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  • Writer's pictureLuba Penman

The importance of having an apple tree in your garden

This year was really good for apple trees.


I have one in my garden - its name is Malus 'John Downie'. Saved from recycling center 7years ago, this semi dead sad looking twig turned into a gorgeous small tree and became a joy and a pride of our outside space.

Now not only it is one of the best performers in the garden, it also occupies us by being a prolific apple producing factory.

It influences our activities and experiences. Usually we leave apples on the tree for a winter display and to allow birds to feed during winter. This year the amount of apples produced exceeded all previous years put together. Tree branches bent almost to the ground and we had to pick apples in order to prevent branches from breaking. That is how we ended up with two 20 liter buckets of crab apples in our garage.

That's it. Done. Sorted.


Buckets were standing there for 2 weeks calling for action and the tree itself looked inquisitive. You could almost hear walking past -"What happened to my apples? Are you going to use them or all my efforts were in vain?"

Finally we had to do something with our unexpected harvest and for next a few days our kitchen became an experimental lab.

What to make of apples?

How to cook it?

Apple jam? Cider? Fruit Compot?

What ingredients?

Suddenly you realize that Socrates: "I know that I know nothing" has an element of truth.


However we did it. 15 jars of jam are now proudly stored in our garage:

apple jam with cinnamon, apple jam with a hint of lemon, mixed jam with different types of apples, apple and strawberry jam etc etc.

And you know what? You can't stop it. Now I am considering making blueberry jam...Going to the fruit market tomorrow...








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