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Has anyone grown dwarf fruit: favorite gardening plants?

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@blackemerald1 Hey Gal so good to read you! Great info on the dwarf fruit trees! There is a lot of mothering in nurturing those tots. Sounds like you have been doing it a while and my mouth watered at reading about the cherries. Haven’t had a cherry tree since childhood. Now there’s a nice memory thanks to you. So if I get that promise stimulus check from our President- I will look that tree up and tag you out for assist.🤗

Wow @Tornadic Thoughts ... just dumbstruck at all your knowledge and joy of being one with the land. Sounds like many years of hard earned experience leaving me enthralled at what you and your husband have accomplished on generational land. Feels Native in so many ways: thank you for being present on my newbie journey. I thought my tractor and acres of planting had earned me some points but now I realize this is a whole new level. I am glad you are so willing to share.🤗 if you accept
 
Are you designing the geodesic greenhouse yourself?
No, I'm not that good at math. I bought a kit. My blueberries never did that well, and I can't remember what they were. I fed the extra plums, apples and pears to the chickens, since they love fruit, but this year I will be canning and freezing my veggies.

The trees I have planted so far are fir and birch trees. I have 2 1/2 acres of relatively flat, naked land that used to be an alfalfa field. I want to put a little orchard in over the next few years. I also have a large herb garden. I'm planting a black walnut that a squirrel started in one of my pots, and probably a hazelnut.

I have a large compost pile that the chickens work, so I'll have a good start for this year.
 
I was having a bit of a daydream today...If I ever manage to escape the hellacious freezing soggy bog of awfulness I currently live in? That grows blackberries and despair in roughly equal measure? I’d really like a corner of an imaginary-Spanish garden.

Pomegranate
Galician Roses
Orange
Cloves
Lavender
Lemon

And if we wanna get reeeeeeeally out there??? <sneaky> A multi sided star of a garden (or fairy land of a greenhouse) with each point of the star a tree or three & accompanying plants & herbs from that place in the world.

Repeats? (Or kissing cousins) Just FINE. Like the Japanese point would have an apple-pear & cherry tree & strawberries... & the PacNW point would have an apple & ranier cherry & strawberries.

The porch/veranda (sunroom if I’m in a drier cold) has to be awash with spicy Bougainvillea & Jasmine & twinkle lights with cooling aloe plants, icy muscat grapes, figs, & golden grasses. Sage, woody spices, red poppies for days. So it can be my desert.

Kitchen gardens in the center unless the center is a swimming pool, in which case kitchen gardens can ring the exterior.

I think keeping bees might make interesting honey?

Regardless of the rest of the daydream, I’d really like a little corner of a Spanish garden.
 
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@Friday I adore your whimsical garden to the tune of placing a natural portal door with an old time key to visit upon approval of entry. My mind could use the rest.
~~~~~~~~
I often dream of a small artificial waterfall with landscaped pond below. The sound of water as well as wildlife is often comforting to me growing up near a bay, rivers as well as ocean. Jasmine is one of my all time favorite smells: the shapes of the petals are lovely. The wasps ...another matter Lol.

My area of my reality yard is problematic as there are three towering RedWoods plus two more gentle giants that I need to identify with a google application. *Different coast from where I grew up. The trees are nice for the environment, deadly on sunblock and bothersome on double coated dogs.

Broken grow boxes, a few rusted metal old grow boxes or items that need hauling and a plastic tarp was once placed by previous people to prevent weeding under mulch that has slowly disappeared. I heard once upon a time when it rained here, the garden floods. Hard to imagine during a drought.

Because I am fenced in by a towering wooden boarder, and tucked in behind -a dump truck of top soil can not be driven in. I can drive a John Deere... but most would giggle over the size of the yard. Everything is relative to location.

Thinking stimulus check and starting in one available area...slowly like a journey not a race to ease my mind with nature. Use what we have to work with and be grateful.
 
I didn’t get the dwarf fruit trees but am searching for dwarf blueberries. Got a couple raised garden beds, a couple Oak Half Barrels, and a couple containers. Planted Strawberries, tomatoes, mint, herbs, bush beans, lettuce, spinach….spotty sun in my dust bowl yard- be blessed to get anything.

Took a while to get things together as I don’t drive and was waiting on tools. Had to drill holes ect, in some of the bottoms. So many people have a much more mature crop. I have sprouts lol.

Please add your pixs and garden it allows so many pleasant thoughts. Take care.
 

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That all looks so lovely, @Recovery4Me !!! Grow, babies, grow! 😁 I love your variety of pots and raised beds.

We have spinach, kale, arugula, mesclun mix, beets, radishes, carrots, onions, garlic, peas, cabbage, collards, lettuce, and chard in the ground and raised beds, currently.

Tomatoes, celery, bell peppers, poblano peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and I can't remember what else is currently in the cold frame on this chilly windy night awaiting to be given a more permanent space - maybe Saturday.

We're going to get mulberry trees and maybe some more fruiting stuff once we visit the local spot that sells them.

I haven't taken as many pictures as I usually do, yet, but here's a couple close-ups of some babies and the raised beds:

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I have my frost resistant stuff in, my blueberries are still in pots in front of the window. I have beets, tomatoes, peppers, amaranth, lavender and some other stuff planted and will put them in the ground soon. I want to put in a fruit tree a year, and have tree guilds, but I don't know if I'm up to it. Oh, I forgot that I ordered pawpaw trees. That should be interesting.
 
@Tornadic Thoughts I can tell you are not an novice! Wow such foresight on how you arranged your garden, the hay mulch, the deer fence (?), and luscious plants. Do you make your own organic pesticide if need be? Do you have a favorite? Please keep me updated as it is wonderful to see achievements 🙇🏻‍♀️.

@DharmaGirl Will have to look up a paw,paw tree. My plum tree (inherited) did not fair so well with me. I need to research more. Where did you find the blueberries? I can’t find them anywhere around my local🤧. Did you get a bare root or a two-three year old bush? Your selection of plants are awesome. Does the lavender really help you with mosquitoes? Keep me posted as well if you have time, please. So nice to chat on nature.

Thanks peeps!
 
I got the blueberries bare root at Fred Meyer. I can't have them shipped where I live. I don't know if the lavender helps with the skeeters or if it's the lemon balm and/or chickens. I also had orange balm last year but I don't know if that helps. I love, love the smell of lavender.

I wanted to get an unusual fruit tree and when I saw the pawpaw I had to have it. The fruit tastes banana-like supposedly. Oh, and I also bought 2 dwarf cherry trees. Looking forward to those. I'm keeping my eye out for a dwarf apple but I haven't seen one in my price range. I might buy an organic apple and plant the seed. It won't be dwarf, but it will be apple! I bought organic garlic today and planted that. The soil here is so hard and packed it took me over an hour to rototill an 8 x 10 plot. I'd like to move the chickens out back to till, but the hawks have been picking off chicks. I have to put in posts and hang bird netting. That's a pain in the butt but worth it.

I sold the giant rototiller since it drags me around the yard til I let go. I have a smaller one that I can handle and I am so grateful! I can't imagine digging up this soil. I started some raised beds but they are cloth. When I moved here I had the double garage door taken out and French doors and 2 windows put in. It looks like a cottage now and I'm going to use the garage doors for raised beds. I saw directions on Pinterest. I will have to get a truckload of soil for those, but I also need fencing for the chickens so I have to budget the money I got from the tiller.

Anyway, I like the way your raised beds and pots are arranged, @Recovery4Me, and your garden looks so healthy, @Tornadic Thoughts. Are you a master gardener? What zone are you guys in if you don't mind my asking? I'm in zone 6a now, and this is the first year growing in this zone. I was in 8, and could grow some things all year round. Talk about spoiled! I think we should continue to chat about our gardening endeavors, I love to talk gardens!

Edit to add - Today I found bush cucumbers you grow in a pot! Imagine that! I have to plant them this evening.
 
@DharmaGirl Wow gurl you know your stuff!

So excited to see the repurposed garage doors when you get it done : haven’t seen one of those before and it sounds exciting + at the current price of lumber that is a very smart idea. Your yard must be fair size for so many trees, chickens and fab plant choices.

Next door has chickens, my Son and DIL have ducks and chickens, my dog said no to my owning chickens. They would never lay with that rebel rouser lol. So I am almost envious😃. Nothing like fresh eggs and great fertilizer for sure.

In my city, people just dump off their Roosters among a large flock of same. We have about 200 that run amok and chorus the morning sun. Some are absolutely exotic.The City Council is still in debate 😂 over how to proceed after several years. Funny, some cities have pigeons but they donot seem to coexist with roosters at all here.

I live in Zone 9B but most of my lawn is shaded from Redwoods (which is great for the PGE Bill but sucks for growing. I have become a Sun Sleuth moving containers here and there while killing my back for weeks lol. I think however whatever zone you are in Dharma you will grow like a champ. Looking forward to learning from both of you.
 
Wow! Zone 9b! Think of all you could grow! I do have a large yard, 2 1/2 acres. It's considered a small plot here, lol. I didn't realize how much work it would involve getting it to where I wanted it after back surgery. I'm not as strong as I'm used to. The back surgery took a lot out of me. I guess it will take at least a year longer than I thought. Today I planted the cukes, and I will plant the squash and pumpkin. I have to get some netting up so the birds don't eat everything.
 
We're in zone 6b, @Recovery4Me and @DharmaGirl . Usually, mother's day is when it's safe to plant, but lately, that's been off by a few weeks or so - we plant some stuff anyway and just cover up what isn't frost tolerant as needed. We have a big fence around the garden for the deer and bears (if we're lucky - the fence didn't stop the bear cub a couple years ago), but also had to add squirrel and bird obstacles. The squirrel has turned one of the raised beds into a black walnut tree nursery, damn near. lol That can be a bad thing due to all the stuff that won't grow near a black walnut because of the juglone.

This is our 7th or 8th year of both of us gardening and me wild foraging (hubby doesn't forage, but he's starting to recognize and respect more of the wild things for their nutritional and healing potential). We've been at this house (my hubby's homeplace) for 5 years. Prior to here, we did mostly container gardening with one small raised bed spot.

We use grass clippings from mowing the lawn as mulch, along with some wood chips here and there, and pine needles for the blueberry bushes that like acidic soil. One of the tree trimming companies dropped off several loads of wood chips for free, so we have a LOT. We get some amazing compost each year from a local company that goes around collecting food scraps from local restaurants and such to craft some fine growing medium. We have a compost pile here, too, but we suck at keeping up with it/turning it, etc. - but excel at adding stuff to it. lol

Using screens/bird netting (which we don't like all that much after having a black snake get caught in it next to the blueberry bushes that we managed to cut loose and set free)/chicken wire/other physical deterrents we can come up with helps a lot with the bigger critters. A neem oil mixture is what we use to spray on a few things to try to help deter the insect critters - and it helps - until it rains - so we must rinse and repeat. This year we're also going to try a garlic/peppermint blend to see if it helps as well, if not more.

We aren't master gardeners by any stretch of the imagination, @DharmaGirl , just masters of "Hey, let's try this" and hope for the best. lol We are fortunate to have some very helpful acquaintances along the way who are, and who have visited and offered helpful hints. I also used to volunteer at a couple local organic gardens in exchange for some of the bounty, as well as helped out and bartered with a master herbalist who taught me a lot about "weed" identifications and wild crafting tinctures/flower essences/etc.

You tube university has taught me a whole lot, too. I had more than enough down time via various dis-ease issues, when I was learning to finally accept and make drastic lifestyle changes, to research methods and order seeds - which was both a blessing and a curse. To me, having a good seed collection is better than gold - ya' can't eat the gold. 🙃 It's pretty damn therapeutic and incredibly self-empowering, except for when it isn't. lol

We planted a couple paw paw trees back in the autumn of 2017. They haven't produced any fruit yet, but they're still alive and healthy and grow a little taller each year. Fingers crossed for a long life and eventual abundant fruit production. They are so delicious. The place we bought them from has an informational workshop each year where you can sample all the varieties they sell. Mmmmm....

I'm also constantly sprouting seeds/beans of some sort indoors. (Mung bean, alfalfa, lentils, chickpeas, fenugreek, etc.) It's so easy to do and I love that you can do that all year around, and that they are little nutritional powerhouses. A friend grows microgreens and I get a tray of them from her about every 1.5/2 weeks. I typically go through about a pound of various greens a day, if not more, most days. That's why I love also being able to add the freebies of nature such as dandelion greens, wild plantain greens, chickweed, violets, red clover, etc., etc. to salads, soups, and smoothies.

We got a white and a black mulberry tree the other day from the same guy we got our paw paw trees from. Gonna scope out a spot and get them planted tomorrow. Fingers crossed that they'll like their new home. I noticed today that the black raspberry vines are blooming and it looks like we'll get a decent supply of them this year - whatever the birds will share with us. Looking forward to my morning break-fast walks. :) Have been nibbling on spruce tips the last couple weeks. They have a nice citrus twang to them - and loads of vitamin c. I could just ramble on forever about plants. :)
 
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