Of all the fruits, Apples are the mose widely grown, and most certainly my favourite. There are hundreds of varieties of both dessert and culinary apples which offer a fantastic variety of different textures and flavours. They are also vary hardy, which makes them an ideal choice for any garden, ... Read review
Advantages: Deliciously tasty, easy to grow Disadvantages: Lots of pruning required for good yields
...I would advise that an apple tree or two is where you start. The beauty of apple trees nowadays is that, where once you may have only been able to grow one large tree in your garden, due to the fact that dwarfing rootstocks are now more widely available, you will now find that you can accomodate several different smaller trees in your garden. You can also train your apple trees to grow in almost any shape. If you are growing against a fence or wall, ... ...When you are planting your apple trees, you need to ensure that you provide enough space for the tree to develop and reach its full size. You should be careful to select the most suitable size of tree for your garden. This is largely determined by the rootstock which it is grown on. In most cases, you will require more than one apple tree otherwise they will not pollinate.
SITE
If you want consistently heavy and quality crops, ... more
Of all the fruits, Apples are the mose widely grown, and most certainly my favourite. There are hundreds of varieties of both dessert and culinary apples which offer a fantastic variety of different textures and flavours. They are also vary hardy, which makes them an ideal choice for any garden, and as they are easy to grow, if you are thinking of having a fruit garden, I would advise that an apple tree or two is where you start. The beauty of apple trees nowadays is that, where once you may have only been able to grow one large tree in your garden, due to the fact that dwarfing rootstocks are now more widely available, you will now find that you can accomodate several different smaller trees in your garden. You can also train your apple trees to grow in almost any shape. If you are growing against a fence or wall, then cordon-, espalier- and fan-shaped forms are particularly useful. The enormous range of apples available now, means that you can grow several varieties, with each one ripening at a different time of year. So you can grow different apples that will ripen in succesion from mid-summer to late winter, and you may store your fruit until mid-spring, provided that you give them the right conditions. As there are so many different cultivars available, you can get some that even allow the harshest winters and the hottest summers. However, bear in mind that for your trees to flower successfully, they bust be subjected to at least 900 hours below 7 degrees celsius. We call this the chilling requirement. You will not be able to grow apples successfully in a tropical or subtropical climate, as they will not receive the required chilling period.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SITE AND PLANTING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you are planting your apple trees, you need to ensure that you provide enough space for the tree to develop and reach its full size. You should be careful to select the most suitable size of tree for your garden. This is largely determined by the rootstock which it is grown on. In most cases, you will require more than one apple tree otherwise they will not pollinate.
SITE If you want consistently heavy and quality crops, then I recommend that you plant your apples nowhere else other than a sunny and sheltered site. If you are growing your apples against walls or fences, then they should not be shaded and ideally in full sun. If you have a shaded garden, or you live in an area with short summers or cool temperatures, then I would recommend that you choose varieties that ripen early. If you live in an area that is susceptible to a late frost or two, then choose varieties that flower late so that the blossom will not be damaged. You can grow apples in most soil types, however you should endeavour to make it as fertile as possible. The more dwarfing the rootstock, the more fertile the soil will need to be.
ROOTSTOCKS The choice you make for your rootstock, will depend entirely on your soil type, and the size of the tree required. Apple rootstocks are prefixed by M or MM, which stands for Malling and Malling Merton respectively, the research stations where the rootstocks were developed. There is a huge range of rootstocks available, from 'M27', which is very dwarfing, to the extremely vigorous 'M25'. If you are going to grow your trees in your garden, I would recommend 'M9' for dwarf trees, 'M26' if you are looking for larger trees, and if you are looking for a medium sized tree, then I would recommend 'MM109'. If you are growing cultivars on 'M27' rootstock, they should bear fruit within 3 years of being grafted, but they will require good growing conditions to maintain high yields. If your garden has very poor soil, I would recommend that you use a very vigorous rootstock to aompensate. For example, where a dwarf tree is required, use 'MM106' instead of 'M9' or 'M26'. The vigour of your chosen variety also determines the size of the final tree. Triploid cultivars grow larger than diploids, I recommend you use a more dwarfing rootstock for a triploid than for a diploid cultivar to attain a tree of similar size.
POLLINATION The unfortunate thing about Apples, is that there are no cultivars that are reliably and consistently self-fertile. Diploids must be planted near a second, compatible cultivar and triploid apples, which will not pollinate other cultivars, require two compatible cultivars nearby to pollinate them. The different varieties of apple are divided up into groups, dependent on what time of the year they flower. A cultivar from one group may be cross-pollinated by another from the same group or one in the group before or after it if flowering times overlap. Some varieties of apple are not compatible together. For example, 'Cox's Orange Pippin' will not pollinate 'Kidd's Orange Red' or 'Suntan' and vise versa. If you are in any doubt over the compatibility of the apples you have chosen, you should ask a fruit nursery for advice.
PLANTING If you buy bare rooted apple trees, the best time to plant them is when they are dormant, preferably in the autumn, as the soil will still be warm. You can plant them right up until late winter (except when it is frosty), but ensure that you keep them moist all through the spring so that they will establish well. If you buy container grown apples, you will be able to plant these out all year round, except when the ground is frozen or very wet. Before you plant them out, ensure that you water them well in their pots so that the roots are moist. You should use the mark of soil on the trunk and plant out at the same depth as they were originally grown at. If you are going to train your apple trees to follow a certain form, I recommend that you install the supports and wires necessary before you plant out the trees. If you are not going to train your trees, you should stake them once planted immediately to prevent them rocking in the wind. If your tree is grown on a dwarfing rootstock, this staking should be permanent. The distance that you should plant your trees apart will vary depending on whether they are to be trained, and the variety and rootstocks chosen.
Recommended Dessert Apples ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Early ``````` Beauty of Bath Discovery Epicure George Cave Irish Peach Katy Tydeman's Early Worcester
Mid-season ```````````````` Charles Ross Cox's Orange Pippin Egremont Russet Ellison's Orange Fortune Golden Delicious Greensleeves James Grieve Jester King of the Pippins Lord Lambourne Mother Ribston Pippin St Edmund's Pippin Spartan Sunset Worcester Pearmain
Late `````` Ashmead's Kernel Chivers Delight Claygate Pearmain Cornish Gillyflower D'Arcy Spice Duke of Devonshire Fiesta Gala Idared Jonagold Jupiter Kidd's Orange Red Laxton's Superb Orleans Reinette Pixie Rosemary Russet Sturmer Pippin Suntan Tydeman's Late Orange William Crump Winston
Recommended Culinary Apples ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Early ``````` Early Victoria George Neal Grenadier Lord Grosvenor Lord Suffield
Mid-season ```````````````` Arthur Turner Bismarck Blenheim Orange Cox's Pomona Golden Noble Lord Derby Norfolk Beauty Peasgood Nonsuch Rev. W. Wilks Royal Jubilee Warner's King
Late `````` Annie Elizabeth Bountiful Bramley's Seedling Crawley Beauty Dumelow's Seedling Edward VII Encore Howgate Wonder Lane's Prince Albert Monarch Newton Wonder Woolbrook Russet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ROUTINE CARE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you have chosen and planted your tree's, you should develop a regulare care programme for them to ensure that your trees stay healthy and crop well. You should feed and mulch your trees regularly as required. You will also need to thin out blossom and fruit as an annual task to ensure that you get consistently heavy and satisfactory crops. You should also check your trees regularly for signs of bugs and diseases, and also for signs of damage from rubbing stakes and ties.
BLOSSOM THINNING AND BIENNIAL BEARING You will find that there are certain varieties of apple, such as 'Laxton's Superb', that have a tendency to produce some very heavy crops in alternate years, with little or no crop in intervening years. This is known as biennial bearing. I have found that the best way to correct this is by thinning out the blossom. This involves the removal of about nine out of every ten blossom clusters by pinching them out. However, ensure that you leave the rosette of leaves surrounding each bundel of blossom intact. The result of this is that instead of producing a very heavy crop, the tree will produce a rather more moderate crop, but the energy saved will be put into developing fruit buds for the following year. Otherwise the next year, the tree would have been fruitless. If you have a very large tree however, it would be nigh on impossible to do this for the whole tree. I would therefore advise that for large trees, you do this for about one in three of the branches. This should again correct the problem. If you have an established tree that has always fruited annually, and then suddenly starts fruiting biennially, this is probably due the loss of blossom by frost. This will lead to a smaller crop in one year, but the next year, the tree will overcrop itself. The tree may then not have enough resources to build up fruiting buds for the third year, and so the biennial cropping tendency is set in motion. If you get a large outbreak of deisease or colonisation by bugs in one year, this could also cause the same effect.
FRUIT THINNING If a heavy fruit crop has set, thinning is essential. This will result in larger apples of a higher quality and flavour. Thinning out heavy crops of fruit will also help to prevent branches from breaking under the weight. If your apple tree is young, allowing it to overcrop itself will severely drain its resources and this will then slow down the growth of new buds. It is possible to thin out the young fruitless as they form, however, I have found that the best time to do it is after the 'June Drop', which is when the tree will naturally shed imperfect and infertile fruits. To thin out your fruits, you should use secateurs to remove the centre fruit from each bunch. This is often called the 'king' fruit and may regularly be of an abnormal shape. Whilst doing this, you should also cut out any fruits that are damaged. I then go back during mid-summer, and thin the resulting bunches to only one fruit per cluster. Making sure that the fruit that is left is the biggest fruit and also of a high quality. Fruit of dessert cultivars should be spaced 10-15cm apart, and that of culinary cultivars 15-22cm apart. The distances that you should leave between your fruit will vary depending on the variety and the size of fruit that you require.
FERTILIZING, WATERING, AND MULCHING This is easy! You should water your trees well in spells of hot and dry weather, and feed your trees annually. Mulches should be applied as necessary. If the growth of your tree is not very good, I would recommmend that you apply ammonium sulphate in spring at a rate of about 35g/sq m.
STAKES AND TIES You should inspect the stakes and ties that are supporting your trees regularly to ensure that they are not rubbing against the bark of the tree. You should also ensure that ties are not too loose and adjust them as necessary. If you are growing tree's on dwarfing rootstocks, then as I mentioned earlier, they will need a stake as a permanent support. This is because trees grown on rootstocks such as 'M9' and 'M26' do not produce many tap roots and so cannot stabilise themselves in the soil.
BUGS AND DISEASES Apple trees may be affected by many bugs and disease, but I would say that the main ones are:
Bugs ``````````````````````````` Birds Wasps Codling Moths Red Spider Mites
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PRUNING AND TRAINING TECHNIQUES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Apple tree's do not fruit an all the branches. They generally produce fruit on wood that is over two years old. They will also fruit on short spurs that are produced by the older wood. Two year old shoots carry both large fruit buds and smaller, pointed growth buds. The difference between these is that fruit buds produce flower clusters and then fruit, whilst growth buds will develop into either fruit buds for the following year, or they will grow into sideshoots or fruiting spurs. One year old shoots may also carry fruit buds but these will flower later than those on older wood. Tip-bearing cultivars produce markedly fewer spurs. If you are growing a trained tree, once the framework is established, you will need to prune tham annually, usually during summer, to maintain the shape, curb vegetative growth and stimulate the production of fruit buds. If you are growing an untrained tree (which in my opinion is the easiest, although not as nice to look at), you should prune them moderately in winter to stimulate growth for the next season's fruit and to maintain an open, well-balanced structure so that they crop well and the fruit is of a good quality.
TIP BEARERS AND SPUR BEARERS The different varieties of apple differ in the way that they bear most of their fruit. Apples that are tip bearers, will carry most of their fruit at or near the tips of the shoots. Spur bearers, however, carry their fruit along the whole shoot on short-jointed spurs from which further growth develops each year. If you are going to grow tip bearers, I would advise that you do not grow these as cordons, espaliers or fans because on each shoot, there is bare, unproductive wood that limits the cropping capacity of the tree. Tip bearers are best grown as standard, half standard or bush forms. Once they have become established, you will need to give them renewal pruning only.
NICKING AND NOTCHING Sometimes it may be necessary to correct the balance of the branch framework of a trained tree. This may be achieved by nicking, which weakens the growth of a particular bud, or notching, which strengthens it. Notching may also be used to stimulate the production of side shoots on bare lengths of stem. Nicking and notching are most effective in spring when the sap is rising. Make a nick or a small incision with a sharp knife just below a bud to inhibit its growth; make a notch just above it to increase its vigour and stimulate new growth.
BARK-RINGING On excessively vigorous apple trees that produce unsatisfactory crops, bark-ringing may be used as a last resort to curb vegetative growth and induce a greater fruit set. In late spring, remove a narrow band of bark from around the trunk through to the cambium layer at a heigh of about 1m. This reduces the flow of nutrients and hormones back to the roots, so that they are concentrated in the upper part of the tree. I would advise that you carry out bark-ringing carefully, otherwise the tree may die. First measure out the width of the band, which must be only 3mm on a small tree, graduating to no more than 1cm on a large tree, then score the band with a knife. Cut through the bark and the cambium layer and remove the bark within the band down to the hardwood all the way round. Seal the wound at once with several layers of waterproof insulation tape - it must cover the wound without touching the cambium layer. The wound should heal over by the autumn, when the tape may be removed. The following year, the tree should produce much more blossom and, consequently, a much heavier crop of fruit because the reaction of any wounded plant is to reproduce.
WINTER PRUNING Winter is the time to prune your apples, and there are three main techniques to doing it, and each of them stimulate new growth. Be careful though, as you should only carry out spur pruning or thinning on varieties of apple that produce plenty of spurs. You should never carry out this sort of pruning on tip bearers. For tip bearers, renewal pruning is ideal, this is also ideal for all types of spindlebush apples and other varieties which are very vigorous and would be overstimulated by hard pruning. Regulated pruning is suited to cultivars that are naturally very vigorous, particularly triploids such as 'Bramley's Seedling', 'Blenheim Orange' and 'Jonagold'. You will have to monitor your pruning techniques carefully, as it may be necessary to vary the amount of pruning that you undertake dependent on the extent of growth, the age of the tree and the quantity of fruit produced.
SPUR PRUNING Spur pruning involves cutting back branch leaders and young laterals to stimulate the growth of sub-laterals and fuiting spurs. The extent of pruning required depends on the tree's vigour - the greater the vigour, the lighter the pruning, since pruning stimulates growth. Shorten branch leaders on vigorous trees by no more than a few buds but on weaker ones by up to one third to stimulate new sub-laterals to form. Shorten young laterals to three or six buds where growth is good but to three or four buds on weaker trees so that spurs form. On a stronger tree, shoots up to 15cm long may be left unpruned.
SPUR THINNING Spur thinning is necessary as your apple tree ages to prevent fruits from becoming overcrowded. If left unthinned, the spurs become entangled and carry inferior fruit. When spur systems become congested, remove the older wood in favour of the younger. In time, it may be necessary to saw off whole spur systems to allow room for new ones to develop.
RENEWAL PRUNING Renewal pruning involves the annual cutting back of a proportion of older, fruited shoots to their base to stimulate the growth of new, young wood. Keep the centre of a bush tree open by pruning out any vigorous growth that is crossing or shading other laterals so that all the branches are well spaced. Remove only a little of the tip from branch leaders and none at all on vigorous trees.
REGULATED PRUNING Regulated pruning consists of removing shoots and sometimes long sections of large branches that are crowded or crossing, particularly in the centre of the tree, to keep the branch framework open. Remove old wood to make room for young shoots. Do not tip prune the branch leaders.
SUMMER PRUNING You should carry out summer pruning to ensure that trained trees keep within their allotted space. It involves removing a large proportion of the new growth each summer to slow down vegetative growth
THE MODIFIED LORETTE SYSTEM The modified lorette system is the standard method of summer pruning in temperate climates with cool, unpredictable summers. You should carry this out once the young shoots have become woody at the base. Maiden (new) laterals more than 22cm long that grow directly from the main stem or a main branch should be reduced to three leaves above the basal cluster. Prune back sideshoots arising from spurs and existing laterals to one leaf above the basal cluster. Continue to prune in this way as shoots mature. To help prevent sideshoots, or secondary growths, from developing behind the pruning cut, leave a small number of the longer shoots unpruned; tie these shoots securely to other branches so that they are roughly horizontal and draw the sap down. Do not shorten any of them until after fruiting. Then, in mid-autumn, cut back any secondary growth shoots to one bud.
THE FULL LORETTE SYSTEM The full lorette system should be used in warmer climates. Prune back new laterals to about 5cm, repeating at intervals through the summer. Shorten the laterals to 2cm once they are woody at the base. Prune any secondary growths in late summer in the same way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PROPAGATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can expand your collection of apple trees by propagating them via chip-budding ot T-budding in summer or whip-and-tongue grafting in early spring. If at all possible, I would recommend that you use certified scions and rootstocks.
GRAFTING OVER Grafting over is my favourite technique for growing new trees, and involves the grafting of scions onto an established apple or pear tree to replace the original variety. You would usually do this to introduce a new pollinator for adjacent trees or to try a new variety, as the roots and main branch system are already established, the new variety should bear fruit quickly. There are two methods: top-working and frame-working.
TOP-WORKING Initially, this entails heading cutting back most of the main branches to within 60-75cm of the main branch fork in spring. I recommend you leave one or two smaller branches unpruned to act as sap-drawers to reduce the number of new shoots that may form around the pruning cuts. Trim the cuts where branches have been sawn off. I normally use two or three scions per branch but I only grow the most vigorous one on, I believe the presence of the others may initially help to stop canker developing in the cut surface. These may be either rind- or cleft-grafted ( I will not describe cleft grafting as I do not know too much about it myself and will never be used by amateurs.) For rind-grafting, take dormant scions from the previous season's growth of your desired variety and prepare them with angled top cuts and tapering basal cuts. Cut away a sliver of bark on the other side of the tapering cut to prevent the bark from being damaged when inserted into the branch. When rind-grafting branches of about 2.5cm in diameter, I always place two scions opposite each other. Larger branches can accomodate three, evenly spaced scions. Make a vertical cut for each scion in the bark of the prepared branch. Carefully lift the bark and slide the scion into position underneath. Bind the graft firmly into position and seal the cut surfaces with grafting wax. Scion growth is rapid and you must release the ties.
I recommend that you then retain the most vigorous scion and remove the others. Frequently, more than one shoot will develop from the selected scion, I recommend that you allow the best one to grow unchecked as the basis for the new branch. Shorten any others if they are less vigorous than the retained shoot but remove them completely if they are of equal vigour. After three or four years the new variety should start to crop regularly. Subsequently you should prune the new branch following the guidelines that I laid out earlier in my review.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HARVESTING AND STORING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From my experience, I recommend that if you are growing early ripening apples, you gather them in just before they become ripe, otherwise it will not take long before they become mealy. However, having said that, if you are growing late maturing apples, I recommend that these are not picked too early, other wise they will start to shrivel in storage.
I always wrap the fruits individually in greaseproof paper and store them in slatted boxes in a cool place. You don't have to, but I would recommend that you store different apple varieties in different places. Fruits from young or over vigorous trees store less well than those from more mature trees and you should therefore use these first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONCLUSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I firmly believe that apples are the easiest an most enjoyable of the fruits to grow, as I mentioned before, you do not need a large garden to grow them in - even pots will suffice if necessary. Of course, you don't even have to prune your apples, but the cropping capacity of them will be greatly reduced if you don't.
However you decide to grow your apples, I wish you the best of luck, and hope that you will be enjoying plentiful harvests for years to come.
Advantages: Much tastier than what you buy in shops Disadvantages: none, unless you're allergic to apples
...fragrance. Just bite into an apple fresh from the tree, and compare it with a supermarket-grown one, and you'll taste and smell the difference. I'm in favour of keeping apples in cold storage so that we can eat them when they are not in season, but to store them for longer than that is, in my opinion, gross abuse.
The solution: grow your own!
You may think that apple growing is a slow complicated business that requires a lot of time and knowledge, ... ...WHEN AND WHERE TO BUY APPLE TREES
The best time to buy and plant young trees is between November and March. You can buy them from specialist tree nurseries, which have the biggest selection. You can buy them from your local garden centre, where they are likely to be expensive. You can buy them on Ebay, which works out cheaply if you buy several items from one seller, which I have done with good results. You can buy them online from specialist nurseries, ...
queen_rain 12.12.2004 (08.01.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple
Advantages: Tasty good for cooking with. Disadvantages: Chose your tree carefully for size
Apple
The apple is a fruit which we are all familiar with, from the apple in the packed lunch taken to school at an early age to the apple pie granny used to make, but to grow and nurture an apple takes some doing, I have got two trees in my garden and each year I get a different yield. This has lots of factors determine how many apples I get from my trees, from the wind to the wasps everything effects the crop.
So, if your interested on how to ... ...In my opinion the best apple to try and grow first is the Cox’s orange pippin it seems suitable for most area’s and soils, the spread of an apple tree will vary on the variety chosen and this can be from 8 to 10 ft high by 8 to 10 feet wide, to 15 to 20 ft wide and 6 ft high. Always remember when buying apple trees that they do need lots of room to grow and mature and what might seem nice and compact the first two or three years will mature into ...
Sunnysmiles 23.05.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple
Advantages: Easy To Grow, Attractive, Lovely Fruit Disadvantages: Quite A Lot Of Pests And Diseases
There has been an Apple Tree at the bottom of my Parent's Garden for as long as I can remember. The only problem is no matter how lovely it may look when it is covered in Pink Blossom in the Springtime, or when it is laden with huge, juicy looking Apples the truth is, the Fruit that it produces is very bitter and sour and sadly the Apples from this Tree have only ever been suitable for Cooking with.
When I recently moved House and had a Garden once ... ...have an Apple Tree of my very own, only this one would bear the most wonderful Fruit. The trouble was I didn't actually know a great deal about Apple Trees, but after a bit of research I finally made my choice.
I settled on a variety of Apple called "Katy" which will form the bulk of this review. I would however also like to give a little bit of general information which may also be useful.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF APPLES
Apple Trees are the most widely ...
micksheff 13.04.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple
Did Eve give Adam an apple in paradise? The bible doesn't mention one, only the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In the 5th century AD people began to become interested in the kind of fruit she gave him, considering the flora and geographical conditions of Asia Minor where the Garden of Eden was supposed to be they thought it could have been a fig, a grape or a citron, monks in Northern Italy, however, were convinced that the fruit ... ...warm there. Botanists assume that apple trees originated in the area between the Caspian and the Black Sea, they grow best in temperate countries with a cool climate and plenty of rain during the winter. Central Europe and North America are the main regions for the production of apples, but they're now also grown in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America - in the months when we've got winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Internationally, ...
MALU 13.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple
Advantages: Who wouldn't want to eat their very own apples Disadvantages: You may need to buy more than one, raids at dawn!
Apple tree or Malus is a hugely diverse subject, there are hundreds of varieties of apple, including the crab and various ornamental varieties with colourful leaves and stunning blossom. Probably, the Apples which come to most peoples minds are of the eating and cooking variety, so that is what I shall write about here.
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THE MECHANICS OF IT ALL
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Having narrowed the field down from many hundreds to just ... ...your search for the perfect Apple tree is that most are not self fertile. Meaning that they will need other apples within the vicinity which flower at the same time in order for cross pollination and fruiting to take place. Incestuous trees they are not!
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DETECTIVE WORK
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The best, and most fun, advice I can give on this is to go on an Apple tree hunt around your immeadiate neighbourhood to see if their are any handy ...
inycon2 09.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Apple
Advantages: Very quick to use, easy to clean Disadvantages: Very sharp so must be kept away from children
This is very handy to have in any kitchen - I brought one of these myself 2 months ago and I use it every day.
I have a 4 year old boy who loves apples but hates the pips, I would normally sit there and peck them out for him or spend time in the kitchen slicing the apple into slices. He loves the fruit bags that you can buy but at 50p each they are expensive compared to a bag of apples!
I then saw the above product in my Betterware book and purchased one. Its fantastic slices the apples into perfect slices and take the core straight out of the apple pips included.
I use it every day as my son takes a sliced apple to school in his lunchbox so no sticky apple core in his lunchbox after school!
I would reccommend this in any household, very quick to use, easy to clean, the only disadvantage if i had to mention one would be ...
Advantages: Delicious; easy to grow; good for you Disadvantages: Can be messy
acidic flavour.
* Vine Cherry - tomatoes matured on the vine for the sweetest taste.
* Baby Plum - a miniature version of the plum tomato. Great for salads.
♦♦ ORIGINS ♦♦
Tomatoes originate from Central and South America. They were originally thought to be poisonous because people associated their red colour with danger. As a result, they were not consumed as food until around the 1800s.
The tomato plant first came to Europe in the 16th century. It is not clear who brought them in the first place, but it is thought that they were brought back from Central America by the Spanish Conquistadors. At that time, they were known as the wolf's peach and Peruvian apple.
In Italy, tomatoes became known as 'pomi dei mori' - or 'apples of the moors'. When uttered out loud, this sounds remarkably like the French ...
rowei 26.02.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tomatoes
Advantages: Very hardy, nice fruit, elegant-looking tree Disadvantages: Thorny, not good container plant, needs hot summers to fruit well
♣♣♣Introduction♣♣♣
Here's something a bit different for you to try in your garden: an exotic fruit which will almost certainly be unfamiliar to you unless you are from southern or eastern Asia. Originating in warm temperate regions of the world, the Chinese Date (Zizyphus jujuba), also known as the "Jujube" or "Ber" fruit, has long been grown for its small apple-like fruits. These are most commonly encountered when dried, but can also be eaten fresh. Numerous species exist in the genus Zizyphus, including Z.spina-cristi, which was allegedly used to fashion Christ's crown of thorns, and the tropical Z.mauritania, also known as the Indian Jujube and grown throughout south Asia. This review focuses just on the Chinese Date, Z.jujuba, the most easily obtained and easily grown of jujube family ...
