Immortal apple

 

The immortal apple has struggled this year; it's been a strange year for the Malus family. Whether it's been our garden trees both the eater and Bramley, or the varied variety of escaped eaters that populate our common or the Crab Apples in the forest, the same story, loads of fruits, but none of any great size. That said it hasn't seemed to have effected their taste. I think the two main culprits of this phenomena are probably the dry spring and summer, and poor pollination due to aforementioned weather conditions on insects, or maybe a combination of both.

Malus

 

It's been a bumper year so far for apples, both domestic and wild forms. Unusually as yet there doesn't appear to have been a significant, if any, June drop, with most trees sharing an abundance of smallish fruits. How many of them will survive until harvest is yet to seen. Hopeful though.

Rare fruit

Apples from three of the Commons' apple trees; the others were either barren or the few fruits they had were inaccessible. On the whole it's been a pitiful year for apples over the Common; and not just over the Common, neighbours with cookers say their fruits are fewer and smaller. It started well enough, with plenty of blossom, though it has come to nought, a very thin harvest indeed. Shame. And no, they hadn't be scrumped already, I was point and had to wade through dense bracken, bramble and nettle to reach these trees. That said, it was worth it even for a few fruits; the Commons' apples, although not huge, and sometimes slightly thicker skinned, are very tasty nonetheless.  Heritage varieties do you think? I do.

Apples

As the apple trees over the common are coming into blossom, I've noticed their number is multiplying with several young trees popping up. To my knowledge all the Common's apple trees, well at least all the ones I've tested, are eaters rather than cookers. I don't know what variety of apple they are, though they have the feel of an older less breed variety and produce small yet flavoursome fruits with tough skins. I'm hoping for a good fruiting season as I've got some appley plans.

Crab Apples

It looks like a good season for Crab Apples (Malus sylvestris), many of the forest's compact shrubby trees are festooned with small green and red fruits. The small apples are bitter to say the least, although that doesn't rule them out as a wild food resource; most commonly they're made into jelly to be served with pork, or roasted also to be served with meats; they're also a good source of pectin so a great addition to jams. The bark and wood are none too shabby either, the bark for creating a yellow dye and the wood is very good for turning. Though the tree and it's fruits are most valuable to the forest's wildlife; the flowers are a boon for pollinating insects, the leafs provide food for caterpillars, especially those of moths; and all manner of birds and woodland mammals enjoy the tart fruits. All round it's quite the forest provider.

Pomme

This time of the year the common's apples make for a welcome fruity snack whilst out for a walk with Geoff. I know I bang on about this every year, but I'm amazed more of the common's fruit is utilized, there are half a dozen apple trees and countless blackberries....I feel guilty that I don't use more of it. This particular apple tree yields a very tasty smallish apple, slightly tart on first biting though there after sweet enough, an eater cooker cross maybe? Very nice.

Fruit of fruits

 

These wild/feral-escapee apples over the common may be small, but they're perfectly formed and full of flavour, in fact they're as tasty as any commercial variety and better than many.  And there's loads of them!

Apples

Lockdown and the aesthetic sameness to everyday, coupled with my groundhog day natured routine have had me feeling like I'm living outside of time. Trapped in my looped existence there have been times when I've honestly not known what day of the week it is, as they're all essentially the same. This has led to me being constantly surprised when I notice signs that the wheel has of course turned and it's not still March or April.  Today's surprise was brought to me by the apple trees over the common when I saw them laden with young fruits. In my mind it was only yesterday that I was photographing their emerging blossom.