Apples

I have not had a very good track record as an orchard keeper. The winter moth infestation of a few years ago set my little trees back considerably. But I have always been intrigued by apples especially after reading Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire. I wish that I could indulge in those mysterious apple varieties that you read about in the Fedco Tree Catalogue, but I am in a region FILLED with red cedars and must draw my varieties from those few varieties resistant to cedar apple rust.

So I decided this year I would get some help with my trees. I turned to a little kit provided by Garden's Alive designed to help renovate lagging apple trees. It is on the pricey side, but I bought it on one of their dead of winter "25% off today" offers. It consists of all the organic fertilizer and pest treatments I will need for at least two seasons. I began in late April with weeding and fertilizing. Then I followed the little sheet that came with the kit. The results have been pretty stunning. God bless the bees ... they found me during blossom time and rewarded me with copious fruit which I have thinned back considerably.

And we have FRUIT !!!