This year our apple tree had a good year. The summer was a good mix of sun and rain, and we didn’t have as many wasps, snails or birds taking the apples for themselves as in some previous years.
We gave neighbours and the parents of Y’s best friend each 1-2kgs of apples, ate some, and filled the fridge. There’s still some on the tree to be picked too.
Y standing on a small ladder, disappearing into the apple tree with only her legs visible
Part of the harvest laid out on the garden table.
The apple harvest is in! I picked the apples in our apple tree, and pruned the tree while I was at it. About a bucket and a half of apples. Way more than last year which had a very dry spring. Sour in taste though, because of the relative little sunlight they captured this summer. Applie pies lie in our near future I suspect.
It’s definitely September: Plucked the apples in our tree, and then pruned the apple tree.
We hadn’t had much blossoming in the spring. Just a small harvest this year therefore, about 20 apples total. Quite a difference from last year, when we harvested a first batch late August and another one in September.
Today is national apple picking day. We had a tree full of apples this year. We ate a few apples during summer, but the drought, wasps and birds took most of them. So despite the many apples the tree carried early in the summer, the harvest in the end was smaller than last year.
The apples are very tasty though. Just the right mix of sweet and tangy. And Y was rather impressed one day sitting at the table in the garden, when she asked for an apple, and I simply reached above me and picked one.
I spent more time pruning the tree, then picking the few remaining unspoilt apples today.
Pruning the tree
The very limited remaining harvest