The Romance of Apples

Available for over a year

The apple of Karim Habibi's eye is, well, apple trees. In this programme Sarah Swadling visits his nursery, near Maidstone in Kent, where he has around a thousand different varieties of apple and other fruit trees. Propagating new trees is a painstaking labour of love using a process known as Grafting, which begins in the summer. Wintertime is when the 18 month old trees are harvested and sent off to their new homes in gardens and historic properties around the country. Karim also creates new apple varieties from seed - he shows Sarah his fridge full of pips which he hopes will yield some exciting new varieties. He's already bred apples named after his wife, Bethan, and some of their children. Presented and produced by Sarah Swadling