More Trees Ordered

Remember last year about this time when Vince ordered a bunch of trees, they arrived while it was still winter so I planted all the little bare root plants in fabric bags I ordered from Amazon and most of them died. I think we had 10 chestnuts, 10 chinkapin oaks, 10 elderberries and 10 crabapples. When you order from the Missouri Conservation Dept., you order 10 each but . now that I think about it, I think MO was mostly sold out so he ordered those from VA. I don’t know. Anyway, most of the elderberries lived, none of the crabapples lived. 1 chinkapin and one chestnut lived.

September 1 was the day we could order again. We didn’t remember til about 3 p.m. and most everything we wanted from MO was sold out but Vince found most of what we wanted from Iowa but they sell them in bundles of 25 EACH. So, he again ordered 25 chinkapin oaks, 25 chokecherries and 25 nannyberries.

My uncle lived next door to us growing up and he had a little chinkapin tree and we would eat those things like crazy. Now I read that you’re supposed to roast them before eating them. I never knew that! 🙂

Timing chokecherries and letting them get fully ripe is an art that I have not mastered. I’m always afraid the critters are going to get them if I leave them on the vine and I pick them too soon and they’re too astringent. Maybe if we plant all 25, there’ll be enough for us and the critters but then I’ll probably have to use most of my neighbor’s yard and they may not appreciate that.

I have never seen or tasted a nannyberry but . . if any of them survive and produce, I’ll let you know what I think about them.

I think we’re going to plant chinkapins along our back property line . . well, some amount in so we don’t encroach on the neighbor’s property but he and Vince have talked about planting trees along the property line. I want them on our side so no one can cut them if those folks move. I don’t know that we’ll need more than 10 or 12 trees for that project but we’re also going to plant a couple down the driveway to hopefully block some of the sun eventually (west side). Chad can have some of any of the trees if he wants them.

I think the nannyberries and the chokecherries can be planted in the back corner near Vince’s shop. I think by then . . we will be officially out of space for planting anything.