When the little Gala apple tree bloomed this spring, it was absolutely covered with flowers.
And in spite of the cool weather and there not appearing to be very many pollinating insects about, it looked like almost every bloom out of probably a hundred or more set a little apple.
But there was no need to worry about thinning them. Mother Nature took care of that on her own.
The little tree ended up with seven apples.
By early May, the baby apples were starting to look like teenage apples.
And as the season turned from spring to summer, the apples grew larger and finally started to take on a bit of red.
One morning I discovered a worm hole and a rotten spot on the reddest one. I went ahead and picked it, cut the bad part out and ate it anyway. It was a bit green but it was still a pretty good apple.
A week or so later, something (maybe a bird, a grasshopper or a June bug) ate a hole in the top of another one. I picked it, cut out the bad part, and ate it too.
I noticed a rotten spot on apples three and four, so I picked them, cut off the bad spots, and ate them too.
Apple five was a beauty. It was almost entirely red and I could hardly wait to try it. But one afternoon as I stopped to admire the three little apples that were left, I discovered a June bug burrowed down at the top of apple five, with a large rotten spot all around it. So I picked it, cut off the bad spot, and ate it too.
That left only two...apple six was right by the main trunk and apple seven was much smaller out on the end of a branch.
Today I picked apple six when I found a June bug on it. Luckily, there wasn't any damage yet.
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What an absolute beauty. Hardly any blemishes on it, nice size, shape and color...and the smell! Ah, you couldn't make a perfume that smelled that sweet and wonderful!
I haven't eaten it yet. But if it's anything like apples four and five, I'm positive it's going to be the best apple I've ever eaten.
Apple seven is still on the tree and is starting to turn a bit red. It will be much smaller, but I hope it turns out just as nice as apple six.
So all in all, not a bad crop for the little tree's third year. Even though there was only one that was sort of market quality, I enjoyed every bite of every one of them and I'm hoping the little Gala tree (and the Enterprise) makes more next summer.
Update (7/26/2024): Yesterday afternoon I discovered that something had eaten a hole in the top of apple seven. So far, it's not starting to rot, so I'm going to leave it to ripen as long as I can.
As for apple six? RAF and I split it last night after supper. It was delicious...and yes, maybe was the best apple I've ever eaten.