Crop values

AS familiar as apples may be, most of us have only tasted a minuscule sliver of the 7,000-plus varieties available. If you grow your own, you open the door to a world of flavour and texture far superior to those in the shops.

- Mark Diacono

Choosing from such a huge range is tricky, so it’s worth envisaging a Venn diagram of parameters that are important to you.

Flavour and texture ought to be uppermost. Take recommendations from people you trust; better still, try the fruit if you can. My favourite eating apples include ‘Orleans Reinette’, ‘Beauty of Bath’, ‘Blenheim Orange’, ‘Ashmead’s Kernel’ and ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’. ‘Bramley’ and ‘Annie Elizabeth’ are superb cooking apples and ‘Veitch’s Perfection’ is the perfect cooking and eating apple.

Consider whether you want a long, steady supply of apples, a glut, or somewhere in between. The earliest varieties, such as ‘Beauty of Bath’, can be eaten in late July, are best straight from the tree and don’t store well. Others may need a period of storage to reach their best and—as with ‘Orleans Reinette’—might not be ready to eat until the new year. A dry, cool place such as a garage is ideal for storage: lay dry, undamaged fruit in a single layer not touching each other.

Pollination compatibility is central. Most apples require a pollinating partner from the same or neighbouring pollination group. To give an example, an apple from group four can be pollinated by a variety from group three, four or five. If you have room for only one apple, choose one of the few self-pollinating varieties, such as ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’.