Apples

Last summer while playing in the dirt I planted a couple of fruit trees. They survived the winter and have done reasonably well.

The peach tree in the middle has really grown. This spring it didn't blossom much or set any fruit. I assume that's a result of the big blizzard in April. This variety is known as an early bloomer, so it is a little sensitive to late frost.

The apple trees bloomed and set fruit. I thinned the number down to 6 or 8 on each tree as a pollination trial run. The fruit was doing well on both until recently. The rightmost one got worms, so I removed all the fruit. That way it's not wasting energy on fruit production. The fruit on the leftmost apple tree still is doing OK.

The sad thing is that the leaves on both have been ravaged by Japanese Beetles. Removing them by hand into a bucket of soapy water has been working OK, but I don't think it will be manageable as the trees get bigger.

I'm considering this year an experiment on what I need to do to get a crop a few years down the road, so I'm learning a lot.

As I recall, great-grandpa Joe had an apple orchard in his yard, so maybe I'll get there eventually...