It was any regular day for me last year when the door bell rang. Opening the door the DHL courier guy stood there with a large, odd looking parcel. It was clearly addressed to me so I grudgingly took it inside the house and tearing open the packet I was shocked to find a dozen bare root saplings with tags to them. They were different varieties of apples and to say I was surprised I definitely was shocked!
I run a Goa gardening whatsapp group and a Colonel serving in J and K who is an avid gardener, had sent me the saplings as a gift. They were bare root and in a dormant state. I had seen such saplings in supermarkets in the UK so thats how I realised what they were.
The 'blush'of a true apple!
To be honest I was totally sceptical. Apples growing in the warmth of the plateau of Bangalore??? Thats a ridiculous thought. But since the plants were with me, we dug the 12 pits on the property and put them down. It was such a shock to find the trees grew leaves in no time and seemed to revel in the farm atmosphere. Narsimappa ofcourse looks after them like his babies and brings poultry manure and cowdung which is mixed with leaf mould and fed to them.
Too many on a branch so I will prune them down to 2 or 3 fruit.
The apple is the Anna variety says the colonel which seems to have taken to Hoskote. Its an experiment which has worked well. And, its an exciting time for Narsimappa as we bring friends to see the fruit and every visit he gets handsomely tipped. Thats fine, cause in return he gives them some other fruit from the farm.
