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I’m delighted to announce that after three years it looks as though we will have a good apple crop this year. The blossom I photographed earlier this year has progressed and we have counted at least 40 apples so far!

As I explained in chapter 1 my husband and I made the mistake of assuming lots of branches meant the tree was healthy. We have since learnt that a well pruned fruit tree is a happy fruit tree bearing lots of fruit. I have also learnt that the shade under our apple tree is the perfect place for Baby G’s paddling pool. The weather here has turned hot and we’ve been enjoying our garden, but when it’s this hot it’s easy to burn so it has been idyllic sitting in the shade of our apple tree while Baby G splashes in the paddling pool. When the sun is shining Britian is fantastic, we can relax in the garden, enjoy a Pimms (adults only!), eat strawberries and cook on the barbecue, what a great way to spend Saturday as a family.

When we bought our house we were delighted to find our apple tree. That first autumn it was laden with juicy Golden Delicious apples, but since then things have gone downhill. Several factors could be attributed to the poor condition the tree has fallen into. First, our house was in some state of disrepair and since we were modernising it ourselves it took up all our time, second our baby arrived and third we are by no means accomplished gardeners.

The second year we had very little fruit and the third year none. My husband and I had hoped that since the tree had grown plenty of new branches and was very green it was a good sign for the future and we had high hopes when we called upon our brother-in-law, who has a degree in horticulture. He informed us that we needed to drastically prune the tree, too many branches meant the tree couldn’t concentrate on bearing fruit. So we set about giving the tree the biggest ‘hair cut’ of its life, well my husband did, I just watched and of course advised! This year, as my photos confirm, we are pleased to have some blossom, which should in turn mean we will have some fruit.

Over the coming months I plan to document the development on our tree and, for me the most important part, to use any apples in the production of our family chutney. We love making chutney and our speciality is our spiced apple recipe, but just as the tree had its set backs so did the chutney production – not least because Baby G took up all our time and attention. However, we hope to get back on track and continue our chutney empire.

Here I make a plea: I feel sure that we will be in need of many more apples than our tree can provide us this year and so, if anyone is willing to provide us with some of their own apples we will be able to return their kindness with a jar of our delicious chutney. Let me know! Does anyone have any fruit trees in their garden? Share, please!

• Keep looking out for more updates on our tree, its fruit and the chutney making.