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Apple festival? We have them too in Slovakia. And also cabbage festival, that one I like very much.

Welcome to GOY Robertgraham! :)) Lots of juicy apples there! :)))

Is this you, Robert? Welcome to Goy!

Gattina, lol.

Hi Robert,and welcome from me too.:o)..It takes 'an apple a day' to extremes,i think..what a great selection !

They even had a display of apples from the sixteenth century and earlier - or rather from varieties that date from then - a four hundred year old apple would have created quiet alot of headlines I think...!!

As you say "an apple a day" and a garden a day....(-:

I simply LOVE the apple season. First thing in the morning, I go up into our little (well, tiny, actually) orchard, and make straight for the James Grieve or Cornish Gilliflower or Suntan trees, and eat one for breakfast, straight from the tree. (Well, I polish it hard first, to make sure there are no residues on the skin) That picture of yours is making my mouth water right now. I'm just hoping against hope that all the big fat buds on our trees this early in the year don't get frost-bitten blossom and result in a totally lost crop. Would you, or anyone out there know if draping the trees in something like fleece to insulate them against the night air would save them?

Sounds like paradiso (-:

I would not like to be responsible for any words that leads to failure of your wonderful apple blossom this year, so I would recommend you e mail Brogdale and ask them. They are the leading experts.

But if they were my trees, I think I would use hessian sacking - perhaps still used by the farmers around Bologna?

I think fleece would be too feeble to withstand wind at that height.

Brogdale - fruit@brogdaleonline.co.uk Tel UK 01795
531888

Pip Pip

Farmers round Bologna only grow rubbish apples, so I don't care if the whole lot shrivel and die!
Ours are all imported English-grown trees, Robert, "For our eyes (or tums) only!" I don't ever remember having seen the use of hessian in any of the orchards (mostly pears, peach, apricots and cherries) in this very "fruiticious" area around Bologna. In fact, I think someone should say something.....The farmers are always moaning about losing so much of their crop to unforeseen weather conditions. Actually, joking apart, the orchards are so huge, I doubt any growers could physically "hessian up" all their trees.
You are right about "Paradiso", though. Thank you for the Brogdales link - I shall have a good look at that later.

How interesting -that is what my friend has also done in Caprese Michelangelo - the trees really suffered in the heat of last year; you probably have better acidity.

I like the thought of all those English trees crossing the Alps, Hannibal like - Macbeth would understand would he not.

Good luck with Brogdale

Yes, I don't think car roof-boxes were designed with apple, quince and pear trees in mind!
We have been lucky - far luckier than we ever dared hope, in the incredibly hot summers we get here - up in the mid to high forties most summers, (To say nothing of long, freezing, snow-bound mountain winters) but we were not going to let our lovely trees die on us, and nursed them very tenderly through their early years, so they are all pretty much well established now. It was unfortunate that last May we had the mother and father of all hail storms - serious plant, roof, crop, car and person damage in a band about 1.5 km wide. It shredded all the orchard developing fruits and leaves, and the fruit that did develop was badly pitted, but, hey! Who cares? It wasn't a sale crop, and the survivors still tasted good to us. The rest of the garden was really badly stricken, though, and all our tuberous begonias had to re-invent themselves. Our soil is mildly alkaline, with shallow soil over cement clay and rock, but we dig tons of well-rotted manure in every year, and wood ash and magnesium (or do I mean aluminium?) sulphate get spread around each spring, and they seem to like it, bless 'em. Hardy stock, us Brits!
P.S. Bramleys seedlings seem to do REALLY well out here (I can't imagine cooking without them) and ripen about a month before they would in the UK.

An apple a day Roberto ? ...
... those would last a while ... ;o)