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TRIBAL NOTES
People want to know why we garden for a living: it’s the seasons. To be able to witness up close the changing colors of fall, see spring take hold and new growth begin, dig your hands into rich warm summer soil. Gardening tunes us into the real world around us, it slows us down and makes time count.
The weather has been heavenly around here, cool crisp mornings and balmy warm afternoons. We’re excited; this is the season of harvesting fruit and seeing old friends come for their annual addition of new fruit trees to the orchard. We get to share stories, and catch up on the evolution of the trees that leave the farm.
The gardens are at their fall peak, this week’s glory is Korean mums, I’m in love with heirloom flowers and I wait all year for this old timer to show its face. The orchards are still cranking out persimmons and we picked our first good tasting Satsuma’s this week, the navels will be ripening soon. We also have the most amazing crop of bananas this year.
The summer rains helped a lot, and we’re harvesting Ice Cream and Pineapple now. The grand papaya experiment continues, this year TR Hovey has turned out to be the right one for us cold climate gardeners. The trees are loaded, and we’ve been eating green papaya salads all summer.
The nursery is finally full of the offerings of this year’s fruit crop. We have an amazing selection of cold hardy citrus this year over 50 varieties, Changshi, Ichange and Randpur limes are back, new crop of Finger Limes and three different blood oranges this year. Mindy and Vicki have out done themselves with the production of well pruned peach , apple , pear and pecans trees this year. The selection is at it’s peak.
Anyway, you really need to get out and bask in some of this glorious fall weather. The road calls, it’s time to wander down country roads to see the fall wild flowers, visit the coast to watch the butteries take their annual leave to Mexico, and for sure stop off and visit Just Fruits and Exotics to get a little something to add to the garden….
Fall in the Orchard
Fall is a busy time for fruit growers. In our area it’s a season of harvest as well as the time to prepare the trees for the upcoming winter and spring seasons. A few simple tasks done now can insure you pick the best quality fruit and your trees will stay healthy and fruit for years to come. READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE
Some points to remember to do in the fall
KEEP WATERING YOUR TREES Your trees are still building root systems.
RAKE FALLEN LEAVES to avoid next year’s diseases.
BUILD YOUR SOIL FOR NEXT SEASON Fall is the natural time to begin the cycle of building healthy soil. Apply a thick layer of hay, oak or other hardwood leaves under the canopy of your fruit trees. Adding a small amount of aged manure or organic fertilizer will insure the leaves are broken down and ready to feed the trees in spring. Think about growing a cover crop in your orchard, rye, oats, and rye are all good winter ones to sow Now is the time to test your soil and adjust the pH. Read more…
AVOID LATE FERTILIZING Late fertilizing with powerful chemical fertilizers can stimulate growth that would be damaged in winter.
GET YOUR TREES PREPPED FOR WINTER Paint your trunks to avoid winter sun scale.Get your frost protection system set up before the cold weather begins.
HOLD OFF ON PRUNING YOUR TREES Pruning during the fall can stimulate late growth that would be damaged in an early freeze
PLANT MORE TREES Fall is the ideal time to plant the winter hardy fruit trees in our area.
VISIT THE TASTING TABLE
It’s that time of year, when the first of the fall and winter fruits are ready. If you haven’t eaten a pineapple guava, or tasted a tree ripe Satsuma, be sure to stop off and get a bite from the tasting table. You’ll be amazed at what you could be growing.
VEGGIE HIGHLIGHTS—
If you haven’t started your fall vegetable garden it’s not too late! In fact, it’s the perfect time to plant the cool season greens and winter root vegetables. We have a great crop of fall veggies on the benches now. We grow our own cell packs, and offer varieties well suited to our area. If you want locally grown vegetables, start with locally grown plants. Speckled, bibs and mixed lettuce, 3 varieties of kale, and Chinese greens. Fresh shipments of heirloom and non GMO seeds from Botanical Interests. If you're new to organic vegetable gardening, and want to get in on some of the need-to-know, here’s a good guide to read http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/GrowOrganicVegGarden.pdfyou
The strawberry plugs are READY!, The new crop of Sweet Charlie and Camerosa. are grown out and ready for planting. 4 inch plugs for $1.49 each at the nursery, save another 10% if you buy a flat of them.
Find Some Great Stuff in the SALE AREA
Make sure you stop off at the sales area on your next visit as there are always some good deals to be found.
This weeks collection includes
-Native Beauties Ogeechee limes, Sourwood, and Chickasaw Plum $8.99
-Fruit trees a few left $9.99 to $11.99
-Great mysteries, ones that have lost their name tags, always half off
50% off selected perennials, cell pack veggies and ornamentals.
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