It is a lot of work.
First I pick them
Then I clean them up and sort them.
Finally we cut them up and process them for this winter.
We had a really good year for apples. My work is far from done. The ones in the jar were picked and canned before I picked that batch that is in the driveway. There are more on the trees. Once they are all processed, I'll have my fall pruning. My Macintosh tree, which I originally planted mainly as a cross-pollinator, has been producing for the last couple of years. This is first serious year for the Galas, Red Delicious and Jona-Golds.
As much as I love strawberries, blackberries, and grapes, the orchard is my favorite part of this place. I have a bunch of very large and great-tasting pears from one tree, as well as the apples. No plums this year because of the late spring. No nectarines because of the Japanese Beetles. Permaculture does require attention and work, but it demands less energy in terms of tillage and usually gives a pretty good caloric ROI.
And I like apples.
And I like apples.
ReplyDeleteI sure as heck hope so!
How old are your trees? Those apples are good looking; do you spray?
Yes, I'm not completely organic. I do some spraying with a hand sprayer.
ReplyDeleteDad always avoided fruit trees except for pears because you had to spray. You get a little fruit tree spray and hit them two or three times a year, it's not that big a deal. I have cedars all over the place so I usually apply the anti-fungal in the fall and again before they start budding out. I don't know if I have the right schedule, but it seems to be working OK.
I was trying to figure out how long the trees had been there. They vary some. I think I put the first ones in eight years ago, a couple more the next years, and a couple more the following year, so all the apple trees have been here at least six years. And these are all Lowes/Home Depot trees, so they were pretty small but well-established.
I put in two more a couple of years ago. One's a dwarf Rome which again is more for a pollinator. I can't remember what the other one is.
Thanks. That's a lot of production for 6 to 8 years (not that I know any differently). Impressive.
ReplyDelete