The Big One

Our sadly neglected front yard apple trees put on a lovely show this year. I've been eating apples almost every day.

Sometimes it's been difficult to see them because they're hidden by volunteer Sun Gold vines, but the other day I was picking some tomatoes to force them on offer them to neighbors, and saw the apple of the season.

Yum.

The other Big One?

She seems to be having a lot of fun and studying hard at college. We were lucky enough to get to see her play in a casual tournament last week.

Watching my kids play remains one of the very most enjoyable things I do.

Thinning

In order for fruits like apples and some others to reach their full size, it's occasionally necessary to remove one from a cluster. Here you see five apples. The one in the middle is called the "king" apple, and today, the king must die.

After I twist off the middle fruit, you can see how the others have at least a little more room. This is hard for me to do, and I'm not 100% convinced I have it right. On the other hand, these are those under-disease seige espaliered apples, so any crop is a bonus and I want to make it easy on them.