A IS FOR?
APPLE!
What an adventure I've had participating in ABC Wednesday since January 2009 when I joined in on the letter B of round 4. This time round I am setting myself the challenge of trying to feature either a garden, plant, fruit or vegetable post in keeping with the theme of my blog.
So here we go with apples of which I had fun choosing three specimen trees last August. When the auspices are favourable these are eventually heading for my allotment. They should have been planted by now but I did not anticpate the arctic temperatures that arrived in late November and returned for a good part of advent. My trees materialised sooner than I had anticipated, simply because we were passing by an ornamental fruit nursery. Himself talked me to buying on the spot and with a camper van on hand for transport I could not resist.
Not long after I came across "The Apple Source Book" which I had read reviews of but had never discovered in any of the bookshops that I regularly visit. This book jumped out in me in our local TK Max shop, which is a unlikely but often good source for gardening titles at reduced prices. This book is jam packed with all things apple including recipes, a fascinating gazetteer of British apples (there are an amazing two and half thousand plus varieties of desert and culinary apples let alone hundreds of cider apples) as well as a wealth of information about apple related customs and events.
The above apples were happily fruiting in an orchard at Snowshill Manor in September 2009. Now I hope that you have the time to amble over to ABC Wednesday for more on the letter A.
The title of my post refers to Susan Hill's book of the same name ~ a celebration of a year in the country.
Interesting post for the A Day and what a great idea for your ABC theme for this round!! I look forward to reading them each week! Hope your week is going well! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
ABC Team
What a great idea for your theme! My all-time favourite dessert is apple crisp, warm, with vanilla ice-cream! But only once in a while as it's rather fattening. lol Hope you have a great week. :D
ReplyDeleteLeslie
ABC Team
Ummm, yummm. I love apples in just about any form. Yours will be an interesting challenge for the ABC's. Looking forward to what you will post.
ReplyDeletelove apples. interesting.
ReplyDeleteROG, ABC Wednesday team
Apples - I love apple trees! And apples eaten with cheese ... And Samuel Palmer's paintings of Apple trees!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your apple trees! I have two apple trees that are marginal in my climate. They aren't fabulous, but we do get some good apple pies from them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will come and visit my post and learn about this new variety of apple, - the Ambrosia. Truly delicious. Love your blog.
ReplyDeleteA great theme...I usually eat an apple each day and enjoy them in many ways. The book sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteProper old fashioned apples are so good - and they look much better than the horrible plastic specimins we get in the supermarkets. I may give ABC wednesdays a go - not aht a is here
ReplyDeleteI don't have any apple trees as I don't really have room for them. I've considered step-overs but it's so expensive to buy trained trees, and I'm not very confident at training them myself.
ReplyDeleteAnna,
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to planting a couple apple trees this spring. I love the "Apple Source Book" - and will do some research to see if there is something similar in my area. Have fun with your ABC posts, I look forward to reading them. :)
Hi Anna - am sure your apples will settle in well into your allotment, even now. Planting has to be adjusted to the weather and it's been either too cold or too wet. Studied the history of apples and sad to say many, many hybrids lost to commercialism.
ReplyDeleteA great ABC post and have followed in your footsteps
Laura
Wow, back to A already! I dropped out about this time last year because I had too many commitments to post on Wednesdays, but perhaps I should join in again. I always had fun with ABC Wednesdays.
ReplyDeleteI missed your last post and the chance to enter for the book drawing, but I do hope you'll post your answers to the quiz sometime. I thought it was fun and could answer several of them off the top of my head. I was going to look up answers to the rest of them, but got busy with other things. I love word games like this.
I've left you an award on my blog. Don't feel under any pressure to accept it if you don't wish to do so, I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteWow, lots of apple .. first time to know about ABC wednesday join next week i'm kinda late!
ReplyDeleteOh, boy. I like how you've challenged yourself to stick to a theme... :-) You've started well.
ReplyDeletewhat a perfect A! fond fond memories with kids about this A! thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWe're just coming to the end of the apples from the allotment last year, so I know you're just going to love it when yours are productive :)
ReplyDelete