What Are Your Favorite Apple Varieties?

I have been trying to decide what varieties of apples to plant in the next year or two. I know a few of my favorites, like Cortland and Northern Spy, but thought I'd try a few new varieties. Luckily the local health food store has a wide variety of apples to try. I've tried a number of apples and made a list of some of the ones that I like and don't like.

Like:
Cortland
Northern Spy
Esopus Spitzenberg or just Spitzenberg
Arkansas Black
Golden Delicious
Fameuse

Still Looking to Try These:
Ashmead's Kernel
Winesap
Duchess of Oldenberg
Ginger Gold
Black Limbertwig

Ambivalent:
Braeburn
Fuji
Yellow Transparent
Lodi
Dolgo Crab Apple
Rome Beauty
Jonathan
McIntosh

Dislike:
Gala
Pinova/Pinata
Red Delicious
Empire

There are lots of other apple varieties that I would like to try and may in the future. Tom Brown is a great conservator of rare and once thought to be lost apple varieties. He has found apples like Junaluska, Ten Ounce, Stump the World... You can see the list of the varieties he has found at the Apple Search website and can even order trees if you want to try something really unusual or nearly extinct. I think I just might.

Growing Ginger Root

I started this ginger plant about a month ago. It is a little lanky probably due to not being in a bright enough location. I started a ginger plant once before. I chopped it down when I moved and it regrew a number of stalks, but it eventually died when I left it outside during a freeze. I plan to keep this ginger and start a significant colony to harvest regularly. I might even plant some outside in the summer.

You can find ginger root at most grocery stores. Just look for one with a bud and plant it with the bud pointing up. I planted mine with the root shallow enough that it would photosynthesize until it grew a shoot, so the top of the root is a bit green with chlorophyll. I might add more dirt now that it has leaves. I decided to move it to a brighter location today. Hopefully brighter light will keep it a bit shorter. My last one was in a really sunny window, had four or five stalks that were about 18" tall and it even bloomed. Too bad that I don't have any pictures of that one in bloom. I am thinking about starting turmeric from the root as I have never tried that.

Ginger start

Growing Fruit Trees from Seed

I've had a habit of growing trees from seed for a number of years, but only recently about two years ago started growing fruit trees from seeds. I stratified the seeds from quite a number of pears of different varieties by putting them in a damp paper towel or napkin in a ziplock bag in the fridge for a couple of months. After a month or two many of them started sprouting in the fridge. I planted the seedlings that had their root just sprouting out of the seed in a small pot and kept planting them as they sprouted. Eventually every single spot was covered with pear seedlings. It looked like a little mini pear forest. Of course they were in a cold window sealed in a bag during the winter which lead to disease that ravaged the mini pear forest. A few survived unscathed and I kept them and planted them in a large pot. Now these pears are about a foot to two feet tall. They were immune to fireblight and other disease and survived harsh conditions.

I've started more pear seedlings this winter, following in my newly started tradition, and have been keeping better track of the varieties. I really like the taste and thin skin of the Starkrimson pear and am trying to grow some of those along with many others. Bartlett seedlings have in the past been used as rootstock, so if you don't like the fruit from the seedling just graft another variety onto the hardy tree you've grown. My decision to grow more fruit trees from seed was bolstered when I tasted wild dewberries and wild huckleberries. The wild plants were generally very productive. They all had different sizes, shapes, sweetness, and tart zingy tastes. I like them all and especially the small variations in taste from plant to plant. I think I enjoy the variety more than a monoculture of one variety. I enjoy getting a surprise. I'm trying to grow blackberries from seed to see if I can get a nice mix of flavors in my blackberry patch.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my recent pear sprouting project.

 Bartlett seeds in a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag in the fridge stratifying.

These are the Bartlett seedlings that I've transplanted from the fridge to this little pot. I'm just getting started and have a lot more to plant.

If you are interested in growing your own rootstock, then you might grow Bartlett, but I'm sure that other varieties would work well too. Seckel pear has been reported to come nearly true from seed and is said to often be better than the original in taste. I just bought a bunch of Seckel pears to eat and thought that I'd try some of them this year. If you want apple rootstock, then you might try Northern Spy. Northern Spy seedlings have been used as rootstock for apples quite a bit and it is the progenitor of the MM106 apple rootstock, which is a semi-dwarfing rootstock. In some markets in the U.S. you can find Northern Spy apples at the grocery store. You might try Whole Foods or a specialty market as they often have better old fashioned apple varieties. Northern Spy is one of my favorite apples, so if the tree you grow tastes good just grow it on its own roots without grafting it. Why not try it first? You will possibly have a stronger more resistant tree without a graft and who know you might grow the next Ashmead's Kernel.

Glyphosphate: A Common Weed Killer Sprayed on Your Food Linked to Severe Birth Defects

I recently read this journal article about glyphosphate based herbicides titled, "Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling." It reports a link between the common crop weed killer used in conjunction with glyphosphate resistant GMO crops and severe cranial birth defects. It is an interesting read and may make you wonder about what you ate for lunch.

Great Article "Sprouting Evil: How Monsanto Endangers Heirlooms"

I read this great article titled "Sprouting Evil: How Monsanto Endangers Heirlooms" that pretty much sums up our awful situation in terms of the loss of the control over what we eat and who controls our food supply and livelihoods. You can also read about the atrocities committed against American families and their small family owned farms by corporate agriculture here at the Organic Consumers Association, Millions Against Monsanto link.