I have completed my apple research, just in time to attend the Home Orchard Society's All About Fruit Show. I needed to have the research done before the show because at the show I will place my order for my trees. The Home Orchard Society will graft my trees and I can pick them up in March at their next big event. The great thing about this is that the trees are $12.00 each rather than the $22-$24.00 price I will pay if I buy them from the nurseries. The other plus is that the Home Orchard Society has access to more varieties and so I can get varieties that aren't for sale.
So! Here are the twelve future apple varieties for my Belgian Fence:
Devonshire Quarrenden
Lubsk Queen
Grimes Golden
Erun Baur (Erwin Baur)
Gravenstein
Cox Queen (Queen Cox)
Ashmead's Kernal
Red Belle d.Boskoop
Ortley
Fiesta (Red Pippin)
Honeycrisp
Karmijun de Sonna Ville
My apple choosing philosophy was this:
*I wanted to grow apples that I can't find in the store. I am often confused by people who plant Gala Apples. You can go to any store and buy them for cheap year round, why not grow something very delicious you can't buy? The exception to this rule was Honeycrisp, because I really love those apples and they cost an arm and a leg. Also Gravenstein which are fairly available in my area, but which I never travel to go and get.
*I wanted apples that ripened in August so I could make sauce before school started and then apples that ripened in October, after all the "start of school" brouhaha has settled. I do not want very many apples that will ripen in September.
*I wanted a lot of good "keepers"
Last year I went to the All About Fruit show and tasted a lot of these apples. If you are thinking about planting apples (or pears, grapes, or Kiwi) and live in the Portland area, the annual All About Fruit Show is a must. Go find a delicious variety you can't buy in the store.
Good old Fels Naptha. I remember it was the one thing that would take the stains out of your Grandma Collins clothes when I was washing them.
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I love honey crisp. These are new apples to me (since moving here, I think) and I find them to be so so so yummy! :)
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