AUTUMN

It is said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Maybe. In any case, an unpeeled, domestic apple contains vitamins and minerals, potassium and fibres.

Apple was used for medicinal purposes as far back as 2,800 years ago. Household remedies claimed that fruit with skin could kill deadly bacteria and that insomnia could be cured by eating apple sauce before going to bed.

JOHANNES RÖD HÖST (JOHANNES RED AUTUMN)

History: Marketed by the nursery garden Jönköpings Plantskolor during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. According to the owner C.J. Ericsson, he brought grafts from Switzerland, where he had previously worked. He then reproduced the variety, and it has a limited spread around Jönköping and the Småland highlands.

Growth habit: The tree is middle sized, strong growing, healthy and apparently very winter hardy. Can probably be cultivated even in zone 5.

Flowering period: Early flowering, deep pink buds and white blossom.

Fruit characteristics: Fruit is middle-sized, conical. Green-yellow colour with a lovely red-streaked blush. The skin is typically hammered and a little waxy. Flesh somewhat coarse, crispy and red next to the skin.

Taste and ripening:  Juicy, sweet with a good aroma. Ripens at the end of September and keeps until November.

Experience and recommendations: A variety that will never disappoint and often fruits every year. Pretty, somewhat hanging growth, profuse bloom and beautiful, big fruit. And delicious! Recommended hardiness zone: 1–4 (5).

from Äldre äpplesorter för dagens trädgårdar (Old Apple Varieties for Today’s Gardens), Björn Kalin, SLU 2019

SAMMANFATTANDE FAKTA

It is said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Maybe. In any case, an unpeeled, domestic apple contains vitamins and minerals, potassium and fibres.
Apple was used for medicinal purposes as far back as 2,800 years ago. Household remedies claimed that fruit with skin could kill deadly bacteria and that insomnia could be cured by eating apple sauce before going to bed.

FÖRDJUPNING

THERE ARE OTHERS WHO LOVE APPLES

Pests and diseases caused by mites, aphids and other insects can affect the tree, leaf and fruit.

Winter moth (Operophtera brumata)

In May and June, apple leaves and blossom are eaten by greedy caterpillars, recognised by their looping crawl. It’s the winter moth on the rampage. The famished larvae can quickly strip
the branch of a fruit tree or other shrubs or trees such as small-leaved lime and lilac.

Codling moth (Cydia pomonella)

Apple fruit moth (Argyresthia conjugella)

Recipe for those who want to protect their apple trees

Plant a healthy, disease resistant and certified apple tree in the best place in your garden. Fence in your tree against deer, hares and rodents.

Support natural enemies. Put up a bird box. Earwigs eat aphids and larvae. Hang a flower pot filled with moss against the trunk as a home for them.

Your hands are the best pest control tool. Hand-pick any overwintering eggs, larvae or pupae. Remove affected fruit.

Mix 1 litre milk (or sour milk) with 10 litres of water and 1 tbsp floor soap. Spray the tree when the leaves are out, before bloom, and repeat directly after bloom.

Brush the trunk with a soft scrubbing brush and “paint” it with a mixture of clay, cow manure and lime.

Hang up insect traps for codling moths and apple fruit moth at the time of bloom. Attach glue rings to the trunks in autumn to catch female winter moths.

If the tree is attacked by insects that pupate underground, cover the ground under the tree with plastic or fibre cloth and regularly empty it of larvae.

KORTFAKTA

• The heaviest apple to date weighed 1.849 kilo. The apple was harvested in Japan in October 2005.
• An apple consists of 25% air. That is why it floats.
• Swedes eat on average 70 apples, or around 12 kilos of apples, per person and year.
• The very first meal eaten by a human in space was a tube of apple purée. It was eaten by the astronaut John Glenn onboard the rocket Friendship 7 in 1962.

FÖREMÅL

Canner used as a toy by the children at Tenhult Manor outside Jönköping in the early 20th century. It is said that the canner works perfectly well when used in a proper kitchen.

Äpplet (Apple) Flemish tapestry. Detail from an altar cloth in Ölmstad Church, copied by textile artist Inga-Mi Vannérus-Rydgran for Jönköping County Handicraft Association in the 1960s.

Cirkus (Circus) Ornamental cushion in wool, designed by Ingrid Welander, 1955, for Jönköping County Handicraft Association.

The bird was given as repayment for accommodation in Skåne in the early 20th century. The base is marked 1906.

The bird is a gift with a story attached to it:
A man and his wife came past a farm in Skåne. They were offered to stay in the barn. The wife was allowed to cook in the farm kitchen.

The couple stayed for around a week. They didn’t have to pay for their lodgings. Instead, they gave a bird sculpture to each of the children on the farm.

One of the children immediately broke their bird. One bird was lost in a fire in 1932. One of the children had to give their bird to a sister, who didn’t want to sacrifice her own bird
when she was going to a children’s party at the village teacher’s house. One of the brothers passed his bird on to the person who handed it to the museum in 1981.

PYSSELTEXT

APPLE PRINT AND POTATO LEAVES:

You need:

2 apples
1 potato
Paint, for example liquid poster paint, or textile paint if you want to print on fabric
Paintbrush
Something to print on

Do this:

Cut 2 apples in half. One apple is cut lengthwise and one crosswise.
Cut 1 potato in half. Cut out a leaf shape and a stalk shape.
Let the templates lie to dry with the print surface up.

To avoid the print “leaking” through –
put some cardboard under the material you want to print on.

Dip the apple in paint or apply paint on it.
Print however many apples you want.
Continue with leaves and stalk if you wish.

Let dry.
Finished!

(If you use textile paint, this may need fixation. Follow the instructions on the tin.)