New fruit trees!

[Cerbiesmom]

I went to Houston Garden Center yesterday, and everything was half off, so I came home with a papaya, loquat, and thornless blackberry plant, and got out of there for less than 20 bucks! It was very exciting. I'm planning on a fruiting edible forest in my front yard. I already have a fig out there.

[cynthia_h]

Loquat jam...sounds like a winner to me!

I can't imagine thornLESS blackberries, but am willing to try! Many scratches every year, both from picking 'em, cutting 'em back, and pruning 'em in December/January. But they are SOOOO good.

Fig--definitely a winner! And incredible fig/lemon jam waiting to be made.

I've never had papaya that tasted/felt good to me; prevailing theory is that my tongue doesn't want to be tenderized *that* much.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Ozark Lady]

I hope they are labelled correctly.

I have been raising an apricot tree for 3-4 years. It finally set fruit.
Wait a minute, the fruit are small and abundant, and ripening to red?
Where is the fuzz, apricots have some, don't they?
I opened one up, took a bite, not quite ripe, but not an apricot, I dug the pit out and looked... definitely... plum, not apricot.

So, I just gained a plum tree today. That is great, I like plums better anyhow, just a surprise.

[applestar]

Ooh! You can raise papaya trees in your front yard?
I planted seeds from a papaya I ate one time. I planted a flat-full because I happened to have those 6 packs and the tray from setting out bedding plants. I figured I needed back up in case they didn't sprout.... They ALL sprouted.

Unfortunately, this was ages ago when I was new to this house and didn't know the seasonal shade patterns and micro-climates very well, nor knew the things I know now... I didn't count of them getting so big so quickly and I eventually killed the entire flat before I had the chance to uppot them. But while they lasted, they were BEAUTIFUL little plants.

Hmm... maybe it's time to give them another try.... (NEW PROJECT!)

[rkunsaw]

Don't know what a loquat is.Papayas don't grow...they come sliced and dried at walmart. My wife planted 3 thornless blackberries.We have gobs of wild ones growing on our property.We also have 2 figs,2 pears,2 apples,2 plums, and 1 peach(one died).They are all new.Only the peach,the figs,and one pear have any fruit this year.
Larry

[Cerbiesmom]

Ooh! You can raise papaya trees in your front yard?
I planted seeds from a papaya I ate one time. I planted a flat-full because I happened to have those 6 packs and the tray from setting out bedding plants. I figured I needed back up in case they didn't sprout.... They ALL sprouted.

Unfortunately, this was ages ago when I was new to this house and didn't know the seasonal shade patterns and micro-climates very well, nor knew the things I know now... I didn't count of them getting so big so quickly and I eventually killed the entire flat before I had the chance to uppot them. But while they lasted, they were BEAUTIFUL little plants.

Hmm... maybe it's time to give them another try.... (NEW PROJECT!)

We had a papaya in the back yard, and it died when it froze, and we're in texas. I think you may be a little too chilly for a papaya. We learned that we need to protect the papaya if it freezes again this year.

[Cerbiesmom]

My husband started looking at the front yard and arranging my trees in pots, to see how big of an area they'll take up. He was ecstatic, bc I want to get a few more fruit trees, so he'll have a whole lot less area to mow. He's funny.

[applestar]

Oh the papaya will join my Tropical Fruit Collection (Avocados, Mango, Pineapples, and Rubber Plants) and only vacation outdoors during the warm months. They get to go outside when the pepper and eggplant seedlings start going out to be hardened off. They get uppotted as they grow but also get pruned, foliage and roots, using a quasi-Bonsai technique.

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7167.jpg[/img]

Someday, I'll need a heated greenhouse/conservatory to keep them all... but not yet.

[Cerbiesmom]

That's pretty cool. What do you do with them when it's too cold? Do you have a massive lighting operation indoors? bc that's off limits to me as per my husband. I'm allowed to do whatever I want with plants, as long as it's outside.

[applestar]

They huddle around every single window with good exposure, and get a supplemental CFL utility light. These will go upstairs, and the citrus/pomegranate collection as well as rosemary and other cool winter lovers will stay downstairs.

Over the years, I've finally figured out the ideal micro-climates around the house for overwintering plants. Fuchsias are happiest in the downstairs NW window that gets no direct sun whatsoever during the winter months, and they go outside under the plum tree in the spring when the sun starts setting far enough north that the sunlight starts streaming into their window. They usually flower just before then.

[Cerbiesmom]

Ahh, windows. It must be nice to utilize those. My kitties would wreak havoc in/around potted plants around the windows. I'm lucky I can stick my african violets in one kitchen window that only 1 cat frequents, so there's usually no damage, just kitty hair stuck to the leaves.

[applestar]

My cats eat the African violet flowers....
I've given up on enjoying them past the bud and first opening stage....

[sweet thunder]

Hooray for new fruit trees!
I myself will be adding to my edible landscape tomorrow, as my raspberries, filberts and grape vine arrived today. Now if only I could find a nursery with a goumi in stock that will ship this time of year. Alas, no luck so far.