Spring is So Close!

I love early spring but the problem with spring is that summer is on it’s way and I do not like summer at all. Bugs. Heat. Dust. Snakes.

But, for now, the trees are all budding and that makes me so happy . . really, I’m kind a kid on Christmas Eve. I walk out to the orchard a dozen times a day to see what’s happening.

First, a tree that isn’t budded yet. These jujube trees are so evil looking.

Some of the others are more haunted looking than this one is.

Look at those thorns! That are so darned sharp. I rarely pick more than a couple of jujubes before I’m bleeding. I’m oh, so careful to reach into the tree without touching a thorn and then a big gust of wind comes and blows those thorns right into me! But, the fruit is worth a few sticks.

The plum trees always produce a great crop. They are so sweet. We both love plums so these trees make us happy! I think we have 5 or 6 plum trees.

There are lots of buds on the plum trees. I think the danger of a damaging freeze is past but the hail last year in May ruined so much of our fruit . . we can’t count on a good harvest til the fruit is picked so I don’t get my hopes up this early.

It’s a blurry picture but the apple blossoms are beginning to open. The chickens are the major obstacle in getting apples. They love to fly up and knock the apples down.

The pear trees are full of buds. I think we have at least 8 pear trees. They will bloom and make small pears but something always happens to them. Last year, we got one pear! I’m hoping for a massive pear crop this year. I love pear juice, pear pie, spiced pears, pear preserves, pear butter. I really love pears!

Look at all those pear buds. I’m hopeful. We have at least four different types of pears so it isn’t a pollination issue but I’m not sure what the issue might be. There’s an old pear tree at a business nearby and no one does anything nice to that pear tree and it produces pears every year. They’re small and hard but they make good pies. I always go down and ask if I can pick a few and they’ve always said yes.

We have three apricot trees. They have grown so big but they don’t even bloom. The guy at the garden center told me they like an extended cold period. They don’t like cold one day and hot the next. There’s a house we pass going to town and it has an apricot tree. It used to have two but one died. The first year we were here, apricots were about 10″ deep under those trees. There were tons of apricots. I watch that remaining tree and it has never bloomed or produced since that first year so I’m not worried about my trees but I wish they would produce. Maybe this year.

The chances of a cherry tree producing here are slim to none but I hold out hope. We have probably 7 cherry trees. This was the coldest winter we’ve had in a while so if they don’t produce this year, I’ll just consider that the cherry trees are being grown to use the wood in the smoker but I love sour cherries for pies and jam so I will never give up on them. The local garden guy sells cherry trees and he says there’s a chance they will produce so . . I’m hpin this is the year.

In the fall, I planted some ginger lilies. They are cold hardy down to Zone 7. Zone 7a can get as low as 5 (though some charts say zero). We’re in zone 8b and our average lows are 15 – 20. This year, we had a couple of 2° nights so I wasn’t very hopeful about the ginger lilies but I see one poking through the dirt . . right in the center of the picture, there’s a tiny bit of green. Not sure how many of them survived but I’m happy at least one seems to have made it.

Spring is an exciting time, filled with hope that some of the work we’ve done will pay off and we’ll have some good fruit this year. At this point, we’ve done all we can do and the rest is up to Mother Nature.