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Old October 16, 2010   #27
Medbury Gardens
Tomatovillian™
 
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Medbury, New Zealand
Posts: 1,881
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You do your orchard a lot like i do mine svalli with leaving the grass to grow as a living mulch.In my orchard i planted white&red clover and lucerne among the grasses which never gets mowed.



In my area of the South Island apple trees grow wild on the side of the roads and along railway lines,they have grown from apples that over the years that had been thrown out the windows of passing cars,the apples by railtracks grew from railway workers throwing the apple cores away.
About half the apples in my orchard come from wild roadside trees,out of the hundreds they we know of, only about 1 out of 20 are any good,most are very tarty.
I know this thread is about heirloom apples but i suppose these trees are really just nameless heirlooms.

For example in the next photo there's three old apple trees,the first on the left is very tarty and only good for feeding to our cow,second is ok,but still not nice enough to be grown at our place,the third (behind the road sign) is also just ok.
Me and the kids know where all the best trees are and will pick the fruit when its ready.



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