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Apple
trees in blossom are a beautiful site in early May and give the promise
of heavy crops to come.
John now has several apple trees in his garden, one Bramley cooking apple,
and had one James Grieve, but it has not been very good so it has now
been grafted with another three different varieties.
I love grafting fruit trees as it allows me to grow many varieties in
a small space of garden. I now have Red Devil, Discovery and the Oslin
also known as the Arbroath Pippin grafted onto my James Grieve.
I have recently planted three new apple trees suitable for the small Scottish
garden. These are
Red Falstaff, Scrumptious and Fiesta.
Apple Discovery is perfect in Dundee where it grows very large with a brilliant red colour maturing in September.
This variety has been grafted onto a James Grieve tree that was quite disappointing so it has been changed to a family tree with Red Devil and the Arbroath Pippin also known as the Oslin.
The Arbroath Pippin also known as the Oslin is a very old variety of apple thought to have been introduced to Scotland from France about 400 years ago by the Cistercian monks at Arbroath Abbey.
It
is very reliable even in a bad summer, producing good sized yellow apples
with a distinct almost aromatic flavour. It is ready in August but needs
eating within a month.
The tree can be prone to canker when old so practice some renewal pruning
to keep a balance of young fruiting wood.