In a season of bountiful harvests, everything also seems to have come right for the apple crop, as can be seen from the huge amount of fruit on drooping boughs in orchards.
Brilliant spring weather created ideal conditions for apple-growing, says Dr Alberto Ramos Luz, research officer with the food and farming body, Teagasc, in Oakpark, Carlow.
Yields are big, with consumers and growers enjoying one of the best apple harvests in years.
Spring 2025 was the warmest in over 120 years and the sunniest ever recorded here. Temperatures were more than 2°C above the long-term average and it was the driest spring since 2020.
“These unusual conditions created a very favourable environment for apples,” Dr Ramos Luz explains.
Benign weather led to greater activity by pollinating insects, while good weather improves fruit growth and often results in larger fruit size, as is now evident.
Good weather improved fruit growth resulting in larger apples this year
Continued sunshine in August also helped with colour development and sugar accumulation, improving the appearance and eating quality of fruit.
“For consumers, it means that Irish apples will be more plentiful, colourful, and tastier than ever, so it’s the perfect year to enjoy locally-grown fruit this autumn,” Dr Ramos Luz adds.
It’s also good news for wildlife. Thrushes, blackbirds and numerous insects are feasting on a plentiful supply of fallen apples.
There’s a rich store of folklore surrounding autumn, especially relating to the farming community. The aim was to have all the crops saved by the last Sunday in August — work that involved men, women, children and neighbours, often in a race against the weather.
By now, the harvest should be safely in barns, ensuring enough feeding for animals through the long winter ahead.
With all their work done, farmers from Cork, Limerick and Tipperary traditionally relaxed with those from Kerry at the Listowel Races and Harvest Festival which starts this year on September 21.
Plenty apples ready for picking — but be sure to leave a few behind for the púca too
Our ancestors believed that the pooka (púca), a mercurial creature that could do good or evil, was active at harvest time. If the púca harmed crops, animals would obviously be in trouble during the winter.
Better then to stay on the right side of it, which explains a custom among farmers of leaving a small portion of edible crops in the fields for the pooka.
On a more elevating note, there’s a lovely, and continuing, Protestant tradition, particularly in the Church of Ireland, of holding harvest thanksgiving services, with fruits, vegetables and corn adorning the altars of churches around this time. Sometimes, produce is shared in the community, or given to the less well-off.
Finally, enjoy what the poet John Keats described as a “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.
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