cab
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ApplesBeauty of Bath, first apples ripe! Tiny little things, rather than drop them in the annual fruit drop the fruit to be wasted has ripened on the tree. I haven't observed this happening before; its a welcome occurrence though.
The larger (they're not that big, its beauty of bath after all) apples are still green and clearly not ripe yet.
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orangepippin
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So you have circumvented the "June drop" then?
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cab
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| orangepippin wrote: | | So you have circumvented the "June drop" then? |
Sort of seems so. I was looking at the apples that had fallen from the elstar tree next to it and considering whether to thin them out further (which I'll do), then turned my attention to beauty of bath, which hasn't dropped a single apple, but it has got some odd early ripening on the smaller fruit. Is this normal?
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orangepippin
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Early ripening is sometimes a sign of something crawling around inside the fruit ...
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tahir
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| orangepippin wrote: | | Early ripening is sometimes a sign of something crawling around inside the fruit ... |
Or two lots of flowering, which happened on our plums
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yummersetter
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way too early to be ripe, I'd say, I looked at my BofB last weekend and it's nowhere near - agree it's probably hosting a grub, any holes/frass yet? However it's always the first of my apples to ripen and drop.
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cab
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| orangepippin wrote: | | Early ripening is sometimes a sign of something crawling around inside the fruit ... |
Didn't find anything in the ones I scoffed. Apple with added protein, eh? Got to be good  Didn't find anything though.
Actually I was considering whether it could be the dry conditions here (everywhere else seems to have had rain, we haven't). I was thinking that it might be stressed.
Yummersetter - no holes, no marks, when cut in two the little mini-apples had seeds just starting to show signs of ripeness, sweet flesh, nothing crawling, slithering or lurking.
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yummersetter
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that's interesting - shows the difference in the east /west counties doesn't it? I bet if I cut one of mine open that reddened up first it'd be like Noah's Ark inside 
Mine's a very old tree though, it's had nearly a century to develop its own personal wildlife, I think it was planted at the end of WW1 when grandfather was demobbed, as it was one of his favourites. It was glorious in blossom this year.
By the time it's ripe for us, I haven't tasted an apple for months (I've never bought one ) and you see one that's ready early in the morning covered in dew and really enjoy it. No problem with it not keeping for long, it doesn't have time to know it's no longer attached to the tree before its gone.
But if it wasn't the first it wouldn't stand up to the others in flavour, there's a slight tannin effect underlying the sweetness.
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yummersetter
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Where did your tree come from, Cab?
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cab
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| yummersetter wrote: | | Where did your tree come from, Cab? |
Errm... That one was from Cambridge market.
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orangepippin
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| yummersetter wrote: |
But if it wasn't the first it wouldn't stand up to the others in flavour, there's a slight tannin effect underlying the sweetness. |
Vista Bella is worth a try.
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cab
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I don't get the tanniny thing from beauty of bath.
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vanessa
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Ewww, Beauty of Bath! I remember them from a neighbour's apple tree, and NEVER liked them. The bitterness of the skin and the bitter aftertaste put me off for life!!
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tahir
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| cab wrote: | | I don't get the tanniny thing from beauty of bath. |
Me neither
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yummersetter
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well it's been a long time - perhaps it's better in the east, but that would be surprising going by the name
or maybe its a male/female thing because I think the bitterness V refers to is what I mean too
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orangepippin
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I am not sure you really get flavour in such early varieties, any more than you can compare Beaujolais Nouveau with the the real thing. Some of them (I am thinking of Vista Bella, which I do like) can be unripe in the morning, ripe at lunch, and then mushy and past it by evening. The appeal is the immediate rush of "summer". IMHO flavour only starts to creep in with Sunrise.
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goosey
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I used to eat Beauty of Bath from a friend's garden, and as 12 yr olds, we thought they were lovely.
But I had one a couple of years ago, expecting a treat, and it was bitter to my taste. 
I don't know, maybe it was cultivated differently.
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yummersetter
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went and had a look at our tree on Friday evening, and they haven't even started to swell yet, still the size of a conker.
Whilst I was looking I got swiped by a tawny owl, we were both surprised by the encounter, owls do fly silently, don't they?
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tahir
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Just got in (well an hour ago) from pruning my last 2 rows of stone fruit 
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yummersetter
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the Beauty of Bath apples are just ready - and by Sunday afternoon were throwing themselves off the tree. Sweeter than usual and tasting great for five seconds then that bitter hit comes in - best cure is another one. Not surprisingly, they're very juicy this year.
Next will be Ellison's Orange and Quarrenden and then my gorgeous Fortune tree - which has a magnificent crop.
Whilst we're waiting for those, this is a good year for mirabelles, they're much bigger than usual and there are thousands on the trees, they'll be ripe in a couple of weeks. Shame the local monthly Farmer's Market is next Saturday.
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gil
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My Grenadiers are getting quite nice and large, and it's the biggest crop so far, by a long way [3rd year of fruiting after yr1 = 9 apples and Yr2 = 13]. Haven't been able to count them all, but at least into the 20s or even 30s.
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cab
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Been eating our first elstar of the season this week.
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Lorrainelovesplants
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Bugger all on our trees - too young.
neighbour has given me a bag of apples from her tree - not a blemish on them and she never sprays. Might save some seed (she dosnt know what variety).
The best tree in the garden here is the Bramley - its grown the fastest and the healthiest.
But I planted the two trees I got from OrangePippin round the back and they are looking very good (cant wait)
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yummersetter
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you don't really want to grow from seed, unless you're very young
and are happy to wait ten years to see if they're any good
you need a bit of wood from her tree to graft or to bud, in 6 months time. it's not really difficult, especially if you've got some young trees about.
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Lorrainelovesplants
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But to graft onto what?
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