Gala

One of the most popular apple varieties, and a good mid-season variety for the garden in many areas. The sweet flavour of ripe Gala apples eaten straight from the tree is quite a surprise compared to supermarket examples.

Another surprise is the fruit size, which is likely to be quite a bit larger than the small snack-size apples that are most usually sold in the shops. When home-grown (and well-thinned) Gala apples will get to a nice size, much more reminscent of its parent Kidd's Orange Red.

Gala is also a good variety for juicing, as you might expect the flavour is rich and sweet, useful for mixing with other sharper varieties.

Gala is one of the most commercially important of all apple varieties, and as a result a large number of Gala "sports" exist. These are naturally occuring mutations which are mostly indistinguishable from the original in terms of flavour but may have a deeper coloration or more pronounced flush to the skin. Royal Gala is probably the best known. We occasionally offer some of these newer forms but most of our trees are the original Gala, which in our opinion has more natural skin hues.

Growing and Training

Gala is widely grown on a commercial basis in South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, and France. One of its unique characteristics is that Gala will produce good-quality apples across an unusually wide range of climates from cool temperate to hot.

Gala can be grown successfully in the south, central, and east of the UK, and crops well.

However Gala is susceptible to fungal infections. If you have a dry climate this is not usually such a problem - and the flavour of home-grown ripe Gala apples is worth a bit of effort - but it is not a good choice for mild or wet climates.

Most sports of Gala have some degree of self-fertility - but will set much better crops if there is a nearby pollination partner.

History

Gala was developed by New Zealand apple enthusiast J.H. Kidd from one of his earlier successes, Kidd's Orange Red, which he crossed with Golden Delicious.

Gala characteristics

• Gardening skillAverage
• Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
• Self-fertile?Partially self-fertile
• Pollinating othersAverage
• Pick seasonMid
• Picking monthSeptember
• Picking periodlate Augustearly Septembermid-September
• Keeping3 months or more - Flavour fades in storage but remains sweet
• Food usesEating freshJuice - Gala produces a very sweet juice
• Country of originNew Zealand
• Period of origin1900 - 1949
• Fruit colourOrange / Red

You might also like these varieties

• 
  Golden Delicious
  The flavour of home-grown Golden Delicious is far better than its supermarket reputation.
• 
  Granny Smith
  Granny Smith is the world-famous green apple from Australia, a good choice for warmer apple-growing regions.
• 
  Honeycrisp
  Honeycrisp is an American cold-hardy disease-resistant apple - it shows just how good modern apples have become.

More about apple trees

Apples are very versatile, and all varieties can be eaten or used in the kitchen. However varieties specifically grown as eating apples tend to have the best flavours for eating raw.

The main thing to decide when choosing an eating apple is when you intend to eat the apples. Early season apples are typically ready in August, and generally don't keep very long. Mid-season apples are ripe in early September, while late-season apples start to become ripe in late September and October. Many of the late-season varieties can also be stored in a fridge or cold shed for several months into the winter.

Some apple varieties are self-fertile, but most are not. However in most areas of the UK you do not need to worry whether your apple trees are self-fertile or not, as there will be other apple trees in nearby gardens to help with pollination.