Okay, we’re still in pear time and getting into apple picking time now. Are you wondering when your apples are ripe? Try tasting them. Or look for the “background” color against the green. Or cut one open and look at the seed color.
http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/tree004/tree004.htm
One cautionary note, though…..if your apples were not protected by an insecticide or by foot sox, then the apples may be dropping prematurely due to the effect of the bugs’ effect on the abscission of the apples’ connection to the tree itself…..i.e., the dropping of apples on your trees tells you something, but not necessarily everything about whether your apples are ripe or not.
The longer we can leave the apples on the tree the better it is for improving the sugar content.
One of the best ways to process unsprayed apples is to wash them and then juice ‘em up ! City Fruit will be doing this in several places this Fall. One can also see a demonstration of cider-making at the Piper Orchard in Carkeek Park on Saturday, Sept. 24th. The agenda and the directions are on their website:
www.pipersorchard.org
Susan Dolan of the National Park Service will be the feature speaker at the Festival of Fruit and she is definitely one reason to come. It is also an opportunity to meet Gail Savina of City Fruit, who is talking that day about what we in Seattle are doing with our own public parks.
Hey, folks, just a side note: If you come to the Piper Orchard Festival of Fruits be sure to also meet Ingela Wanerstrand and Will Murray as they demonstrate cider-making for both kids and adults. Ingela and Will are almost tireless proponents of sustainable gardening and cider-pressing. Do me a favor. If you have the pleasure of meeting Will or Ingela (and they are both approachable folks), grab a cup of fresh, hot, local apple cider to warm you on this the first Saturday of Autumn…….and then thank them for all the volunteer effort they give to Seattle’s backyard gardening movement…….(a little appreciation is sometimes as warming as the cider is.)
