If I lived in France I'd have fields and fields of vegetable gardens, rock walls, a French lover and a reasonable sized chateau surrounded by a fence made from espaliered apple trees.
You can't tell me any different. I would have all that on my mediocre blogger's salary.
Because in my imagination that's the way it is. In fact it's even a little bit better because I'd be able to speak fluent french, my clothes would all be made out of linen and lavender and I'd drive a little ivory convertible which is always in to be repaired by Henri, the village mechanic/clothing designer (French men are multitalented like that).
Luckily Henri is happy to trade late evening dinners in my courtyard in exchange for repair costs. I usually hear him crunching across the pea gravel around 9:30 at night after work, just as I'm ripping apart a freshly baked loaf of rustic bread and placing it in with the charcuterie of olives, cured meats, ripe cheeses and sliced apples. A drop of sweat runs down his neck, rolling over the hard curve of his chest, landing somewhere below ....
Oh shit. That's right, this post is about apples. Sorry, I don't know what happened there.
As it turns out I don't live on a French farm with rolling hills of hot farm hands. Instead I live in a small town on what's as close to a microfarm as I can manage. I've smashed vegetables, chickens, a maple syrup tree, rhubarb and a smattering of flowers into my lot and am generally pretty happy with it all.
What I always wanted was a fruit tree though.
But with fruit trees you need TWO fruit trees so they can pollenate each other, THEN you need a lot of space because ... they're fruit trees. They're big and bushy and kind of bossy in general.
But a few years ago, several years ago I started really researching Espaliered fruit trees. Apples specifically. They're pruned so they grow flat and beautiful against a fence or wall. They get wider and thicker but they don't get taller. Kind of like women after the magical age of 40.
I considered planting some along my big side fence but I already have boxwoods there (which coincidentally also surround my French courtyard. Henri sometimes trims them for me).
Also if any kids picked the apples (and of course they would, why wouldn't they?) I'd be FURIOUS. I might even cry and I'd definitely make a scene. I don't care if kids pick my tomatoes or cucumbers or anything else that hangs outside of my front vegetable garden fence. In fact I encourage people passing by to pick whatever they want. But the APPLES? No. No, no, no.
Then a few years ago things got even worse. A fruit nursery about an hours drive from my house started selling 6 in 1 apple trees. One apple tree, with 6 different types of apple branches grafted onto it.
This meant you got 6 different varieties from one tree. And that tree happened to be an Espaliered tree.
It was a match made in tiny lot heaven. But it was a long drive and I had no way to transport the tree and they were expensive and I still didn't think I had anywhere to plant it where it would thrive; so every spring I'd dream about one but never go and actually buy one.
Cut to 3 weeks ago with me twirling through Home Depot in a Julie Andrews, Sound of Music, type manner - because that's how I always act and feel when I'm in a home improvement store. Mid twirl, arms spread wide open, I Von Trapped myself right into a row of 6 in 1 Espaliered apple trees for sale.
I immediately bought two.
I had no idea where I was going to plant them but at $54 each I wasn't going to miss out on this once in an imaginary lifetime opportunity. France Karen would never pass up an espaliered apple tree for $54. Never. Henri would never forgive her. Jacque would probably be pretty upset too. Jacque is my neighbour with the vineyard and 4 donkeys who are always escaping into my pool area to graze on my Rosemary. Heh. Those donkeys.
Since I've been researching these trees for years now I knew exactly how to plant them. And by the time I got home I knew where I was going to plant them too.
I put one on either side of my porch railing, a nice flat surface,
If you have just bought an espalier tree or are thinking of it, you should read this post where I lay out all the steps and hardware for planting an espalier plus you can see how big they've gotten in the years since I planted them.
Henri would love this.
Oh, I'm sorry, you want to know what kind of apples?
You're impressed aren't you? You love it don't you?
To that I say Merci Beaucoup.
Thrilled to see the MacIntosh branch. That's my favorite apple for both eating fresh and apple pie, but they are getting hard to find. Bruise too easily under that thin skin compared to modern apples, I guess. I suppose I am lucky to still be able to find them in the autumn, if not all winter. Gravensteins are an early fruiting apple mostly used for cider and cooking. They don't keep well, so you are most likely to find them at a fruit stand in July/August. It's fairly popular in central California near the coast, but originated in Germany.
Gravensteins make excellent juice and sauce!!!
omg. this is amazing. I have been obsessing over them. Thank you for posting this and your photos as well.
You're welcome Shawna! I figured if I was obsessed everyone else would be too, lol. ~ karen!
I cornered a friends father at a party who espaliered in the 1980s and questioned him like an interrogation. And our back neighbour has a pear espaliered tree back in the 1970s. Is espalier an old trend coming back into style? Here is the best article I've read on the history of it:
See - I'm obsessed too!
http://hamiltonpermaculture.org.nz/the-sustainable-backyard/virtual-tour/espalier-and-cordoning/
and
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/12/fruit-walls-urban-farming.html
our local home depot was sold out of apple, but I got a slightly damaged (5 instead of 6 varieties) of pear.
I also was given the fallen off branch and some grafting wax, so I will see how it does! the initial shape your trees came in is gorgeous!
To hell with apples...finish the French Karen story..it was just getting juicy..lol..get it ?..juicy???..OK..gotta tell ya..this is just so cool and I want one..NOW!
days later and I've come lurking again... just like the cob oven, I now need these and never knew I needed these... and after rehabbing the deck I have the PERFECT place too. Curse you Karen! Now I must find espaliered apple trees!!
I like that Henri comes home at 9 and leaves the rest of the day to get stuff done - he's perfect ! And that there's a spare AND I really like all them apples, too.
I love the word "turnbuckle."
Love, love these! A big store not for from me planted these years ago - but never espaliered them! I felt the pain of those poor trees, all droopy outwards and all. They do produce apples, but it seems such a shame to not take care of something so spectacular.
Side note for Mary W: try a mix of 1 tbsp (plain from the $ store) epsom salts in 1 gallon water. Spray on peppers and/or tomatoesand/or cukes (I use on everything) to help with growth and health. I also give them a good watering of this mix every week (then water regularly afterwards). I didn't believe it when I first heard of it last year until I saw the difference in my peppers and tomatoes. It makes them so beautiful and bountiful! Try it - you have nothing to lose.
Second side note: made a cherry clafoutis (bonjour Henri!) for the first time and love, love, love it. Try the Joy of Baking recipe, but use a deepish pan as it really rises up in the oven.
Hmmm, that clafoutis would be good with apples, too. Hint, hint :)
Never heard of Gravinsteins, don't know about Jonagolds, but the other 4 are among my favorites. The trees look wonderful. They look happy there. I wanted to find out, Karen, if you've had my very favorite apple: York, or York Imperial. They're an old type, and aren't seen much. People don't grow them because they look funny: they are lopsided. One side of the apple is bigger than the other! And people are so obsessed with appearances; that's why we have Red Delicious, which looks great and tastes AWFUL! I still say that's false advertising! Yorks are crispy and juicy and sweet AND tart. Perfect!
Love this idea. I have 13 fruit trees that are three years old, but would love to have a place for these beautiful trees. I picked two peaches and have a pear tree that is full of fruit, but no apples or plums yet. It is really exciting. I will also buy the book "Grow a Little Fruit Tree". Maybe it will help with my peaches and plums as they are struggling.
Can't fool us, Mon Ami.
Henri is the dude with the beard that you brought home from the antique market, a month or so back. ;- That's why he was in the photo you showed us. It was subliminal.
We've all noticed that you've recently been even more happy, upbeat and witty since then. Just sayin' that we are all happy for you and Henri (imagined or otherwise), girlfriend.
LOL. And I thought *I* was the one with the imagination. ~ karen!
I loved our little visit to your chateau in France. Had such a fancy fine time. I hope you'll tell Henri hello for me and we'll make plans to catch up soon.
Stop that right now. You have Anderson Cooper. The least you can do is leave me Henri. ~ karen!
Turnbuckle.....I want to know where the drop of sweat landed. Oh, and I am calling Home Depot right now.
"Henri sometimes trims the boxwood."
Gracious, is that what we're calling it these days? Hahaha!
Those are going to be gorgeous trees! Count me in for a MacIntosh and Fiji or two. Good job!
Looks like some type of tree bondage! but would love to find a tree and see if it will grow in Alaska.
cheers
Flash
Holly Molly !! Henri can come to my house and help me anytime.. :)
Love the apple espalier, I do that with my raspberry bush, it's awesome.
I've just died and gone to Apple (pie) heaven!
How did I not know this was even a possibility? Now I must find such a tree and build another garden enclosure to protect it from the deer (and odd bear) that wanders into our yard.
I have visions of twirling in the sunshine in a few years with my favourite apple (a luscious Gravenstien) in hand as birds sing. Henri would be impressed non?
That post read like a Harlequin romance novel. What happens next? Never mind, I think we can all guess.
Who knew Domicile Depot had such great apple tree specimens. Looking forward to seeing the apples the trees produce.
Have you seen the espaliered apples trees on the north side of Aberdeen Ave. They're are spectacular.
Karen,
I have a south facing wall and want to re-do the flower bed along this wall. These espaliered trees would be perfect there! I live in Kansas where the summers are HOT, so I wasn't going to rip out all the plants there until fall. I know fall is a great time to plant trees, but Home Depot will probably not have these trees then. Do you, or your gal pals, know where I could mail order these trees?
Not being a fan of "Bonsai" (tortured little house plants), the espalier look is not for me! But getting 6 kinds of apples on one tree would be great! If they could put more branches of different kinds on a standard dwarf tree- that would speak to me. Maybe they do this already? Hmmm....
Good luck to you-glad you got the chance to do this!
they do! my neighbor has a dwarf with 7 apple varieties and i have a dwarf pear with 4. i think you can even get different kinds of fruit on the same tree!
What about this one ? This guy has 250 different varieties on ONE tree !! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2437247/250-varieties-apple-tree--thanks-bit-hard-grafting-years.html
Can you plant these against a brick wall? Would the brick hold too much heat and damage the tree?
Yes, they're perfect against brick walls Jill. ~ karen!