Garden Update::Apple Trees

26 Apr 09 by Tim Martin | No Comments | 44 view(s)
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I’ve failed to do a good job documenting our garden this spring already! So, back to it here. I’ll share some pictures and stuff (current) and a little history of what we added this year.

First up, the apple trees. We’ve been out with the apples a lot lately due to the caterpillar infestation. So far, we think we’re winning via hand picking, so we’re gonna hold off on spraying. We’ll see if that’s the right choice or not.


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The Caterpillar Hunter
The cages, in case you’re wondering, are there to protect the trees from the deer. We certainly have a fair number of deer in our yard, and this makes it much more difficult for the dear to strip the bark from the tree, which they do, apparently. Apple bark tastes good. The cages are also the source of the random bloody spots on my legs and arms… Reaching through, over, and into them with their sharp edges to kill caterpillars is tough work.

In total, we have 6 different varieties of apples and 8 total trees. The varieties are as follows:


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One of the blacktwigs, before leafing out
For my records, they’re organized like this, as looking out from the house:

KC ES MB B
KC RL BT BT

Each apple has different characteristics and different schedules. We’ve already experienced flowering and petal drop has just occurred.


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Last of This Year’s Petals
And this has been the big news of the last few days… actual apples forming.
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Over time, we’ll have to thin the apples back and make decisions about which ones to keep and whether we do things like spraying and bagging. But not just yet.

Posts that are still to come… plums, blueberries, brambles, and serviceberries.

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