Introducing...

 

October

What says "October" like big orange pumpkins?

Maybe apples?

This pumpkin didn't grow in my garden, but the apples grew on our trees. You can tell that they were grown in truly organic style because they are warty and spotty with little "worm" trails, some more than others. When we first started our orchard we researched how to do it organically. We read "The Apple Grower," by Michael Phillips (a great book) and found an organic spray schedule and recipe that included liquid fish, kelp, neem oil, and maybe a couple of other things that I can't recall. This was supposed to not only keep pests at bay, but also help prevent diseases and feed the trees.

We sprayed one time (the schedule calls for spraying several times a season). My husband operated the spray wand while I stood in the pickup bed and kept the sprayer engine going. 

I got sprayed in the face once -- maybe twice. Fortunately I was wearing sunglasses and the spray contained nothing toxic, but it was smelly.

After that we decided it was too much work and we'd put up with a few "worms" in our apples. After a while even routine pruning fell by the wayside (life happens, y'know). But the trees keep producing, not spectacularly, but they make apples, wormy and spotty and sometimes not worth cutting into. But this was a good year and the squirrels didn't get too many. 

Before planting 25 or more trees, we did a little research on varieties. We looked for disease resistance, ability to grow well here in Kansas, and flavor. So we tried lots of different kinds.

The apples in this photo represent two different varieties. The one on top is Tydeman's Late Orange. The bottom one is Liberty. 

Tydeman's actually would grow better in the northeast. We knew this when we planted it, but the flavor description could not be ignored. The apples, when allowed to ripen on the tree are truly delicious. However, the tree, healthy as it is, produces sparsely. This year was its best year in 12 years. We're glad we tried it, but we would not recommend it if you're only going to grow two or three trees.

The Liberty, though, comes highly recommended. It has a wonderful flavor and is indeed disease resistant. It may get a few spots of cedar apple rust, but it is not much bothered by it. It must be partially self-fertile, as for the past several years it has been the only apple tree up by the house, and yet it produces every year. Even though the books and online information say that Liberty apples tend to be more attractive to pests than other varieties, these apples have fewer worm trails and damage than the others. Perhaps because it's the only apple up by the house? All the other trees are a good distance away, at the bottom of the hill. The best flavor develops when you wait until early October to harvest these. One year the little tree bore so many nearly perfect, dark red apples that it looked as if it had been hung with Christmas tree ornaments. Never since then, but it does produce relatively well.

My second recommendation is Enterprise, another disease-resistant variety. It also is best picked in early October or a little later. However, we picked ours way to early. Another disease-resistant apple in our orchard, Freedom, ripens on the early side. I was waiting for late September to get them at their ripest. Then my husband noticed that the red apples began disappearing (dang squirrels). So on the Autumnal Equinox we took the tractor down to the orchard. I rode in the front loader and my husband raised me up so I could pick the highest apples. We picked from all of the trees except the Tydeman's. I wish I would have left the Enterprises as well. They were still green enough that I think the squirrels would have left them. They still had a nice flavor, especially after sitting in the refrigerator for two or so weeks. Enterprise has always produced the largest apples in our orchard and they seem less bothered by pests than the others.

Thousands of other apple varieties exist besides the seven varieties in our orchard and the two or three other varieties that once grew there. In 1900 an official publication listed 14,000 different varieties -- and that's after some varieties went away. What is this love affair we have with apples? I am not sure. They've always found a place in my refrigerator. I grew up eating homegrown apples. My siblings and I would snack on green apples as we played. We climbed the apple trees and ate homemade, homegrown apple pie.

When European settlers came to this continent they brought cuttings from their favorite apple trees, and seeds. If you plant an apple seed, you have no idea what you'll get.

Of course, it will be an apple tree, but what kind of apple? Will it be tasty or hard and bitter? You never know. Careful cross-pollination and serendipity both have brought us various kinds of apples. Some lucky orchardist will find a seedling in his orchard producing large, delicious fruit and make a fortune selling scions for grafting and propagation. Or, years of cross-pollination and failure will yield an extra special apple. It's a gamble, always. And it's why we once had 14,000 apple varieties.

So why did my husband and I plant 25 or more apple trees 12 years ago? Because we love apples. And we weren't very smart. We're smarter now. Please don't start off planting 20 plus trees and struggling to care for them. It's ok to dream of having that many and more, but unless it's going to be a business, start smaller. Plant three or five. Find out how much time it takes to care for them properly and efficiently, then plant more, or not. I'm glad I got to taste so many different varieties. Those Red Delicious in the grocery store just can't compare to the the complexity of flavor some of these varieties offer.

But, if I had it to do all over again.........