightly under ripe from late August when needed for the kitchen. This means the season of use can be extended from August until April with good storing.

The main harvest should be as soon as they start to fall from the tree with the wind. (Letting apples fall to the ground ruins their storage potential).

Pick each fruit carefully, only selecting those for storage which are sound and unblemished. Wrapping each fruit in a sheet of newspaper and storing in boxes placed in a cool, dry shed is a satisfying task in autumn. If you have no suitable storage shed you could barter with a friend or neighbour by offering some fruit in return for shed storage space. Fruit still in storage in March can be pureed and frozen, to further extend period of use, at a time of year when the freezer is often starting to look empty.

Many tall, old cooking apple trees, still fruiting well, are to be found all over Ireland.

A GIY meitheal could offer to fruit pick, and share the harvest with the owner.  A fun way to fruit pick from such trees is with a group of five people.  The picker goes up the tree, taking care, on a ladder. The four remaining on the ground each take a corner of an outstretched sheet and the picker drops the apples, one by one, down onto the sheet, where the collectors fill apples into boxes placed nearby. A lot kinder to the apples than letting them hit the deck!

Michael Fox is chairperson of South Dublin Allotments Association.  He also runs an 8 week grow your own course for back gardeners in Terenure, Dublin-see www.plottopot.ie

Cooking Apples