Friday, December 04, 2009

The End Of Apple Season

The apples are nearly gone from all the trees. A few tenacious pommes remain here and there, but they're mostly gone. These photos are from out in the vineyard. In our yard, I've been working on getting the fallen apples up off the ground and into the compost piles. I'm almost done.

A single apple hangs from its tree in the vineyard; our house is on the right.

This year we're trying something new. We have so many apples that they actually won't fit in the normal compost pile. We started a second pile just for apples. But that, too, is too big to take any more. So the last apples are going directly onto the garden plots for the winter.

In the vineyard, the fallen apples just lay there until they're eaten by wildlife or decompose.

We covered the bare garden plots with a leaf layer for the winter to help keep the weeds down. Next spring the decomposing leaves will get tilled into the soil. And now we've added decomposing apples to the mix. We'll see how it goes.

From now until next fall, if I want apples I'll have to buy them.

9 comments:

  1. WHAT?! Buy apples? Unheard of.. go on strike until your next crop! hahhahaha! Next year, we'll come with out bags and collect them from your trees!!!

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  2. Très René Magritte!

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  3. The weather is just starting to warm up on this side of the world :)

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  4. Walt, where were you during Ken's "I must bake biscuits" moments? :)) I'm just used to seeing you do the baking!

    Judy

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  5. I am enjoying your blog so much. I have been feasting on all the back posts!

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  6. I use leaves to mulch the beds also... they are almost hummus by March & then just work them into the soil. Your arden looks beautiful in late autumn.

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  7. I've had excellent luck with skipping the compost bin and just putting leaves and plums directly in the garden.

    I wonder if you'll be weeding out baby apple trees next spring?

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  8. It seems a shame to let these apples rot, but then, I guess one can only eat so many apples in a season.

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  9. leesa, I know, but sometimes you just want apples!

    bill, lol!

    evol, and don't think we're not just a tad jealous about that...

    judy, c'est le monde à l'inverse!

    suzanne, thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I always wonder if anyone looks back at the older stuff!

    stephen, thanks - that makes me hopeful!

    chris, ditto. I wondered the same thing, but we've been composting apples for years. Maybe the seeds rot in the compost pile? Or maybe we've been pulling out little apple trees without knowing what they were?

    starman, you can't give them away. Most people around us have at least one, often several, trees in their yards.

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