WHY I DO STRANGE THINGS IN THE GARDEN

I grow an apple tree smack dab in the middle of the main part the garden, in one of the most noticeable places. It's on one of the very dwarf root stocks so it won't get huge and it has a somewhat wonky shape, as I think is somewhat common in apples.

Apple blossoms are the prettiest.

Almost every person who has seen my garden has commented on it, and often not in a good way. 

"Oh. An apple tree! Right there!"

"Is that really an apple tree?"

"Are you planning to move that apple tree?"

I know. It's sort of weird. We're used to seeing apple trees growing in a segregated area with other fruit trees or on the periphery of an ornamental garden. It's unusual to have one planted as a focal point.

I'll tell you why I put that tree where I did:

1. I was a nice sunny spot. Honestly, it was a practical decision.
2. I needed some height in that spot but I wanted something airy that wouldn't create a wall.
3. I think it's beautiful both in flower and when it's fruiting.

And most of all ...

BECAUSE IT'S MY GARDEN.

The apple tree in full bloom and glaring morning sun.

I've learned so much about gardening since I first stuck my shovel in the ground here 15 years ago, but I've also learned a little something about human psychology: Everyone will not love every garden. No matter what I've done in my garden, someone (usually a neighbor because not lot of other people see it) will make one of those comments. You know the ones: They all sound nice, and many of them are, but some have that little twist to them. Or they use the word "interesting" which rarely means interesting. 

A few of last year's apples.

That used to bother me. I used start questioning what I was doing. You know what I do now? Nothing. I don't care. 

This revelation probably came as much through my experience as a gardener as it did through life experience (aka getting older) and gaining more confidence in general, but I realized a few years ago that I don't care what anyone else thinks about my garden. That's not to say that I'm not interested in other people's opinions, particularly those of other gardeners, but they don't unilaterally determine what will happen in my garden as they might have a few years ago. I've written about how having my friend Linda and her husband Mark stop by for a quick tour was one of the best things I've done for my garden because it allowed me to see my garden through different eyes. 

The apple tree is in full bloom right now, and I dare you to show me a tree with blossoms as pretty as apple blossoms, particularly when they are right in your face. When the blooms fade, shiny green foliage will be the star (along with the clematis I grow up the tree), and then hopefully apples will dot the branches. To me, it really has all season appeal.

You might not think so. You might not ever aspire to have an apple tree in the middle of your garden. That's OK. It's your garden.

HOW 'BOUT THEM APPLES?

This year's harvest might have been unremarkable in many ways, but there was one very exciting crop: the first apples from my superdwarf Gala apple tree.

I won the tree at a winter gardening seminar a few years ago. It was donated by a local gardener who loves grafting fruit trees and is particularly interesting in superdwarf trees. Basically he grafts a regular apple onto superdwarf apple roots. What you end up with is a regular apple tree that stays very small.

He delivered it to my house the spring after I won it and gave me all kinds of tips on caring for it. I stuck it right in the middle of the perennial garden off the patio. That's not the first place one thinks for siting an apple tree, but I needed a little height in that area and since it will stay plenty small, I wasn't worried about it taking over. Plus, I wanted to be able to enjoy the blossoms up close.

For a couple years it hasn't done much of anything but this spring there were flowers. No heaps of them, but some. And after those flowers came fruit. I had already lost a few small apples to insects before I talked to the grafter at a garden tour and he told me his secret of putting plastic baggies over the fruit. I ran home and put baggies on the four remaining apples the tree and haven't given it much thought since.

A couple weeks ago I picked the first apple. It was umblemished, beautiful and crunchy. It was also just a tad sour because it wasn't fully ripened. Unlike tomatoes and pears, apples will not continue to ripen after you pick them so you need to leave them on the tree until they reach their desired ripeness.

Last week I picked the other three apples. They are delicious! And, like anything else you grow yourself, they taste even better than anything I could have bought at a store or even an orchard because, well, pride adds flavor. 

Four apples isn't much to get excited about but the tree is still very young and should produce more and more each year. And now that I know the baggie trick I should be able to enjoy many more of the apples that are on the tree.

BAG IT UP: HOW TO PROTECT FRUIT FROM INSECT ATTACK

I am not growing a Ziploc bag tree, I promise.

One of the houses on a garden tour I went to over the weekend was the original home of the super dwarf apple tree in my garden. I won the gala apple (grafted onto super dwarf roots so it will never get big) at a gardening seminar a couple years ago. It was donated by one of the homeowners of a house on the tour.

When I saw him, I was happy to report that for the first time, we have fruit on the tree! He was equally as excited (he said he loves hearing reports about the trees he gives away) and he shared with me a tip about how to keep the fruit bug free (and, I would imagine, out of the mouths of deer).

Buy some cheap closeable sandwich bags. Nip off the two bottom corners, then make a very small cut through the zipper.

After checking to make sure that the fruit doesn't already have signs of insect damage (sadly two of my baby apples did so I cut them off), open up one side of the zipper, slip the baggie over the fruit and seal it up, allowing the stem to pop out of the little cut in the middle.

The homeowner/apple grafter told me the apples will be just fine in there and the bags will keep bugs from getting at your apples.

Those aren't funny looking apple tree leaves you see there: the anemone is growing up through the tree.

There are four apples, and now four baggies, on my mini apple tree. I won't be making a pie from them, but I really hope they mature nicely and I will have the delicious satisfaction of eating an apple I grew right in the middle of my garden.

Obviously if you have a large fruit tree, you're not going to cover it in baggies, but for a young or small tree this might be just the thing.