Awesome APPLES

IT’S CRUNCH TIME AT LUNCH TIME

Succumb to the temptation of apples fresh off the tree. While you can buy apples all year round, from now until May is when they are at their most tasty, crispy and juicy. So plant a few apple trees, watch the fruit grow, then cut them up to mix with your morning cereal, eat as an afternoon pick-me-up, toss in your salads and salsas or add to your late-summer sangrias. Then store what’s left over for delicious winter apple pies and cakes.

PRUNING NEW APPLE TREES

If you’re planning to add apple trees to your garden, order now to plant in mid-winter. They come as dormant, single-stem, bare-rooted, one-year-olds.

STEP 1 After planting, cut the stem back by a third to a quarter, cutting at an angle just above a bud, using clean, sharp secateurs.

STEP 2 By the second winter, the tree will have five to six strong, upward-growing stems. Choose the strongest to form the tree’s main branches and prune them by two thirds just above an outward-facing bud Cut the weaker branches back to the trunk.

STEP 3 By the third winter there’ll be many side-shoots coming off the main branches. Cut the leading branches by about two-thirds (use a clean, sharp pruning saw if necessary) and the side-shoots back to three buds.