I have two espaliered* Fuji Apple trees along one side of my potager*. Although I have cared for them diligently for years, feeding annually in the Spring, pruning faithfully in Winter, watering, and observing them as I walk past them everyday (often several times a day), they always limped along for me. The apples were small, sparse, and unappealing. I always attributed it to our zone 11. Fuji Apple trees do best in zones 6-9, 14-16, and 18-22. Nonetheless, I love my espaliered Fuji Apple trees.

Something happened this year that I am still trying to figure out. This year I have an abundance of beautiful large sweet Fuji Apples! I understand now their popularity. You will truly experience one of life's little pleasures simply by eating a ripe Fuji Apple fresh off the tree.

Created in Japan in the 1930's, the Fuji Apple comes from American beginnings, a combination of the Red Delicious and Ralls Genet, an heirloom apple that dates back to Thomas Jefferson, 1793. Fuji Apples were first introduced into the United States in the 1960's. They are a late season apple, harvested in late September and October. They are distinctive in appearance with a yellow-green background color and red highlights. Excellent for eating fresh, and in autumn salads, they are also good to use in pies and sauce. Fuji Apples have a very firm, crisp flesh, and are very sweet and juicy to the taste. They store exceptionally well.

Putting on my detective hat, and delving into the habits of Fuji Apples trees, I have since learned that it can take several years for them to get established and bear reasonable fruit, they have a tendency to bear heavy crops in alternate years, and it is best to plant another Fuji Apple tree within 20 feet of each other, or another mid to late-blooming apple tree for pollination. They do best in zones with a mild winter, and have a long growing season with apples that take 160 days to ripen. Their fruit needs 100 to 400 winter chill* hours to establish dormancy. So it seems there are a number of factors that can affect Fuji Apple fruit from year to year.

Every year there is at least one thing in the garden that really surprises me. This year it is the fabulous Fuji Apples. With these "just picked" Fuji Apples, I am going to make my "Apple Crumb Pie", see recipes.

Glossary

*Espalier--French term for training a tree or plant to grow in a specific shape or form, usually on a flat surface such as a wall or a building. The shape is often architecturally appealing and space saving.

*Potager--French term for kitchen garden which is usually gardened year-round, and is often laid out in a formal and ornamental style.

*Winter Chill--As it pertains to apple trees, is the number of hours in a climate zone where temperatures are at or below 45 degrees F, 7 degrees C.

It seems just like yesterday, that my husband and I had this idea to put in a vineyard. We had about a third of an acre that was fairly flat, sunny, and western sloping toward the ocean. We overlooked this area from our home, so I wanted it to be pleasing to the eye. I had enough garden vignettes to be content. It was important to us to reap from our land, a sort of "thank you" for being able to live here and enjoy daily all that it gives us. That was nearly six years ago.

Holding that vision of a vineyard, we sought help from professionals to install one. We contacted people in Temecula and Sonoma County, to no avail. Then, on Sunday, October 9, 2005, I opened the Homescape of The San Diego Union-Tribune, in it an article called "Vine Street" highlighting successful backyard vineyards in Point Loma, Clairemont, La Jolla, and Mount Helix, including a listing of professionals locally who install vineyards. We were ecstatic!

Everything clicked from there. We sought professional advice for the best grape varietal to grow for our location, if indeed this was a good location for a vineyard, ballpark costs, and where to buy the bareroot vine plants for Spring planting. Ironically the next Spring, our local community college offered their "Vineyard Management and Production" class, www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/ for the first time. We enrolled in the class, met other fellow wine and vineyard enthusiasts, and started getting vineyard knowledge under our belt. It was a real coup when our class came, as part of the Saturday lab, and helped measure and stake out our vineyard, plant, and construct trellis for a few rows, over a three month period. It had been worth the wait!

Around the third year (or harvest) of a vineyard's life, one can make wine from the grapes. The first couple of years all of the fruit is dropped early in the year, to focus on establishing the grapevines and their roots.  During this time we continued to take classes on winemaking, wines of the world, and even joined a group called San Diego County Amateur Winemaking Society, www.sdaws.org.  There are a number of basic books such as From Vines to Wines by Jeff Cox, Vineyard Simple by Tom Powers, A Wine-Growers Guide by Philip M. Wagner to get you started.  We felt that growing a vineyard is a hands-on experience, rather then something learned by theory, and taking practical classes was very beneficial.

We made some misstakes and had some pitfuls, such as underwatering our vines their second year, losing three vines to gophers, and not taking into consideration the competition of our young vines with mature macadamia nut trees. A vineyard is a huge time investment, and it has it's own timetable for maintaining it throughout the year.

With all that said, it is with great satisfaction as we walk our rows of Syrah vines, with their magnificent black conical-shaped clusters, soaking up their final sunny autumn days. I'm reminded of the adage, "It is not so much the destination that matters, but the journey".

Add a little flair to your special holiday meals with maple leaf-shaped butter. I found a wonderful "maple leaf" cookie cutter set by Fox Run Craftsmen. The smallest size in the set is a perfect size for a butter pat, 1.25". www.foxruncraftsmen.com.

Take a stick of butter which has been cooled in the refrigerator. Remove paper. Cut 3 or 4 butter pats at a time on a cutting board. Take your cookie cutter and place it in a bowl of warm water, dap excess water on a paper towel or kitchen towel, dab same cookie cutter in a plate of shallow table sugar, and then press your cookie cutter face down into an individual pat of butter. The warmth of your cookie cutter will make an easy outline of a leaf in your butter pat. Remove excess butter around cookie cutter, and remove your finished leaf-shaped butter pat from the cookie cutter. Repeat process till you finish stick(s) of butter. Arrange finished butter leaves on a table-ready dish for serving. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Interesting butter shapes are not limited to leaves. Look for any charming cookie cutter shape that is within the size of a butter pat. One can flavor butter with honey, herbs, or spices beforehand. If you did not want to dip your cookie cutter in sugar, you could use salt.