Apple harvest under way

The apple harvest began several weeks ago for us, although the big commercial orchards in Batlow, Orange, Stanthorpe and the Adelaide Hills have only just now begun to pick the first royal gala apples.

Many apples mature earlier than royal gala but they are not good keepers and history has left them to specialist growers and small orchards. The earliest apples can be picked in January.

We do not have the Christmas apple which, is by name and by nature, one of the very early apples. However, in January we harvested the varieties lodi, summertime, Irish peach, beauty of Bath, allsops early and summerred.

Most of the classic cookers originated in England, but a variety called Lord Nelson is Australian. The name usually gives a clue to its lineage, and this apple is a large-sized sport of the Kentish fillbasket, traced to 1820. It is striped, very large and flushed in colour. It will cook to a sweet, light puree and it was one of the first apples planted by the settlers in Western Australia in the 1860s.

Apples have quite detailed family histories, generally well recorded. To have a complete history, you look for year of origin, location and the two parents. All of the varieties mentioned above (technically ''cultivars'') were brought to Australia by earlier generations. They are somewhat sharp and tart and they have mostly struggled in the hot Australian summers, particularly this past January.

One challenge I set myself was to track down at least one variety from each state from some time over the past 150 years. First, you need a reliable source of evidence, and I've used The Book of Apples by Morgan and Richards (the Brogdale Horticultural Trust, Britain), and Apples Old and New, by Clive Winmill (Badger's Keep, Chewton, Victoria). Winmill has performed a vital role in the past 30 years in keeping alive many of the historic varieties of apples, but his nursery was savaged by the long drought years just past.

The global count of old apple varieties exceeds 4000. The Tasmanian Apple Collection in the Huon Valley has kept alive 350 varieties, from the 1000 varieties growing in Australia at federation. In Australia, I have been able to identify 25 unique apple cultivars that originated here and two that are sports (a colour or size variant), the biggest number from Victoria, followed by Tasmania.

This is not surprising given the climate of the Huon Valley, where the cultivars of the ''old country'' could be kept alive. Tasmania invested in an Apple Research Station, similar to the one that has been running in Kent for many decades and in Summerland in Canada. These centres are vital for maintaining the history and propagating new cultivars. Victoria has provided the first mainstream apple of the season: abas. I first tasted this apple when I arrived in Canberra in 1983. It is a mainstream variety, maturing in early February, striped and crisp.

New South Wales has contributed just two varieties but, for us, they are among our best. The bonza is a mid-season apple from the jonathan group. It originated at Batlow in 1950 and is a very reliable producer, through droughts and heatwaves. It can be harvested from early March but will hang well on the tree. The granny smith apple is the other, originating in Eastwood in 1868.

I can trace but one variety from Queensland and South Australia. The summerdel from Stanthorpe in Queensland is from the red delicious family and matures earlier. It is quite interesting because of its early maturing but it has something of a bulbous shape and tartness about it. The murray gem from South Australia is a late-season winner. We picked our first crop last year, from just three trees and I wish I had planted at least 30. It is decribed by some just as a red granny smith as it has the same look about it, but its crossing with the jonathan gives it a distinct flavour.

Western Australia produced the Lady Williams apple, in 1935 at Mr Williams' orchard in Donnybrook. Its specialness is that it is one of the last apples to mature around the world and is a very good keeper through winter. Fortunately, the original tree, accidentally hacked into by Williams' son grew new branches and the cultivar survived.

The sundowner and pink lady have both been produced by crossing the Lady Williams with golden delicious. The results have resulted in fame around the world, with the pink lady being a firm, sweet, crisp and juicy apple of distinction. Rosy glow has been developed in South Australia as a very red sport of the pink lady.

Sometimes a branch of an apple tree will produce a crop with a colour variation from the main variety and this is called a ''sport''; in all other respects, the apple is the same. Several red sports are now being grown around the world, of red delicious, royal gala and red rome.

Owen Pidgeon runs the Loriendale Organic Orchard near Hall.

This week

■ Propagate rosemary now by taking cuttings, removing the lowest foliage and setting the cuttings in a garden pot filled with a good quality growing mix. Keep in a shady location, keep the soil moist and mist spray the foliage while the roots are developing.

■ Plant out the last seedlings of winter vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

■ Plant little finger carrots to produce a crop in two months.

■ Early maturing pears ripen best when picked up to 14 days before being fully ripe. Pick the Williams and red sensation pears while the flesh is still quite firm but when the seeds are changing to dark brown and the skin colour is lightening up. Always pick pears carefully by twisting the stalk upwards, or using secateurs so the stem stays with the fruit.

■ Fruit fly has become a problem for many home gardeners. Use a fruit-fly bait containing spinosad to attract the females (Eco-Organic Garden produces the Eco-Naturalure). Other options are Dak pots, or completely covering your stone fruit, tomatoes and capsicums with lightweight fruit fly exclusion mesh. Regularly remove and destroy all stung fruit - you can detect the presence of fruit fly by ''pin pricks'' through the skin of the fruit.