A is for Autumn and Apples on St Ann’s Allotments. With over 2,000 fruit trees on site, we are surrounded by bejeweled beauties, fit to burst. The Community Orchard is home to a whole array of these trees, featuring 30+ varieties you’d never see in the supermarket. With our fantastic volunteer team, we’ve been picking, tasting, and parceling up fruit over the last few weeks, all headed to local food banks and community cafes.
Having worked our way through all these delicious fruit, we wanted to share our three top picks for apple varieties, just in case you are planning on getting an apple tree, and our favorite bit of kit – an apple-picker. If you already have a tree and are struggling to reach the juiciest apples at the top, the apple-picker is a must have!
Our top apple varieties
The first apple tree we thoroughly enjoyed goes by the name ‘Sunset’. Being self-fertile it’s a good one for home gardens as there’s no need for pollination from other apple trees to produce lots of fruit. The fruit doesn’t keep very well but, with a cox-like taste, you’ll probably eat them all within a few weeks anyway.
We also love ‘Red Devil’ for its beautiful, red-flushed flesh. Slicing it open to reveal the red staining is a fun party trick, and they taste lovely.
And ‘Ashmead’s Kernel’, with its distinct flavour and ability to store throughout the winter, is another winner. Come to our free Apple Day on Saturday 22nd October to try these varieties and more.
How to make your own apple-picker
To make your own apple-picker, all you need is a plastic bottle, two cable ties and a bamboo cane, hazel pole or broomstick. Cut the bottle in half and put duct tape down one side to strengthen it. Make four small holes in two rows, through the duct tape and bottle. Then simply attach your bottle firmly to the cane with the cable ties (this can be a bit fiddly, as the ties go inside the bottle). And there you have it, a picker that will last years! In September, some of our creative young people attached two apple-pickers together to make the longest apple-picker ever, genius! The fruit from the top of the tree, fully ripened by this year’s sunshine, really was worth the effort.
