Budding Fruit Trees and Blooming Flowers

Spring is in full force here with bright green leaves and blooming flowers.  That also means insects have started snacking on those fresh, green leaves.  My little orchard with three plum trees, three peaches, three pears and five apples has sprouted back to life.  Well, except for one apple tree that refuses to leaf out.  It does not feel brittle and dead, so I'm hoping he's just a late bloomer.  I planted all the fruit trees last year, except for three of the apples.  Most of the orchard has arrived at its second growing season, so I'm not expecting an abundant crop.  The three oldest apple trees are starting their fourth growing season, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe we will harvest our first apple this year.  These three apple trees have begun to flower.

Black Twig Apple Tree Flower Buds

As the flowers bud and emerge, so do the insects that love to snack on the apple leaves and blossoms.  Little green caterpillars that I always called inch worms do much of the damage.  They are also called cankerworms here.  I sprayed the fruit trees with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a bacteria that kills caterpillars.  I need to try banding my fruit trees in the fall with a sticky barrier that prevents the female moths from laying eggs in the trees.  Hopefully these caterpillars won't do enough damage to prevent me from getting a few apples this year.

Black Twig Apple Tree Blossoms

The caterpillars also eat the plum tree leaves, which have leafed out.  They did not produce any flowers this year.

Rosa Plum

The apple trees were the last to flower, which was a good thing due to our crazy warm winter. We had an extremely warm February that caused many of the fruit trees to blossom early, only to be met with a hard freeze in March.  The peach trees flowered and the frost destroyed almost all of the blossoms.  However, it appears that at least one flower survived and got pollinated.  Maybe, just maybe I will have one, delicious, juicy peach this summer!  Although note that as I took this picture, a tiny insect landed on the little peach.  I have I feeling I'm not the only one that wants a juicy piece of peach!

A tiny Julyprince peach

I'm also awaiting my first strawberry harvest.  The Seascape strawberries are small and green at this point.  I stalk them often, just in case they suddenly ripen and I need to beat the squirrels to a delicious berry.

Seascape Strawberries

Dianthus, phlox, clematis and hellebore make up the spring show in my front flower bed with bright pink and purple blooms.  I need to continue to fill the space.  I tend to neglect the ornamentals in my landscape for the edible plants.

Front Flower Bed

Another ornamental beginning to bloom is the Cherokee Brave dogwood.

Cherokee Brave Dogwood

The beneficial bug wildflower bed next to the vegetable garden has flowering clovers, Siberian wallflower and baby blue eyes.  I discovered the downfall of planting wildflowers next to the vegetable garden is that the seeds disperse all over the beds.  I think the black-eyed susans could easily colonize the entire garden!

Beneficial Bug Flower Bed

From the vegetable garden, I have been harvesting spring crops.  I pulled some of the overwintering carrots (1 lb, 6 oz) and spring planted cherry belle radishes.  I neglected to take photos of all the greens that have been coming out of the garden: lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach and cabbage.  I made an Asian coleslaw with cabbage and carrots along with a quiche with the Swiss chard.  I've been eating plenty of salads with lettuce, carrots and radishes.

Overwintering carrots and spring radishes

It tastes and looks like spring around here!