Autumn Fruit

Apples high in the tree

It's a bit colder today -  Autumn has started but there's still no sign of rain for the next week. The cooking apples are nearly over.  It's lucky they are cookers because I had hundreds of codling moths this year, which get into the apple and can damage it quite badly.

Apples suffering from codling moth

 Luckily, you can cut them out when cooking them. I had enough apples this year to put practically a year's worth in the freezer. I stew them with a little sugar and ground cloves. The apple is a Bramley and fruits at the ends of its branches but that makes it a very large tree and it has fallen over twice in the past so I have decided to have the taller branches cut this year. 

Apple tree with branches reaching out of sight

This will still leave enough room for apples next year but perhaps not so many. 

I have had a good lot of eating apples this year, which luckily the codling moth did not get at. I grow Fiesta and Pinova apples and have quite a few stored away. 

Last week I picked all the damsons I could reach and made damson cheese which is easy to do and lasts for ages in the fridge. It is really good with biscuits and cheese. Either make a block of it or make it in ice cubes. I did both.

Damson jelly

My pond is staying full  of water. It is really great and all the frogs have returned to it. I am so happy not to have to be filling it up by watering can every day. 

Repaired pond with frog