Sizing Up Your Harvest

Its mid September and fruit is starting to ripen. Red Delicious are getting larger and quite red, although many apples seem to have a bit of pest damage or small darkened spots.  It is actually difficult to find one that looks good.

In the next tree on the same row, the Old Fashioned Limbertwig are starting to ripen. They have taken on a nice green/red color moving to a red ground, and the flavor is sweetening up.

The biggest surprise are the summer banana apples. They continue to grow and some are approaching one pound in size. They are somewhat rusetted on a green background, and the skin has taken on a papery feel. The taste is sweet/tart and complex. 

Golden delicious are likewise starting to take on a more yellow hue and many have some rusetted areas. Birds and bees have been particularly active against these apples. The flavor is already mild and sweet with just enough acid to keep things interesting.

Asian pears have been ripening over the past few weeks, and most Chojuro have been picked. A few bird pecks have opened up the fruit to bees, including wasps and yellow jackets. I reached into the tree a few days ago and got several wasp stings which swelled significantly and became quite painful. I managed to knock the last good pear off and took off as fast as I could run after picking it up from the ground.

Virginia Beauty has shown promise but is not letting go of the tree quite yet.

I’m getting together some bags for sharing fruit and should be distributing those soon. More to come!

 

 

 

 

 

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