Fruit trees in bloom and new growth

I swear these the fruit trees waited for me to arrive before opening their blossoms. We arrived on Monday, with just a flower or two open only on the nectarine and by the end of the week, many more had followed. My sweet friend, Jaime Rugh, sent me one of her weavings last year and I've been waiting for just the right tree on which to hang it. I love how the blossoms bring out the pink thread.

Next came the canning plum which hangs over into our yard from next door. I never would have noticed before but these plum trees are all over Sonoma. I've heard they make good jam, we'll see for ourselves.

Then mid-week a little hint that the white peach would be next. I managed to do the final of three copper sprays on the peach trees before they bloomed. I cut it really close this year but I managed it. The previous owners, who were entirely organic, told me we have to give in and spray to protect against peach leaf curl with these trees.

The last day we were at the cottage, the santa rosa weeping plum burst into bloom for us. We trimmed the tree back quite a bit this year but there are plenty of beautiful buds.

 Next will likely be the yellow peach, followed later by the fig, apples and perhaps even the pears, although one of the pears already flowered in November. The other exciting thing that happened this week was almost all of my shelling peas have sprouted. I was so worried someone would come by and eat up all the seeds. I planted them at the end of January and they're growing fast already.

 Next weekend I have more weeding to do. Three more beds left, two of them are 14' long. Luckily, I don't have to plant anything for a few more weeks while I wait for the soil to warm a bit more.

Fruit Trees!

One of the really appealing things about this property was the sheer number of fruit trees that had been planted by the previous owners. As we toured the property as potential buyers I knew that there were quite a few. But after buying the property we had the chance to walk around with the previous owners while they pointed out all of them and told us all the varieties. I hastily wrote things down as we wandered from tree to tree.

Here's the list:

A sixty year old cherry sits proudly on one side of the lawn. Cherry trees aren't supposed to do well in this area and this one isn't looking so beautiful anymore but apparently it still produces lots of tasty fruit. I just hope we can get to them before the birds do.

Golden Delicious apple

Fuji apple

White peach (I love white peaches and have a hard time finding them in markets here)

Yellow peach

Italian Plum

Santa Rosa Weeping Plum

Canning Plum (these grow all over the county but are great for canning)

Nectarine

Black Jack Fig

2 Lemon trees

Orange (more like a bush)

Fuji apple

Golden Delicious apple

Pear (perhaps a Comice or Bosc)

Asian Pear

Kumquat (a teeny, tiny one with no fruit yet)

Fuyu persimmon (also small and not sure how it will do)
3 Grape vines

Blackberry bushes (not a tree, obviously, but they're all entangled in the trees)

There is enough of everything for our small family plus extra to share with friends. It's better than an orchard of one variety. And they're all fruiting! It usually take about four years before you see a yield and we're coming in around year six. The oranges are almost ripe now, just a few more weeks and we can start harvesting those. And a few lemons are ripe too.