Friday, August 7, 2009

Fruit Trees and Berry Plants

I have also started an orchard. So far, I have 5 fruit trees and 1 hazelnut tree. When I am done, I want to end up with 4 trees each of cherries, apples, plums, pears, and at least 4-6 hazelnuts. Right now, I have 2 cherries- an Aaron, and a Sweetheart
1 apple- Shamrock
1 plum- Peach Plum
1 pear- Highland
1 unknown hazelnut
These poor fruit trees I bought at a closing out sale about 3 years ago, and have been in pots for all that time, moving from place to place with me. I planted them before winter set in last fall, so by next year, I am hoping to get a bit of fruit from them! I had 7 cherries off the Aaron this year... VERY yummy. I had a few cherries off the Sweetheart, too, but I am not too crazy about them.

I am also starting a berry patch. Right now, it is very small, but I am going to add to it every year. I have 10 Blue Crop blueberries, 1 Elliot blueberry, 1 Black Satin thornless blackberry, and planted underneath are Quinalt and Totem strawberries. My hope is in the next few years, I can expand this to 100 blueberries, 60 blackberries, and 60 raspberries. Oh! I almost forgot... a friend gave me some Cascade berries to try. Out of 10 transplants, I ended up with just 3. I don't really know what these are, but am willing to try something new! Plus, I've never met a berry I didn't like!

You may wonder why I am doing the berries, fruit trees, and all gardens in raised beds. First of all, the drainage in the winter around here sucks. If I didn't use raised beds, I would lose everything I planted. I also like the fact that the raised beds warm up earlier in the spring, and are a bit easier to weed. The only downside is the cost of putting them in. But, I guess once they are in, I will never have to do them again, so that's not too bad.

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Flooded Driveway

Flooded Driveway
Too much RAIN!