Apple Trees

You live in the UK part of Thorn Tree World, I think. If it grows well where you live Braeburn is certainly a fine eating apple. It keeps well through the winter and is about the only apple worth eating where I live in France.

Apples can be very climate specific, in fact they can be very microclimate specific. For the home garden market, you can often find trees that have two or more varieties grafted onto the same rootstock, so you only need one tree instead of a couple of pollinators.

One of my many incarnations was as an inspector of plant nurseries. (I always have to specify "plant;" otherwise people think childcare). I learned a lot about buying plants for the home. One is that you get what you pay for.

My advice is to go to the best nursey around, even if it is the most expensive. You are going ot pay for two things. One is knowledge. The nursery is going to pay higher wages and in return get employees who actually know something. The other thing you pay for is the quality of the plants. If a tree is not cared for properly as an itty bitty sapling, it will never be as good as one that is properly maintained. That good nursery will buy apple trees from the best tree growers, and maintain them well.

Tell the nurwsery person what you want. Bring a picture of your yard & pictures of what you want the tree to look like. Tell the person that flavor is as important as apearance. Tell them if you want apples that are sweet, tangy, good for cooking, really crisp, whatever.

Leave it to nutrax to get to the core of apple tree selection.

Nutrax is wise as usual.
One thing that strikes me about reading Julia Child (et at) Mastering the Art is how she talks about Golden Delicious being - well - delicious. French Golden Delicious are tasteless. But I have read that they were developed to be grown in hills where there was a lack of water. Now French farmers grow them in huge orchards and flood them with water.
I guess WriteOn's one tree doesn't count.

#4 -- American Golden Delicious are pretty tasteless these days also, IMHO. They may have "improved" the breed aiming at long shelf life with a resulting loss of whatever flavor they had 40 years ago.

I ran into an applesauce recipe recently that called for both Granny Smiths & Golden Delicious. The grannys for the flavor and th egoldens fo rtexture as the grannys tend to disintegrate.

My all time favorite is Gravenstein, which is becoming harder & harder to find as the grav orchards are being pulled to plant vineyards. Crisp and both sweet and tangy. Great for eating and cooking. It doesn't keep well and has a very short late summer season.

Reine de reinette is a wonderful apple where we live. It is just about to come into season and will last until December.
A neighbour left a crate (I lifted it with difficulty) of apples outside our front door last week. I don't kno what they are but quite tasty.

Tasmania used to export a lot of apples before the advent of the EU/ Common Market affair. Sadly a lot of century old orchards have now been bulldozed due to lack of demand and market options. Don't know if you can get them over there, WriteOn but the Jonogold and Gala Red varieties are two of the crisper and sweeter varieties around these parts.

BTW - how are you planning to plant this tree with your gammy leg? You better yet?

#6 - Granny Smiths for flavor? Sadly, no.