It’s almost a week since I last ventured into WordPress land. Working from 7 in the morning till 6 at night doesn’t help matters. However, it is the weekend, of which I’m already nearing the end of my second day, so life is improving.
One thing I had had time for during the week was picking up fallen crab apples. These are mostly ones that have been got at by coddling moth, so I’m a little underwhelmed by my attempts to curb the infestation so far.
Last year, I was too lazy to pick up fallen fruit (from the cooking apple tree, which was then the one with the infestation). The upshot is that all the good work with the pheromone traps came to nothing.
This year, I am therefore collecting any fallen fruit and if it is no longer viable as food for me, in the council collection. Alternatively, the apples get zapped in the microwave and then put in the Green Johanna.
That’s what I did last Sunday, when feeling the pressure to pick fruit off the tree before they all fell. (I made crab apple jelly with the fruit I could salvage.) To be fair, there is still quite a lot of fruit on the tree, but I can’t imagine it will be there for much longer.
I also noticed today a Scrumptious apple hidden in the undergrowth. Fortunately, this is unblemished and unlike last year’s crop looks like it might actually taste like a Scrumptious. In any case, I feel it needs to be appreciated as an eating apple, so this will happen in due course.
None of these apples should be ready quite yet. It’s not the end of my world that they are but it’s not great for the world if harvests shift. Especially if the timeline becomes unpredictable from year to year. Especially in a country like Britain where planning by higher authorities seems somewhat lacking.
It is interesting how harvest times are changing. And today I realized summer is nearly over, and I have YET to see a single swallowtail caterpillar on either my parsley or dill, which are usually devoured by now!
That is worrying. Maybe that is to do with other variables such as loss of habitat?
Our crab apples seem to be OK. We leave them for the birds. We have a few eating apples – I am wondering whether to pick them early. I always seem to misjudge it.
It’s not easy to know when to pick apples. Maybe try one and see if it seems ripe enough?
I will 🙂
😊
My apple harvest will be particularly pathetic this year thanks to a very late frost. Like Carolee I am seeing autumn everywhere already.
Sorry to hear your apple crop will be less than you’d hoped. This morning, I could smell autumn in the air. I love autumn, though, so it made me feel quite content 😊
As I have a few peaches and lots of grapes I can’t complain!
Peaches and grapes sounds good!