Fruit Blossoms and How I Care for Them

Rachel — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:36:03 +0000

No flower is more welcomed in my garden than the first buds of our fruit trees and bushes. With the warmth of the past few days, the peach trees in the treeyard bloomed.

I spotted a strawberry flower in the bed yesterday. These beautiful flowers will soon develop into sweet nutritious fruit.
The dwarf cherry has buds just waiting to burst. I have no idea what to expect out of these knee high trees. They are purported to produce edible fruit and time will tell whether that is true.

Leaves on the plum tree are unfurling. Because this is the first year for the plum, with a heavy heart I will pinch off any blossoms before they go to fruit. Allowing the tree to grow with no fruit for at least one full season helps it establish roots, branches, and height.
Raspberry vines are growing and leafed out. I buried several vines to establish some new plants. The blueberry bushes are just starting to sent out leaflets.

A part of me lives in terror this time of year. A good hard frost can ruin the growing season for all of these fruits. I follow forecasts looking for evening temperatures below 32 degrees.

The beauty of living on a tiny urban homestead is that I can cover these trees and plants if there is a frost warning. I pull out sheets and tarps, anchor them with rocks, and give a little protective insulation to my precious fruit blossoms.

Once past May 15, the frost free date for central Ohio, I let down my frost guard. The fruits slowly grow. I keep an eye out for pests that might be invading and will treat accordingly, though I’ve never had any problems.

When fruits are just barely mature, changing from chartreuse to full color, my blood pressure rises again. I want the juicy sweet berries and fruit for myself and my family. Squirrels and birds have the same desire. To reap the full harvest, I cover the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries with bird netting. We reuse netting from year to year, getting our money’s worth out of the $7 investment. When I am ready for berries, I lift the netting or pick right through it.

This will be our first year allowing the peach and cherry trees to fruit. I hope that pests will not be a problem either during development or harvest time. I am armed with information from Mother Earth News and Back to Basics should I need to naturally treat animals invading my micro-orchard.

Keeping fruit trees is an emotional process for me. I love fruit so very much that I take special, some might say obsessive, care of my plants.

Do you have fruit trees? How do you care for them?

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Fruit Blossoms and How I Care for Them is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Expanding the Urban Orchard

Rachel — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:19:19 +0000

red raspberries planted on the alley fence

On Sunday we went shopping at our local nursery Oakland Park for garlic starts (they did not have any hardneck varieties) and blueberries (which they did not have either). They did have a dwarf european plum tree at 33% off. We were sold.

For awhile I have been hating on two overgrown shrubs in a small bed near our garage. They are not pretty and produce nothing worthwhile. The spot gets a fair amount of sun; at least enough for a small tree. So, the shrubs had to come out before the plum could go in.

While Alex was removing shrubs, I went to Lowes. I generally try to avoid Big Box stores, but Alex had seen blueberry plants there earlier in the week and we really wanted to expand our blueberry bed. (By personal and non-profit accounts, Lowes is one of the more employee and human rights friendly Big Boxes.)

When I came home, the shrubs were out and the tree hole was dug. Alex was a patient co-gardener and re dug the hole when we realized the tree would be more centered a few feet over.

Lillian “helped” the whole time. Sometimes her assistance was more trouble than help, but she does love to break up dirt clods. Given some layers of clay in our holes, there were plenty of dirt clods. She is also a helpful model of how deep a tree hole needs to be.

tree yoga pose by Lil

Lil was great at lossening the roots. Then she sprinkled some alpaca green beans in the tree hole. These alpaca feces are full of nutrients! My neighbor Mary graciously provides them to me for free right now, but may eventually sell them as part of her burgeoning farm, Alpaca Green.

did you know alpaca's make a communal toileting spot?

The plum tree was planted in the new hole. I made Alex take a picture of me filling in around the tree, lest anyone think I always leave the heavy lifting to him.

Under one of the overgrown shrubs was a hearty and pretty azalea. We thought it would do better out front, so I replanted it.

I worked on planting the blueberries when Alex got the idea that we could fit a new raspberry patch in our side yard if we just removed an overgrown rose of sharon. He worked on it for a long time and finally sunlight shed on the side yard.

Off he went back to Lowes where I had seen the raspberries. He chose three Fall Gold plants, which are supposed to be ever-bearing. The spot we planting is not truly full sun but hearty raspberries will likely still produce.

three raspberries with hostas in between

We do not expect fruit from any of these plantings for at least two years. We will pinch off blossoms from the plum and blueberries to allow the plants to establish strong roots before putting energy into fruiting. In a few years, we should have quite the urban orchard!

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Summary of our Fruiting Plants

plant (variety) – quantity – location -years in ground

peach (dwarf) – 2 – front yard between sidewalk and street – 1

cherry (dwarf) – 2 – backyard – 1/2

raspberry (red early) – 1 – backyard by alley – 1

raspberry (red everbearing) – 1 – backyard by alley – 2

raspberry (fall gold ever-bearing) – 3 – sideyard – 0

strawberry (early) – 10 – sideyard – 2

strawberry (late) – 10 – sideyard – 2

plum (dwarf self pollinating) – 1 – backyard – 0

blueberry (multiple) – 4 – front yard – 1, 2, 0

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Expanding the Urban Orchard is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

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Fruit Blossoms and How I Care for Them

Expanding the Urban Orchard