Greetings, greeneyes and all!
Congrats on the 3rd Sprout, goodwithagun! How exciting!
We are enjoying the early spring weather. I have been growing in my interest in gardening - much to the loving amusement of my darlin’.
I am hoping to sprout some more seeds in the next several days for a variety of goodies and just see how it all works. Of course, we plan to do a few sunflowers again. Our rose and blackberry bushes have survived that last bout of cold/snowy weather and are budding out like crazy!
My darlin’ helped me fertilize our pecan trees which were in our back yard when we moved in here. We have not been impressed with them over the years and recently in my reading, I learned that they need, in addition to the regular fertilizer, a source of zinc. So off we went earlier this week for a bag of fertilizer containing the zinc. After distributing it and then looking CLOSELY at the instructions (pays to read, doesnt it??) we realized we only had bought about 1/5 of what would really be required. So I guess we have another trip to the nursery in our future!
We have been blessed with black walnut trees and a butternut tree. These have really great yields every one or two years. We also have a persimmon tree, some elderberries, and wild blackberry bushes.
I am still learning how to tell when a persimmon is ripe. They tasted great then, but awful when not ripe. For now, I just eat them straight off the tree and let the birds and possums have at the rest.
If I ever get really good at it, I’ll make some jam, but I read that even 1 unripe persimmon could spoil a whole batch of jam, so I won’t waste the time, effort, and other ingredients until I am confident in this ability.
I only got 6 jars of blackberries last year, due to the drought. With the swimming pool this year, I hope to be able to provide more water. However, the apple/fruit tree orchard, and the blueberries, strawberries, and thornless black berries will get the priority.
The best purchase last year turned out to be the Goji berry. It’s drought tolerant. Some of the other stuff just wilted and died, but the Goji hung in there. Hope to get some fruit this year.