Apples, apples and more apples

I've saved a few seeds from the Cripps Pink apple that I raved about before, and I think I'll plant one next year.

That might not work. Apple varieties are like grape varieties--they don't breed true. You likely will not get a tree that yields Cripps Pink apples.

-Paul W.

You're absolutely right, but I'll take a chance the first generation from seed will be somewhat true. At least it'll be an apple. Got nothing to lose.

[Jenise]

Christina said: ". ....and planted Red Delicious . You are not surprised to learn that they went bankrupt within 5 years."

Oh don't get me started on Red Delicious. When I was a child, we'd buy case boxes of red delicious (living in Los Angeles then). I loved them. Only they weren't solid red, they were half green/half red, and streaky. Discussing this with an apple grower-turned-winemaker (cuz there's more money in grapes), they said that's how Delicious are supposed to be. But the marketplace didn't understand that green could be appropriate ripeness, every mom wanted the fairytale red apple for their kid to give the teacher--so they now pick them overripe. I don't buy them.

But speaking of apples, we were up in apple country yesterday and topped at a roadside stand to buy fresh, new harvest apples. We bought at least one ea of everything I'd never heard of: tsuagaru, pizazz, and honeycrisp are just some of the names I remember, also some Washington state originals like Mountain Rose (green skin, gorgeous rose-pink inside) and old standbys like Gravenstein. None of which one ever finds in a grocery store. I bought a mixed bag for us and one for my brother, who is moving here with his partner in order to start a new life near the relative he cares about the most. I am so delighted!

I envy you. Being on a low-carb regimen, I seldom eat apples. But I'm big on heirloom anything compared to the homogenized supermarket stuff.

I ate an apple from my Red Delicious tree today. Not bad: crisp, somewhat juicy, had some flavor. Unappealingly bumpy but so it goes.

Eaten a few more of these, and they've been better than the first. So, a small but good crop this year.

Today, we brought out the 10' ladder and collected all the rest that we could reach. There are two left, much too high to reach, even with the ladder. Of course, they appear big, shiny, red, and perfect, as unreachable fruit are wont to do.