Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Fruits of Summer

Even tho we've had a few late frosts - and narrowly avoided a hard freeze that hit the northern part of our state - the fruit trees are going like gangbusters!


Our biggest victory is our Grimes Golden apple tree is fruiting like mad! We got this little tree the first year we got here and it's turn out to be a beauty. Last year I think there was one apple on it but now in its 4th (5th?) summer it's really coming into it's own.

We love Grimes Golden for it's excellent baking and applesauce qualities. Not really a snacking apple but it can be used for just about anything. It's a lovely yellow-green apple with a little bit of a blush. Our Grandpa planted several of these apple trees over at the old farm and 40 (50??) years later they are still going strong.


But can you believe these apples? One year we scored a couple of $5 sale rack fruit trees - and they are doing great now! Including this plum tree. Those trees were a bargain and they are beautiful now.

I'll have to check the new pear trees but our mature pear tree isn't producing as well as it has in past years. It might have the fire blight so I'm going to have to fix it up. Drat.


But we are going to be loaded with peaches this summer! A couple years ago I dumped a bucket of peach pits in a compost pile and never thought of it again....until peach trees grew! And they really grew! Now those little trees are so loaded with peaches that they are flomping over - I'm going to have to find a way to rig them up or they'll be on the ground.

I'd say summer is off to a roaring start!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Whatcha got growing on your fruit trees?


6 comments:

David said...

Yearn for the space for fruit trees....

Heavens Door Acres said...

Beautiful! I am SO jealous of all of your fruit trees! My little apple tree had 3 blooms, and then they fell off. :( The grapes however....wow, looks like we will be LOADED DOWN with grapes. YAY!

Rachel said...

Our (fifty foot) apple tree is loaded (ten feet off the ground). Maybe we'll hire a crane for the day to pick?

We were surprised to find that two potential crab-apples are actually a pear and a plum, both with a little fruit. We'll prune properly this fall to encourage better fruiting next year.

The baby trees planted this spring are still standing, though we're not letting them fruit this year.

How will you treat fire blight? And do you spray for anything else?

Anton said...

I love your story about the peaches. Did you transplant the seedlings or leave them in situ? It gives me some ideas!

Chai Chai said...

Wow, just wow!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Yep, Dave, the first thing we did was start planting fruit trees.

Thanks HDA!!! My grapes got some kind of virus so none here. I'll just drown my sorrows in peaches.

WOW Rachel - a good reminder to prune the trees for picking. You can get a spray for fire blight but really they just say to cut off the affected areas.

Thanks Anton! Be sure to choose heritage peaches so they are "true." And nope did not transplant I just left them there. I can't believe they grew so fast! I have another compost pile peach group started and these I will transplant in the fall. Great to see you again. :-)

Sooo much fruit, CC, gonna be so much pie...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...