Apples, Apples, Hip, Hip, Hurrah!

[mishalak]

I went and did it last night. In some ways I wanted more time to think and get comments to be sure I was doing the right thing, but it is getting close to spring here and so I ordered my two apple trees. Which ones? Tydeman's Late Orange which is an eating apple that seems like it will also be good for cider since it is similar to, but less disease prone, than Cox's Orange Pippin. As it keeps very well I think I made a good choice there. The other is Calville Blanc d'Hiver, sometimes just called Calville Blanc, an apple for cooking that also does well for cider. It also keeps fairly well, though not as well as the Tydeman's. Both flower at the same time and are hardy to USDA zone 5, which is Denver, though some say that Denver is warmer than its official 5b (-15 to -10 F) designation due to the urban heat island effect. Regardless I can expect the trees to grow to around 5 meters or about 16 feet with an equal spread. I can either plant two in my back yard or one in back and one in the side yard. I am leaning towards putting one in the side yard right now. Regardless I will need to do a lot of digging in the coming weeks and get a big load of manure to help improve my soil.