Fruits of Our Planting Labor

I've been a bad blogger.  Every time I sat down to write a post it seemed like it was just the same things rehashed.  Kind of like Wash, Rinse, and Repeat.

My cousin, Judy, (Hi! Judy) sent me a message wanting to know if everything was all right because I wasn't posting anything.  So in honor of my cousin Judy, I will try my best to post regularly again.

We started planting fruit trees about a year after we bought the house.  Trees take time to grow so we wanted to get them in and growing right away.  

Below are the apples and pears that we have growing in the yard.

Golden Delicious 

Red Gravenstein

Gala

Comice Pear

Anjou Pear

Asian Pear (we have two varieties)

Paw Paw Tree

We soon realized that some trees would not grow in our yard because of the black walnut trees.  The peach, cherry, and apricot trees were dead within two years.  We replanted thinking that we must have done something wrong but they died again in two years.

There is no where in our yard that is far enough away from a black walnut tree to plant those types of trees.  Apples, pears, and Paw Paw have done well.  The Paw Paws  will need a few more years before they bear fruit but the trees are growing.

Last year we planted 5 blueberry bushes in the landscaping on the south side of the house.  We chose two varieties.  Three were a regular height bush and two were a short small compact bush called Jelly Bean.  Our intention is to have an edible landscape.

Jelly Bean was a prolific bearer this year.  Despite it's short stature it has large full size, and very tasty berries.

South side of house.  Jelly Bean bushes are behind bird bath.  The other three blue berry bushes are located under the window box.

FYI we do not spray or treat our fruit trees.  The fertilizer we use on EVERYTHING is Alaska Fish Fertilizer.  You can buy it at Walmart, Lowes, TSC, and Home Depot (my Home Dept doesn't carry it).  The best bargain is to buy it by the gallon.  It's stinky but all natural.

 We had several plum trees that were infected with Black Knot Fungus.  We cut down those trees and ground the stumps up.  To keep from spreading the disease we burned all the wood as fast as we could.  There was a period of windy weather that kept us from burning for about a week.

Photo from Gardening Know How

To fill in the spots where the plum trees were growing we decided to stick with apples and pears.  R wanted a Red Delicious and I wanted a Granny Smith for pies.  The third tree that we added is a Bosc pear tree.

Look for posts on Buckthorn shrub, Curbside Treasures, and downspout bling. 

The thorn of a Buckthorn........ouch!

Reuse Repurpose Recycle 

See the sedum???

The area just to the left of the porch step gets quite hot. I have tried several different plants but I think I have finally hit upon the right combination in both appearance and durability.


Remember the photo of the plant I posted with all the hail pellets??? Well here it is now.......along with some Autumn Joy sedum I brought over from the other house.

Disregard the peeling paint on the house in the background. How come every photo I post of Gear Acres shows peeling paint????

Today I harvested half of the produce grown at Gear Acres. One Asian pear!!!! Tomorrow after I rest, I will harvest the other 50%....a rather smallest Granny Smith apple.

I have to tell you I really like the looks of the Asian pear trees. I like the structure of the tree and the color and substance of the leaves. It appears that the Japanese beetles are not attracted to the tree either. I couldn't find one leaf that had any areas of damage.

I should rest so I am capable of completing the harvesting at Gear Acres. Makes me tired just to think about it.

Let's plant it....here!!!!

The other day , while shopping for lilacs, I ran across 2 Asian pear trees on sale at Kmart. I already have 1 Asian pear, I believe the variety is 20th Century. These two semi dwarf trees were another variety and they were only $5.99. The price was right.....so I bought both of them.

So what do you do after you buy a tree? You plant it right? Well, first you have to decide where you want it to grow for the next , oh say 30 years. AND after much thought, oh OK I just said, "plant it there." So the digging began and this is what we found......

Yup, a rock. Right smack dab where I wanted to plant one of the trees. And notice not 1 rock but 2 rocks (still buried to the top left of exposed rock). Along with these 2 big rocks we found numerous smaller rocks, a long iron hook, parts to a bridle, 2 long square spikes, and 2 pieces of a plow. We were able to remove this rock, with the help of my Dad and under the supervision of my Mother. This weekend we will remove the other rock and hopefully won't find a tractor or remains of a horse!!!!

Here's my Dad and Roger. Looks like he knows how to use that shovel!!!! You'd never know he had triple bypass surgery just 4 months ago.

Oh by the way...the rocks were recycled and are being used in the hosta garden. I currently have purchased 171 varieties!!!! I'm a hostaholic.

On a sad note.......the tornado that hit Fenton destroyed a lot of very large trees and damaged many homes and businesses. Judy, my cousin, sustained a lot of damage to her beautifully landscaped yard......bummer. My son lives just 2 miles south of the Tractor Supply store that was heavily damaged. He said he didn't even have a twig in his yard.

On a happier note...no one was severely injured and the sirens went off in time to warn everyone.

If you're interested, here is a site that has numerous photos of the damage. Take note of the large twisted tree in the Oakwood Cemetery.

http://www.pbase.com/dataman/fenton_tornado