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Professional Pruning

I rarely resort to hiring help in the garden but I'm learning that sometimes it is wise to do so and worth every penny. Case in point - some hideous out-of-control trees that were beyond my ability to deal with. If I were smarter, I would have tackled these issues from the beginning but I didn't know better. The first is a pear tree that was planted along the back fence line. I've worked on this for the past several years, every year with the intent of reducing the height or possibly removing it altogether. As you can see in the photo, I had cut back everything but three limbs and finally realized that it would be dangerous for me to try and bring them down. The limbs grow straight up into the air and the remaining three are about 20 feet tall.  After -- there is a hole in the sky view but the tree should fill in nicely for a good screen and I can keep it trimmed down from this point forward. Farther down along the fence line, and the view from the deck, are two massive pho

Apple Crisp


One of the few trees already existing at our house is an apple tree in the middle of the hedge that runs along the back fence line. For the past several weeks, it has been loaded with apples and with them, flocks of birds. The scrub jays are the ones that seem to be enjoying them the most (as well as disrupting the peace and quiet with their incessant cawing).

I have been picking a few of the apples, thinking that they were probably no good, but it turns out they are okay for the most part.

I made an apple crisp this afternoon. 

The late summer sun here looks just like autumn in the South. It is very strange but wonderful.

Apple Crisp

  • 4 or 5 medium tart apples, peeled and sliced
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease an 8x8 pan with butter or shortening.

Spread the apples in the pan.

Combine all the other ingredients and sprinkle over the apples.

Bake for 30 minutes (or until the top is golden brown and the apples are tender).




Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. That Apple Crisp looks delicious. I want a bite...or two.

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  2. Yum! I have an apple tree, too. My apples are not quite ripe. I'll return to this recipe when they are! Thanks for the reminder!

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  3. Yummy! It won't be long before we will be harvesting apples from our two trees. Lou likes to bake apple pies. (They are OK, not great.) He bakes so many our friends run for fear he will foist another one upon them!

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  4. My all time favorite dessert, warm with ice cream! Drool...

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  5. Dang. That recipe looks amazing. It's not apple season here particularly (peach season and blueberry season!) but I'll file this away and maybe try it in autumn.

    Just another hot, humid summery day here. We had a line of ominous-looking storms approach, but they sort of fell apart right before they hit us. We got thunder and wind and some lightning, but only sprinkles. It was anti-climatic.

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