Hahaha! Hi Friends :-)
Well, keeping that JUICY little garden tip in mind, I thought I should start this fall planting a few fruit trees. If you remember my previous landscape post - you will recall how much I LOVE planting anything that bears fruit.
In fact, I can't see ANY reason why someone wouldn't plant a fruit tree instead of a regular tree. (Alright, that statement might just have a TRUE landscape gardener burst out laughing.)
I will fully admit, I am not a professional gardener!
But it's the end of the season, and the nurseries are having their big SALES - what better time to pick up a few fun fruit plants/trees. So like any good blogger :-) I've been doing my ONLINE research :-) Oh how I love blogs and the internet! ha!
I LOVE the beauty of fall - livescience
I live in the Northwest, zone 6. We have snow on the ground almost all winter and beautiful sunny summers. Even though we have an acre of property I thought the best route to go would be a DWARF collection of fruit trees. Dwarf just seems to make a lot of sense as they are compact, and you don't need a giant ladder to reach the fruit. Plus, it's not like I need to feed an ARMY, just one husband and 3 kids (hee, hee) Okay, I can share with the other NINE young cousins that come over regularly.
I think I'm just going to order this beginners Dwarf Fruit Tree Orchard:
Golden Delicious Apple
Gala Apple
Asian Pear
Bartlett Pear
Sweet Cherry
Redhaven Peach
How could I go wrong with that!?!! (Right? I might be totally wrong thinking fruit trees would be a good choice!) It's 125.00 and free shipping.
I already have a Blues Jam self pollinating plum tree, so I'll pretty much have every zone 6 fruit tree possible! That reminds me, if you are only buying ONE tree, make sure it's self pollinating or your tree won't produce fruit. In general, you need to buy TWO "mating" fruit trees (or fruit bushes) to produce a good batch of fruit. :-)
This is my netted, deer protected Blues Jam plum tree - I got 2 cute little plums this year :-)
OH, and I'm really excited to tell you guys this!
Do you have or know anyone who has those beautiful flowering DOGWOOD trees in their yard?
The ones that look like this:
Flowers are usually PINK or WHITE
Well, my neighbors (my in-laws) have 2 in their yard and we just planted one. They have beautiful flowers for a month during the summer but did you know that that red ball they produce in September can be eaten! Can you see all the RED BERRIES??!!!! This was at the very end of August.
I googled it and upon finding out that it's alright to eat I ate a bunch (yes, I'm still alive). I'm not saying they are amazing like raspberries BUT, I just think it's so much fun to be able to eat something off a tree. (yes, it's the small things in life that make me happy!) Both my landscape friends didn't know you could eat the "berries" off a Dogwood tree so I thought I would be super cool and inform any of my readers that yes, indeed you can......if you want too. (haha! like I said, you might have to dip them in a lil bit of sugar for that raspberry burst of flavor)
In one rental home we stayed at, they had this great dwarf pear tree. the pears were so ODDLY shaped that it scared my young kids to eat them (okay, not really, but let's just say they didn't look like pears) I used to make this Pear Butter every year. It was the EASIEST thing and made fantastic gifts. Plus I honestly hate the idea of wasting fruit so it was a fantastic way to use up the pears. It takes a LOT of fruit to make just one jar of the "butter" so I couldn't justify the cost involved in making the butter from store bought fruit anyway.
I can't wait to start making my apple/peach/plum and pear butter soon! (If I can consider 4-6 years soon!)
Like my title suggests:
When is the best time to plant a fruit tree? 10 years ago!
What is YOUR favorite fruit tree or bush? Any recommendations?If you are an avid gardener, is there any reason why I shouldn't have a yard full of fruit trees?
