The yard has burst to life in this summer heat. We have been gradually trying to shift our yard into a perennial food source instead of either having an annual garden (which we’ll do also) or just a lawn of grass and flowers that are nice but not edible.
So here is an update of some of our trees and some new additions:
Last year, 2010 we planted a fruit cocktail tree. This is what it looked like:
Fruit Cocktail Tree of Plums, Nectarines and Apricots in 2010
Today! It has grown about 4 feet in a year!
It even has plums already!
Our peach tree is doing well too. It hasn’t grown as tall as the fruit cocktail tree, but it’s gotten really full and bushy. I was noticing that the leaves of the peach tree are similar to mango trees. The fruit is somewhat similar too in color, taste and texture. I wonder if they are related botanically. Things that make you go hmm.
Here it is (to the right in front of the porch) last year
Peach Tree Summer 2011
We also planted some apple trees. We have two “Lil Big” Honeycrisp apple trees which are extra dwarf apple trees that are expected to only grow 6 feet max. The other apple tree is a 5-in-one apple tree. There are supposed to be five varieties of apple grafted together like the fruit cocktail tree. That maximizes our small space in the backyard to be a diverse food producing area. Still no apples or flower blooms yet though.
The Lil Big Apple Tree is in front and the 5-in-1 apple tree is behind
In addition to the trees though, we do have tomatoes coming in. The pepper plants are doing ok and I think we might get some cucumbers too. Also Omeleto is an egg-laying machine. Even though her eggs are smaller than the old chickens, she lays a lot more consistently. I love leghorns for this quality. Plus since we hand raised her she is not as skittish as old Omelette was. Summer is such an awesome time in Colorado. Lots of food, fun and flowers too! I wish I could do this year-round. Oh, wait. We can…in Puerto Rico! 🙂 I can’t wait to check on our fruit trees down there. We planted a mango tree, corazon tree, and guava. Hopefully they are growing good now!
Green Tomatoes
If the apples are grafted it is2 to 3 years before you get fruit. If you want to encourage more fruiting spurs and branches to have the fruiting spurs on you need to prune the “leaders” (branches shooting skyward). Feel along the branch with your fingers until you find a node going in the right direction (direction you want) and lop it off at an angle. You should get a couple shoots going horizontal that will stay lower and get more spurs on them. Google “pruining young apple trees” or something and you’ll find lots of how-tos! I couldn’t find your pr trees when we went out…didn’t know where to look! katrina