Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't . . .

Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t . . . take good photos that is and then I ask Barry, who is patient and knows what he's doing.

We picked a lot of apples from our trees. 

These look rather ghostly . . .

. . . and these look as though they've been dancing.

 These are better

Frodo approves - he approves of all things edible

Just two of the many containers of apples

What to do with them all? We shall give some away and we shall eat some, of course, raw, on their own, with cheese, cooked in stir fry or added to curry, roasted with chicken, pickled to make chutney with onions, partnered with blackberries and currants to make pie and crumble. We shan't be making wine with them. We shall make apple sauce but mostly we'll just look at them and wonder at the bountiful harvest.

The crab apples are not quite ripe yet but we shall make crab apple jelly with them - the colour alone is a joy to behold.

We have a handful of quince - maybe enough to make a thimbleful of quince jelly.

ABC Wednesday Q is for Quercus and Quince

There was a flowering Quince (Chaenomeles) already in the garden when we bought this house, more than thirty years ago. It has survived rather than thrived, usually producing a few red flowers and three or four yellow fruits. I have never attempted to do anything with them since I don’t think it’s worth the effort to produce probably less than one egg cupful of quince jelly. The fruits are impossibly bitter, difficult to peel and take a long time to cook but aficionados declare them a rare treat. They can also be pickled.

View of oaks from our garden

There is an abundance of Quercus in this area. They are mostly English oaks (Quercus robur or Quercus pedunculata) producing acorns which nestle in cups at the ends of long stems. The pedunculate oak is a long-lived tree native to most of Europe. It commonly measures its life in centuries, the oldest two in UK, in the New Forest of Hampshire and in Lincolnshire, being around 1000 years old.

Fresh leaves in April

Oak supports more than 400 species of insects, more than any other British plant and is an important food source, in the form or acorns, for many small mammals and birds. 

Jays (Garrulus glandarius) were the principal propagators of this oak before the development of commercial planting. It is a hardwood tree grown for its long-lasting heartwood which is much in demand for interiors and furniture.

We often see squirrels racing round the trunks or leaping from branch to branch

The English oak is a national emblem, its importance originating in the oak tree in which the future Charles II hid during the English Civil War. From that time it was known as the Royal Oak. May 29^th is Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day and was so named by Act of Parliament more than 350 years ago. You can read more about it here.

Two of our oaks being cut down on a very cold January day

‘The Royal Oak’ is one of the most popular names for English public houses and eight Royal Navy warships have been commissioned with the name Royal Oak. In Tudor times oak was the main construction material for warships and the Royal Navy’s official quick march is ‘Heart of Oak.’



Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?

(Chorus)

Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men,
we always are ready; Steady, boys, steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again

The oak is the commonest woodland tree in England but must grow for 70 to 80 years before it produces its first acorns.


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