Trees!
Four years ago, we planted trees in our yard. Two apples, two peaches, a walnut, and a maple. We were so excited! But, a year and a half later, just a month or two before those first few peaches could be picked, we moved. Our former neighbor told us that she enjoyed those peaches immensely last year (and probably will this year, too!), but we never did get to taste one.
While moving back to Arkansas was a wonderful thing, we so greatly missed our trees. Two and a half years after that move, we are finally back in a place where we can try again.
Last Monday Doug and I braved the chilly, biting wind to plant six trees. They don’t look like much right now – just sticks poking up out of the ground. But, in the coming months we’ll get to watch the leaves begin to sprout and the branches begin to grow and thicken. We could have a few pieces of fruit, especially on the peach trees, by fall of 2012, but the real first crop should come by fall 2013.
In our front yard, on either side of our sidewalk, we have two peach trees. One is a 4th of July, and the other is a Flamin’ Fury. As unschooled as I am in peach varieties, I have no idea what they’ll taste like. But, I’m sure “really good” will be in the description when we bite into those first peaches!
Because there are so many other wonderful trees in our yard, we didn’t have much room to plant more than those two fruit trees. But, some church members own the lot next to us, and they graciously granted us permission to plant along the edge of their property. That’s where the four apple trees are.
Here’s the Fuji in all its current impressive glory!
We also have a Gala, a Cinnamon Spice, and a Double Delicious (it will grow both Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples on one tree! Fun!).
We have pictures of every “stick” so far, and we plan to take pictures of the trees every week to measure growth. Just three days after planting, we saw signs of budding on both peach trees and a couple of the apple trees. We haven’t been back out there since Friday, but we should be back out tomorrow to get some mulch around the trees and to take week 2 pictures. We also hope to do special things like take kids’ birthday pictures by the trees to show them growing together! I’m so excited to be back in the fruit tree growing business!
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Julie