Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: kt. on August 26, 2008, 11:12:37
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This is the first year that my apple tree has truly performed (4yr old). It has an abundance of apples but the one I tasted 4 days ago tasted a bit sour. They look ripe enough but when are they best to be picked? How will I know? I don't want to lose them to falling and rotting on the ground.
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Afraid getting it right comes a bit with experience but basically if they come off when you pull with a slight twist they are ready, otherwise leave them.
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Fruit from my large old apple tree (cox type) taste very sharp at the moment and I have learned over the years that they are at their best from mid-September to early October. That means that many fall off while I'm waiting, and I make them into sauces and pies or leave them on the ground to dig in later as compost.
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Do you know the variety? Some dessert apples are picked at the end of Oct to store for use in Dec-March.... ???
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we wait 'til the wasps start on one!
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Other indicators of ripeness include a change in the background green colour of the apple to yellow-green, and the apples start to really smell of apples.
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I picked my two Bramley apples today and am cooking them with pork as apple sauce. I know I should have left them but was a bit scared they might have been stolen from the allotment. A brilliant tree, brought from Morrisons 3 years ago and is doing well. Had about 6 apples earlier on and have cooked and frozen them as apple sauce. Perhaps when I have hundred and thousands, dream on, I will wait until Sept/Oct but was just so excited about these apples and counted them on the tree.
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If it's a small tree, shake it. The apples are usually ready when they drop off. that being said, I have had the odd year when I had to keep my Egremont Russet for 3-4 weeks after they fell.