Spring Trees Update

The trees are blooming!

This is the second year of the mini cherry trees. 

Ahhh... I'm so excited that they came back :)

One day in the distant future I shall eat the fruit 

that this tree will bear... Until then I will enjoy it's leaves.

Bob the Apple Tree is loving his second year of life!

I am loving you too Bob! I am loving you too!

Here's bob's entire story.

Bob's beautiful blooms.

Apple blossoms are just amazing.

Un-named friend tree of Bob...

This friend is coming back too. Crimson Gala, I hope you fruit this year.

Azaleas! 

Willow Tree

Japanese Maple :)

Other willow tree. 

Want to know a secret? These willow and maple trees used to be my favourite,

but they don't do anything...

no fruit, no flowers...

Other trees in my garden have so much purpose that sometimes I just feel sad

that these trees get to take up room...

I'm contemplating giving them away... 

If anyone has any love for them let me know :)

Natural Slug Repellant

Garlic! 

Garlic repels slugs from your garden :)

I had extra reusable produce bags that I used to create garlic rings.

You can plop out the old garlic and reinfuse them with new ones

by cutting a small slot in between the plastic.

These are perfect for hanging from trees

or... putting at the base of a tree

Garlic at the edge of potted plants.

And Voila, for around the garden plot too :)

This plot also has hot chili powder and egg shells to deter slugs and ants.

Also planting mint around your garden deters slugs.

Bonus: Ants hate the garlic as well. 

I hung the garlic rings on the apple trees 

and watched as the ants squirmed away :)

A win for everyone!

Bob's Apple Babies are Growing

Bob's apple babies are growing!

He used to have 3, but now he has 2...

B's Twins are the size of half my palms. 

It's exciting being apart of his first apple season! 

I was going to say that I feel like a proud grandparent, but that would be odd...

since I plan on eating these apples in a couple of months ;)

The original post about potting apple trees for container gardens.

Apple Tree Friend

(Bob's the one of the Left)

Apple trees need friend trees as pollination partner. So I splurged and got my first apple tree a friend.

I swear to you that the second apple tree can speak to me! In the garden centre he whispered to me that his name is Bob. He kind of looks like a Bob so I just went with it :)

I'm not going lie, I have an ongoing love affair with this tree. He's so cute and he's already giving me apples!

Here's Bob's Bio:

Meet Bob, he's a Golden Sentinel Apple Tree. He doesn't branch out, is perfect for a secondary pollination partner. He love long drinks of cold water straight from the garden hose, and sunny summer days. If he had legs he would take for a summer picnic on the beach, with a sunset stroll to follow.

Apple number One

Baby Apple number Two

Apple I accidentally picked off...

Apple number Three

Apple Blossoms are the Sweetest

A had a great tip from a lovely lady last week. I was telling my mother-in-law about my apple blossoms and she mentioned that they smell wonderful.

I hadn't even though of trying to smell them. But then I did, and it was heavenly... They smell like jasmine, roses, and freshness.

If you have an apple tree, smell the blossoms. Even if this means you'll have to grab a ladder. It's so worth it.

Do you have a different description of how it smells? I only have Crimson Apple Blossoms, but I'd love to know about other apple blossoms as well :)

Updates: Apple Tree and Azaleas

The Azalea blooms are growing, they are on the verge of a major bloom fest :)

I'm going to think positively and hope that a very special bee comes to pollinate my apples with pollen from neighbouring apple trees. These tiny red/pink flowers are dreaming of becoming apples. 

Container Gardening: Fig Trees

(These are pictures from right after I planted the trees)

Figggggg Trees

My mom has multiple fig trees in her garden. Every year when the fig are ready to pick she dehydrates them and shares. This is one of the best times of the year.

This tree came already in soil. I added a banana (for potassium), egg shells (for calcium and irrigation), and coffee grounds (for nitrogen) to the garden soil. Other than that I put it in it's new pot home and watered it constantly.

Later in the season, an important step is to add netting to the tree. This will save you from fighting birds for the fruit ;)
Can wait to munch on some figs later in the summer...

Fun Fact: Fig Trees fruit on 2 year old branches.

Fun Fact 2: Fig Trees planted in the ground will create runner trees. Then you'll have a forrest of fig trees.

(This is after a couple of weeks, look at those beautiful leaves and tiny baby figs)

Container Gardening : Chrimson Gala Apples

(This is after I followed the below steps)

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Gala apples I love you

Gardening can be very precise. I can get overly excited at times, so this precision doesn't always get executed. In my research for container gardening for fruit trees there were a lot of steps where you had to do exactly what they said. I took this as suggestions, rather than hard facts. Hopefully this delinquency works in my favour...

This is what I did, only time will tell if these were the right steps. I'm optimistic because I've always done things a little differently when it comes to gardening.

One: soak the bare root tree in water for 4-6 hours

Two: add soil to the container and place the tree into the pot. If you have a grafted tree, make sure the grafted part is above the soil line.

Three: Trim back the branches by a third. Make sure there is one leader branch and a couple of smaller branches below the leader branch.

Four: Water, water, water. Make sure the tree is continually moist. As September approaches reduce the water to once a week so the tree can start winterizing.

Five: I use the seaweed fertiliser and coffee grounds. In the summer I do this once a week. As the summer ends, I cut this back so plants can winterize.

I guess my imprecision is working because the branches are growing :)

Six: Add something to the top layer of the soil to keep it moist. You could add mulch, burlap, I chose this succulent ground cover plants that I found at Home Depot. 

Fun Fact: Fruit trees need friend trees so that bees can cross pollinate. I only have one this year, but hopefully when plants go on sale at the end of the season I'll get another.