Fruit

After the long, cold winter, it's really warmed up. And I've been swamped lately with getting my fruit trees pruned and the branches trained. I've really had a lot to discuss in this blog, but I simply haven't had much time.

For the record, I'm growing apples, pears (Asian and European), peaches, nectarines, apricots, pluots, plums, cherries, strawberries, black raspberries, mulberries, grapes, gooseberries, currants (white, red, pink, and clove currants), and... rhubarb (not a fruit of course, but it makes great pie) - all in my backyard. Heh, heh. I try to keep everything small, but it's still really crowded - one reason why it's so much work.

Right now, my apricot trees are in full bloom. They really look great, and maybe I'll actually get some apricots this year, for a change. Apricots bloom as soon as it warms up, and in Nebraska they're almost always hit by a hard freeze afterward. The flowers aren't too hardy, either. Last year, the temperature dropped to 23 degrees (officially, at the airport) just one night in April, but that killed every apricot flower. I had plums and pluots blooming at the same time, but it didn't seem to faze them.

If you're wondering, pluots are a cross between apricots and plums developed in California. I wasn't sure they'd grow here, but they really seem to like Nebraska. My biggest problem is trying to keep the trees small. I've got three different varieties and just got fruit for the first time last year. Well, all of this is pretty new to me. I've had raspberries for some years (believe it or not, the birds planted them - my two long rows spread from just a single plant), and some of the grapes for about five, but everything else is younger than that.

I've struggled to keep some room for a garden, too - reluctantly, since there are other kinds of fruit I'd like to plant. I really love blueberries, for example, but they'd be a lot of work here in Nebraska (they need acid soil and regular watering). I'm always tempted, but so far I've resisted. I'd like to try a fig, too (I ate fresh figs many years ago in Greece - a fond memory), but that would be even more work.

Ah, probably not. I've got more than enough here to keep me busy (frankly, I had more than enough to keep me busy even without this blog). And I've got to keep some room for tomatoes (hmm,... technically, that's another fruit, isn't it?)