Apple Cycle

The apple tree arrived in the post just over a year ago, a birthday and Christmas present from my partner. I love blossom - in hedges, in orchards, in city streets - and had been inspired by Fenton House's orchard and fruit and vegetable garden.

Our garden is tiny so I knew it could only be one tree: this espalier Egremont russet.

It had just a few leaves when it arrived in November, but by spring it was green and blossoming.

And then, though I wasn't supposed to let it in its first year, an apple grew. One day, in early November, I came home from work and my partner said to me in mock horror: there's been a disaster and he pointed out of the kitchen window at the tree. No apple! But all was well: it had become a windfall. Its time must have been ripe because it was sweet and crunchy and we were able to celebrate our first apple harvest.

Now the tree is almost bare again, just a few leaves clinging to its branches.