The Garden – part 1

Fruit trees – a risk worth taking.

Spring will soon be upon us… Right?!  Right now it sure does not feel like it. Between the hard winter we had 2017/2018, an extremely wet spring (a years worth of rain in three months and it still just kept raining!) and a practically non existent summer, mentally dealing with this winter has been harder than normal. But I know that somewhere there is a light at the end of the tunnel and so even though nicer weather probably wont come for us until mid May, early June, I do not want to be caught unprepared when it does come time to prepare and plant our garden and fruit trees.
So, as I sit here, the fire roaring, a heating pad on my back, me wrapped up in a blanket and our little cavalier curled up in my lap, I begin to prepare, plan and dream for the nicer weather to come.

There are so many choices!

There are so many places to choose seeds and fruit trees, it can be a bit much! but in the end, I chose to order our fruit trees from Stark Bro’s and our seeds, well, I tend to pick and choose where I get them based on what we need and who has the best heirloom variety.
I love heirloom seeds and plants because, unlike hybrids and GMO seeds, they are true to their variety of plants and the seeds can be saved and planted next year, and not only will they bloom and produce, you will get a plant that you can recognize (in most characteristics) when you compare it to the one the year before ! How cool is that?! Hybrids and GMO plants have been known to either not produce from saved seeds (they can be sterile) or they are not true to the plant you planted the year before and saved the seeds from.
I love Heirloom seeds because I have found that their flavor and production is better when compared to the others and lets be honest, are we not gardening to enjoy better produce??

On to the garden itself….

For fruit trees, I ended up ordering four trees total and a packet of pickling cucumber seeds because, well I’ve been wanting to do pickles and lets be honest, who doesn’t love free shipping? 🙂

Apples

I ordered the Whitney Crabapple as my first tree. Now, I know what you may be thinking, “ugh, crab-apple? Aren’t those trees that produce those annoying marble size things that just make a huge mess?!” Well, yes, they can do that, in fact, my grandma has one and I remember picking up grocery sack fulls DAILY when it was dropping its fruit. These fruits were small, marble size, and while you could use them to make jams/jellies and the like, that is a whole lot of work on something so small for such little produce.
So, I was pretty hesitant and skeptical at first but when I started reading on this one, I realized that they aren’t all the same (such is life, you’d think I would have learned that by now).

The Whitney Crabapple produces a large, golfball size fruit, that is sweet and juicy. They are self fertile and hardy for zones 3 to 9. They are cold hardy AND heat resistant and since we are a very cold zone 5 (in the winter atleast), border line zone 4, this was a huge plus. My biggest requirement though was:  what are they best used for and will they handle storage well? These say they are really good for canning, pickling, spicing, preserving and cider which I was happy to see as it rounds out the variety of uses I have chosen for our apple trees and there really is nothing better than cold, fresh, homemade cider.

Arkansas Black

The other two apple tree I chose are the Red Rome Beauty and Arkansas Black. These were a little harder to pinpoint because there are just so many things to keep in mind when choosing trees.
I chose the Arkansas Black first as it does well in storage, which was very important to me because of our long winters.

Red Rome Beauty

The Red Rome Beauty I chose because Stark’s said it was one of the best pollinators for the Arkansas Black and since it helped create the variety that I was wanting and it is said to be able to stand our harsh climate, I was happy to add it to my list.
So, From the Arkansas Black I am hoping to be able have a good baking apple, make good apple butter, as well as a good eating apple once they have been in cold storage for a while (the flavor is said to improve after 30 days). I’m also excited to see what depth of flavor it adds to cider.
With the Red Rome Beauty, I hope to not only have a good fresh eating apple but also be able to make some amazing pies, crumbles and crisps. I also hope to expand my knowledge of cooking with apples (this variety should be good for this too!).  Of course it helps that they originated from Selah, Washington which is where some of my family is from.

Peach Trees

The last tree I chose from Starks was the Intrepid Peach tree. I LOOOVE my peaches. They were a staple growing up east side of the Columbia river and my life just hasn’t been the same now that I can’t get them fresh from the tree. The smell of a warm, fresh, juicy peach alone is just indescribable.  I bought a peach from the store once, and I’ll be honest, I never made that mistake again! They are just so different 🙁
Anyway… I chose the Intrepid over the Reliance and Contender variety (though they are “popular” out here) because not only is it cold hardy down to zone 4, self pollinating and ripens in July BUT, the big thing, it is said to withstand late frosts (half to full bloom) with MINIMAL DAMAGE! Y’all, if you know South Dakota, you know what a big deal this is. We’ve had frosts in June before, and let me tell you, the devastation I hear people express about loosing those few blossoms they were so excited about, is heartbreaking. I decided I don’t want my heart broken so here’s to hoping the tree holds up to its claims! The site says that these peaches are really great for peach cobbler (so yummy!), fresh eating (even yummier!), canning and freezing (mandatory if you want fresh baked goods mid winter). I am so excited to be able to put these claims to the test!!! Though it may be a couple years, I can wait if it means getting fresh peaches off of my own tree 🙂

Say tuned for part 2 where I will talk more about the plants and layout of the garden, as well as our hopes and dreams for it and the lifestyle it gives us.