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What's Decomposing - Apples

What's that old saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well it's something like that. I'd like to update the saying to, when life gives you a giant out of control apple tree, make compost.

There's an old apple tree on my property that I was very excited about when I first bought my house. I had big plans for those apples. Sure there were apple pies to be made but I was combing the internet for a cheap apple press to
make my own apple cider. And when you're making cider, you may as well make hard cider too. And who doesn't love apple cider doughnuts too?

Since I bought my house in December, I had that whole winter to channel Bubba from
Forrest Gump. Only instead of shrimp recipes, I was naming all the great things I would be making with my apples.

Apple Pie, Baked Apples, Apple Turnovers, Candy Apples, Apple Cobbler, Carmel Apples...

Well guess what you get from an old overgrown apple tree, especially if you don't spray any nasty chemicals on it? You get a lawn full of pest infested apples. I did some organic apple research and aggressively pruned few years in a row but the tree needs more help than I have time. So every summer, the tree drops tons of apples that I can't eat.

Now here's the lemonade part, these apples are great for my compost bin. I usually collect a few garbage cans full and dump them right into my bins. They're especially great in the fall when I'm low on greens and have giant piles of leaves to compost.

So how you like them apples? :)

6/28/2007 09:46:00 PM | Labels: |

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9 Comments:

  1. Colleen Vanderlinden said...
    7:12 AM  
    I hear ya. I was thrilled to be moving into a house with an apple tree too, but, like you, I don't spray, so my apples usually end up dropping all summer. My biggest problem is trying to pick them all up before my 2 year old sees them.

    I laughed at your Bubba reference. I love that movie!
    Anthony said...
    9:29 AM  
    I like to turn my apple cleanup into a game and usually lie a garbage can down on it's side. Then I shoot the apples into it with my hockey stick. Let's Go Rangers! :)
    Louise said...
    8:43 PM  
    I have a similar problem, I planted 2 great apple trees years ago. Trouble is collecting and eating them all when they start to drop! Luckily my dog loves eating them.
    Ki said...
    10:03 PM  
    Growing apples to eat are almost impossible without a heavy spraying schedule. In fact I seem to remember that it is one of the most difficult fruit to grow if you don't spray because it has so many diseases and pests attacking the tree and fruit. I had to get rid of our remaining apple tree because of fire blight.

    Good use of the fruit instead of just throwing it into the garbage.
    Annie in Austin said...
    11:20 AM  
    That's what happens when you have an old pear tree, too - like our productive but not-so-tasty tree back in the eighties. Philo had to bury the fallen pears in pits, Anthony, because they drew every ferocious yellow jacket for miles around. They still composted, but more slowly.

    And now I have the litany of shrimp cuisine stuck in my mind... AAAARRGGHH

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose
    Stunned Donor said...
    8:22 AM  
    I have a very old apple tree at the back of the lot and the apples are terrible. I used to compost them as well until the groundhog decided to live under my shed, now he/she eats most of them.
    Matron said...
    1:10 PM  
    I am a compost fan! Great to find a blog dedicated to compost. Can you join my debate about pig manure please? do you have any insights?
    Anthony said...
    3:11 PM  
    Louise, can you lend me your dog for a weekend? :)

    Ki, my wife has been "suggesting" that we get rid of our tree too, but I think that even without the apples, the shade is worth it.

    Annie, they should add your house to the Austin Travel Guide. Visit the famous Pear Graveyard where old pears go to decompose. :)

    Steven, I hear that groundhog compost pretty well too. :)

    Matron, thanks for visiting. Sure I'll join your manure debate. Who wouldn't want to talk about manure?
    Ottawa Gardener said...
    11:31 PM  
    I have this issue with my exhuberiant plum but was always worried about tossing them into the compost lest I help the pests. You made me feel beetter about it.

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