Belle’s apple tree

When Belle was about two years old she planted an apple pip. I wasn’t entirely sure it would grow but I knew that planting seeds with your children was one of those wholesome things that parents are supposed to do, and it killed about twenty minutes, so we gave it a go.

We rescued two pips from Belle’s apple, filled a little pot with soil and Belle pushed each pip down into the damp earth with her podgy little finger. She watered them from her small plastic can and waited expectantly. I tried to explain that they can often take more than a day to grow into trees but I’m not sure how much of a concept of time you really have as a two year old.

To be honest, I was half expecting nothing to happen. It’s not that I imagine apples just come from a factory or anything – I know the theory – I just wasn’t sure you could literally take a pip from an apple you were eating, stuff it in a pot and expect it to turn into anything.

This is Belle then:

Belle

Small

We didn’t take a picture of the pip, but if we had done it would have looked something like this:

apple pip

Even smaller

Belle is going to be eleven years old in less than two months and is off to secondary school in September. She has grown quite a bit since she was two. Now she looks like this:

Belle

Big

Her apple pip though has shot up even more impressively.

Apple tree

Even bigger

They grow up so fast don’t they?

Thanks so much to Westland Horticulture for sponsoring this post.

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10 Comments

  1. Nicky Richards
    2 July, 2013 / 12:10 pm

    Belle is sooooo cute xxxxx

    • admin
      3 July, 2013 / 1:53 pm

      She is a bit adorable, even now she is not so chubby :-)

  2. Helen
    2 July, 2013 / 12:17 pm

    I LOVE this post so much! When I was about 4 I was considered too small to walk the dog (the legend that was Buster) around the block with my two older sisters. Of course I had a hissy fit about this so to keep me quiet they brought me back a present from around said block … which was a conker. I planted the conker and lo and behold it grew! But then we moved house when I was 9 and upped sticks from Bristol to Cornwall. There was no way my little tree was staying behind so it was carefully put in a big pot, put in the car and made the journey down the M5 and very slow A30 with us. It survived! It’s been in its ‘new’ home for the last 25 or so years in Mum’s back garden and every year I get so excited when the first leaves appear and then the conkers later on. Sorry for the mega long comment but this post really resonated with me so couldn’t resist sharing with you.

    • admin
      3 July, 2013 / 1:54 pm

      Don’t apologise, it was a great comment! I love your story too and can totally empathise as we have moved house quite a bit and that is why Belle’s apple pip is still in a pot! I have never wanted to plant it out until I know we are living somewhere we own and where we will be staying.

  3. 2 July, 2013 / 12:25 pm

    We did this too! My son went through a phase four years ago when he was 3, of wanting to plant seeds from every fruit we ate in the house, so I humoured him, and that’s how we’ve got ‘Adam’s Apple’ as it’s affectionately known. My husband, however, was astounded when he saw how it was growing, and the fact that it’s now a tree, because, and I quote ‘I didn’t know you’d get an apple tree if you planted an apple seed’. I don’t know what was going through his mind there, factory produced… that an oak tree would grow, I just don’t know. Gave up trying to second guess him not long after we married tbh! x

    • admin
      3 July, 2013 / 1:55 pm

      I understand what he means though! Even though you know a tree comes from a seed you still wonder if it is really that simple or whether there might be something clever you have to do to a pip first!

  4. 3 July, 2013 / 1:58 pm

    She is a cutie. Though i am not totally sure you are supposed to say that about 11 years old. My 8 years old often says “no I am not” when I tell him he is cute….
    The tree looks great also :) I wish I was able to just plant something and watch it grows…

  5. 3 July, 2013 / 8:12 pm

    Belle is so cute and the apple tree is amazing. None of mine ever grew!

  6. JessB
    20 July, 2013 / 9:49 pm

    Great post! Apples and Conkers – definitely (strategically planting) plopping those in the garden :)

  7. Bhakti Natha
    24 September, 2013 / 6:43 pm

    Nice. I planted basil wih my boy and it grew in this weather. I was surprised… next is apple pip… would be good to see it growing with child.

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