I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

Many thanks!
Cat(h)

On 4/9/06 13:53, in article
, "Cat(h)"
wrote:

I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

This place has very many of the oldest known types of apples, pears, plums
etc. and has a good reputation: http://www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk/
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Cat,

I have a habit of moving house just as my apple trees get reasonably mature,
so I've been through this 3 times now. In my current garden, 800ft up in the
Scottish Borders I have 7 apple trees. You need to decide some priorities.
Cox for example is more susceptible to disease than many (more modern?)
varieties, and it is difficult to get good quality fruit. Most of us choose
to grow fruit at home to get something different to what we can buy, either
in terms of variety, quality, or freedom from chemicals. Why for example
would you want to grow chemically treated cox at home, when you can get good
quality chemical treated cox in the supermarket. I've rarely seen good
quality home grown cox. So to me, its all about balancing disease
resitance, hardiness (despite milder winters we seem to be getting late
frosts) and flavour. I don't use chemicals as I get enough of those in the 9
months during which I buy my apples! Another point is whether you want to
eat straight from the tree, or put some into storage - some apples
deteriorate quickly in storage, others can actually improve.

With that in mind, James Grieve is a popular choice, having similar flavour
to cox, but much more reliable, but fruit does not store well. Another
"cox" type is Suntan, again reliable, stores well, but needs two pollinators
(do any of your neighbours grow apples?) Greensleeves (a James Grieve
Golden Delicious cross) is very reliable and is self fertile. Lord Lambourne
(James Grieve x Worcester) is another reliable variety which is reliable
with pleasant flavour. Egremont Russet is another favourite, with its nutty
flavour which people seem to love or hate, but again there are a lot in the
shops in November.

Finally, an interesting new variety is Hertfordshire Russet. This again has
a cox type flavour and produces masses of flawless peach coloured apples
maturing to golden brown, to me the most attractive apples while on the
tree. The only fault appears to be that the tree is so prolific, that if
you want large rather than medium sized fruit, you need to thin them in mid
season.. Despite being a new one, this would be my recommendation for one
of your two trees, as quality appears to be assured, and they're beautiful
at the same time.

--
Best Regards,

Rick

"Cat(h)" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

Many thanks!
Cat(h)

Rick Eggleston wrote:
Cat,

I have a habit of moving house just as my apple trees get reasonably mature,
so I've been through this 3 times now. In my current garden, 800ft up in the
Scottish Borders I have 7 apple trees. You need to decide some priorities.
Cox for example is more susceptible to disease than many (more modern?)
varieties, and it is difficult to get good quality fruit. Most of us choose
to grow fruit at home to get something different to what we can buy, either
in terms of variety, quality, or freedom from chemicals. Why for example
would you want to grow chemically treated cox at home, when you can get good
quality chemical treated cox in the supermarket. I've rarely seen good
quality home grown cox. So to me, its all about balancing disease
resitance, hardiness (despite milder winters we seem to be getting late
frosts) and flavour. I don't use chemicals as I get enough of those in the 9
months during which I buy my apples! Another point is whether you want to
eat straight from the tree, or put some into storage - some apples
deteriorate quickly in storage, others can actually improve.

With that in mind, James Grieve is a popular choice, having similar flavour
to cox, but much more reliable, but fruit does not store well. Another
"cox" type is Suntan, again reliable, stores well, but needs two pollinators
(do any of your neighbours grow apples?) Greensleeves (a James Grieve
Golden Delicious cross) is very reliable and is self fertile. Lord Lambourne
(James Grieve x Worcester) is another reliable variety which is reliable
with pleasant flavour. Egremont Russet is another favourite, with its nutty
flavour which people seem to love or hate, but again there are a lot in the
shops in November.

Finally, an interesting new variety is Hertfordshire Russet. This again has
a cox type flavour and produces masses of flawless peach coloured apples
maturing to golden brown, to me the most attractive apples while on the
tree. The only fault appears to be that the tree is so prolific, that if
you want large rather than medium sized fruit, you need to thin them in mid
season.. Despite being a new one, this would be my recommendation for one
of your two trees, as quality appears to be assured, and they're beautiful
at the same time.

--
Best Regards,

Thank you for all of that, Rick. My priority are similar to yours -
good home grown fruit without chemicals that I cannot find in the
shops. Keeping quality would be important - size of fruit is not, as I
munch my way through vast quantities of apples regardless of size most
days.
I take note of Hertfordshire Russet, and will ignore Cox Pippin :-)
That said, it seems you lot fare better than we do in the varieties
available in the shops! What you can find here (Ireland) seems limited
to golden delicious, royal gala, braeburn - which I like - pink lady or
cripps pink - which I also like -, and the goddawful granny smith
(cringe). The odd time you find cox pippin, but that is rare.

Cat(h)

Sacha wrote:
On 4/9/06 13:53, in article
, "Cat(h)"
wrote:

I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

This place has very many of the oldest known types of apples, pears, plums
etc. and has a good reputation: http://www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk/
--

Wow! 26 pages of apple varieties!!! What more can a girl want?

Thanks Sacha!

Cat(h)
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

"Cat(h)" wrote
I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is
susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to
give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden.
There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent
supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the
Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees and
see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard type
chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

Bob Hobden wrote:
"Cat(h)" wrote
I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is
susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to
give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden.
There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent
supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the
Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees and
see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard type
chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer.

Bob has the answer when he says to try to find a local supplier,
different varieties for different areas. I live in North Staffordshire
and found a supplier locally near Nantwich, his advice was sound. I had
never heard of the varieties until I went to see him. It is now around
the time of Apple festivals, look out for local ones, go along and you
should even be able to taste the apples. A Google search turned up a
number of possibles in Ireland.

Apple festivals????? Must be a Southern English thing. I suspect Cat is in
a similar position to those of us in Scotland - despite the fact that
Edinburgh is on my doorstep, there is nowhere that stocks more than 5 or
varieties of spindly pot grown specimens. I have found up here that if
you're at all choosy, mail order from the South is the only answer.

--
Best Regards,

Rick

"Broadback" wrote in message
...
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Cat(h)" wrote
I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is
susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to
give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden.
There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any
decent supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley
for the Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round
the trees and see what does well, although they do use a lot of
commercial orchard type chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be
somewhere nearer.

Bob has the answer when he says to try to find a local supplier, different
varieties for different areas. I live in North Staffordshire and found a
supplier locally near Nantwich, his advice was sound. I had never heard
of the varieties until I went to see him. It is now around the time of
Apple festivals, look out for local ones, go along and you should even be
able to taste the apples. A Google search turned up a number of possibles
in Ireland.

Go for something different. Try a Malus domestica Borkh cv Bravo de
Esmolfe. It is a typical Portuguese apple cultivar classified as
Protected Designation and Origin. In other words, it corresponds to a
traditional product produced under strict conditions and labelled with
a specific law protected designation.

http://www.idrha.min-agricultura.pt/...ges/II-328.jpg

My opinion might be biased but I love this apple. I planted one and
hope to get fruits next year...

If you are planting several apple trees, try different ones... Let me
know if you want me to get you the exact botanical reference from mine.


PA

"Cat(h)" wrote in message
oups.com...

Rick Eggleston wrote:
Cat,

I have a habit of moving house just as my apple trees get reasonably
mature,
so I've been through this 3 times now. In my current garden, 800ft up in
the
Scottish Borders I have 7 apple trees. You need to decide some
priorities.
Cox for example is more susceptible to disease than many (more modern?)
varieties, and it is difficult to get good quality fruit. Most of us
choose
to grow fruit at home to get something different to what we can buy,
either
in terms of variety, quality, or freedom from chemicals. Why for example
would you want to grow chemically treated cox at home, when you can get
good
quality chemical treated cox in the supermarket. I've rarely seen good
quality home grown cox. So to me, its all about balancing disease
resitance, hardiness (despite milder winters we seem to be getting late
frosts) and flavour. I don't use chemicals as I get enough of those in
the 9
months during which I buy my apples! Another point is whether you want to
eat straight from the tree, or put some into storage - some apples
deteriorate quickly in storage, others can actually improve.

With that in mind, James Grieve is a popular choice, having similar
flavour
to cox, but much more reliable, but fruit does not store well. Another
"cox" type is Suntan, again reliable, stores well, but needs two
pollinators
(do any of your neighbours grow apples?) Greensleeves (a James Grieve
Golden Delicious cross) is very reliable and is self fertile. Lord
Lambourne
(James Grieve x Worcester) is another reliable variety which is reliable
with pleasant flavour. Egremont Russet is another favourite, with its
nutty
flavour which people seem to love or hate, but again there are a lot in
the
shops in November.

Finally, an interesting new variety is Hertfordshire Russet. This again
has
a cox type flavour and produces masses of flawless peach coloured apples
maturing to golden brown, to me the most attractive apples while on the
tree. The only fault appears to be that the tree is so prolific, that if
you want large rather than medium sized fruit, you need to thin them in
mid
season.. Despite being a new one, this would be my recommendation for
one
of your two trees, as quality appears to be assured, and they're
beautiful
at the same time.

--
Best Regards,

Thank you for all of that, Rick. My priority are similar to yours -
good home grown fruit without chemicals that I cannot find in the
shops. Keeping quality would be important - size of fruit is not, as I
munch my way through vast quantities of apples regardless of size most
days.
I take note of Hertfordshire Russet, and will ignore Cox Pippin :-)
That said, it seems you lot fare better than we do in the varieties
available in the shops! What you can find here (Ireland) seems limited
to golden delicious, royal gala, braeburn - which I like - pink lady or
cripps pink - which I also like -, and the goddawful granny smith
(cringe). The odd time you find cox pippin, but that is rare.

You should also try a Ribstone Pippin, has a delicious taste.

Alan


Cat(h)

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Cat(h)" wrote
I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

Cox's Orange Pippin is not a variety for the home gardener, it is
susceptible to all the apple diseases and needs constant spraying etc to
give a decent crop which is why I've never seen one do well in a garden.
There are other much better varieties for the home gardener and any decent
supplier will guide you to them, indeed if you can get to Wisley for the
Apple Festival later this month you will be able to walk round the trees
and see what does well, although they do use a lot of commercial orchard
type chemicals that we can't buy. There may well be somewhere nearer.

I've had a cox for many years, I've never ever used any chemicals on it, but
I do get a variable crop, sometimes fairly large, otehr times rathe small,
buyt always very tasty.

Alan


--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

On 4/9/06 16:42, in article
, "Cat(h)"
wrote:


Sacha wrote:
On 4/9/06 13:53, in article
, "Cat(h)"
wrote:

I would like to plant a couple of apple trees in the garden. I already
have a lovely crab-apple, planted two years ago, which is doing well -
though the flowers dropped this spring/early summer, so no fruit.

I would like good eating apples, crunchy, sweet and with a nice tangy
bite in them. The obvious one is Cox Pippin, but I am wondering if
anyone has any idea of other good varieties, preferably old British
Isle varieties?

This place has very many of the oldest known types of apples, pears, plums
etc. and has a good reputation: http://www.thornhayes-nursery.co.uk/
--

Wow! 26 pages of apple varieties!!! What more can a girl want?

Thanks Sacha!


26 spaces in which to plant them? ;-))

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Another place with a huge range of apples (and pears and plums and...) is http://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/ near Maidstone in Kent. They have a couple of open days (1&8 Oct this year) when you can go and taste the fruit and choose like that.

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Rick Eggleston" contains these words:

Apple festivals????? Must be a Southern English thing.

Nope.


I suspect Cat is in
a similar position to those of us in Scotland - despite the fact that
Edinburgh is on my doorstep, there is nowhere that stocks more than 5 or
varieties of spindly pot grown specimens. I have found up here that if
you're at all choosy, mail order from the South is the only answer.

Really? One of the best apple nurseries is in Scotland (Ayrshire)

http://www.butterworthsorganicnurser.../mainframe.htm.

lists about 50, plus

"Any of the 2,300 varieties in the National Collection can be propagated
to special order, as can your special tree. "



Rick is right as regards mainstream garden centres, which in Ireland
cater essentially to the week-end gardener with postage stamp garden at
the back of his semi-detached 3-bed in the suburb, and who is a far
greater consumer of patio-related goods than of plants for
consumption... The mainstream garden centres are also chronically
staffed by incompetent teenagers - especially at week ends...
However, we do have interesting nurseries which get up to all manners
of exciting stuff in a relatively low key manner.
A good source of local old Irish varieties of apples is the Irish Seed
Savers' Association - and a little research since my posting yesterday
indicates they will have a special apple tree sale in November (not a
bad excuse for a week end away - they are based in Scarriff, Co.
Clare). They also have an online shop.
I am just at a loss as to what varieties to pick, as I want very tasty
apples, preferably low maintenance and easy to grow, and preferably
reasonably good keeping. To be fair, their catalogue is reasonably
descriptive, but I'd rather contact them for their advice :-)

For those who might be interested, this is their website:
http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/

Cat(h)

Thank you all for your views, advice and suggestions.
I hope to be planting a few nice apple trees this autumn, and will
investigate old Irish varieties.

Cat(h)