1. Two Meiwa (Sweet) Kumquat Trees - from Houston Garden Center. The grower is Saxon-Bechnel and the trees are grafted onto most likely Volkamer Lemon rootstock (I have learned from other citrus growers more experienced than myself that rootstock makes a huge difference for citrus trees - see this great blog article about different rootstocks in the Houston area). This particular rootstock is unfortunately not the best but I was having a ridiculous time finding kumquats (they were sold out everywhere) so I decided to try my luck. They are being placed in a raised bed in the front anyways, so hopefully their feet won't get too soggy.
2. One variegated pink lemon - from Harris County fruit Tree Sale. The grower is Brazos Valley Citrus, so it is on a decent rootstock, either Carrizo citrange or Trifoliate. This one seemed like an interesting one to try - it has beautiful variegated leaved and the lemons are green and yellow striped until they ripen to yellow like a regular lemon. But then, you cut it open and they are pink! The original pink lemonade! I'm looking forward to it!
3. One 'Browns Select' satsuma mandarin - from Wabash Feed Store in Houston. The grower is also Brazos Valley Citrus so the rootstock is again either Carrizo citrange or Trifoliate. These fruits are known for being rather prolific and very, very tasty!
4. One Celeste Fig - from Houston Garden Center (I love their half-price sale!) These are supposedly very good figs for this area. Hopefully I will have good luck with it (and get the fruit before the birds do!).
5. One 'Sunshine Blue' blueberry - this is a Southern Highbush dwarf variety that is said to be very prolific and grows well in containers. This one was so hard to find, but I found it at Wabash as a bare root plant. The thing was loaded with blossoms, so it pained me to pluck them all off (I have learned that it is a good idea to pull the blossoms off fruit plants the first few years so that it can put effort into growing good roots and leaves first. Then you will have a good strong plant to bear a great harvest!) This is a self-fruitful plant but it will produce a larger harvest if planted with other varieties of blueberries - I plan to get a few rabbiteye blueberry plants very soon.
To plant this one, I soaked some peat moss in water for a few hours (I filled a 5 gallon bucket halfway with peat moss then added water and realized that the peat moss expanded WAY more than I thought it would so I had to split it in half into another 5 gallon bucket. I only ended up using half of that - so for peat moss, a little goes a LONG way!). I added the soaked peat moss to the pot (a little more than a third the volume). I then added Ladybug Vortex Potting Soil (good quality organic stuff), Leaf Mold Compost from Nature's Way Resources (amazing stuff!!!), and some pine bark mulch to make up the remaining volume of the pot. I mixed it all together, planted the blueberry, and watered it. This was two days ago, and it hasn't died yet so hopefully it won't! It is in a smaller pot than I would have liked, but it was all I had, and it was better than letting the bare root plant just sit there. So I may replant it in the fall.
Plants I've had for a while:
6. One Mexican Lime Tree - I have had this tree for years and have abused it and yet it still provides me with some fruit. I am going to try to actually start taking care of it and see if it does better (watch it die on me). If you look in the picture below, spotting the Mexican Lime is like finding Waldo:
If you look at the top left hand corner, you can see a lime growing on one of it's gangly branches. I am also growing a prolific crop of weeds in the same pot as my lime. I actually thought it died last winter so I threw it in the compost pile at the old house. Lucky for the fact that I am a lazy gardener, I didn't chop it up and amazingly it came back from the graft a few months later so I repotted it and there it sits.
7. One Satsuma Mandarin of unknown variety - perhaps even more abused than the lime, it struggles along in a bed of weeds, no water, and no fertilizer. And it still gave me I think close to 15 of the most amazing tasting mandarins I have ever had. Which is why I am definitely going to start taking better care of this one! (can you see it back there behind all the mess?)
8. One Meyer Lemon - I got this a year ago in the Lowes clearance for $2. So who knows if it really is what it said it was. It has grown quite a bit since I replanted it a few months ago but it has suckers growing from below the graft and does not look entirely healthy, so if it starts being a pain I may just chuck it.
So there you have it! My "orchard" is off to a good start I think! Once I get the compost in, I will be ordering rabbiteye blueberries, 'Kiowa' blackberries for along the back side fence, and some 'Sweet Charlie' strawberries. I am excited, but no fruit this year. Patience . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment