Our Pear Tree

I was also thrilled to discover a pear tree on our new property.  It is a good sized tree, about ten feet high that was laden with large pears.  I think it is a Bartlett pear tree but will get a positive identification from the nursery.  Like the peach trees, the pear tree likely needs a bit of pruning.  I will be following the pruning guidelines for fruit trees by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  Before I start pruning though, I think it would be a good idea to have someone from the nursery walk me through the process.

While I will be working with some of the existing front and side beds, I've been accumulating ideas to try in our new gardens.  I'll be doing a lot of garden planning over the winter as well.  Next spring should be a very interesting and exciting time in the gardens.


Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Our Peach Trees

We were extremely pleased to discover fruit trees on our newly acquired property.  The property itself is a smaller, subdivision sized with a good sized house and above ground pool.  This will place restrictions on how we can set up our gardens.  There are some established ornamental front and side garden beds and a good size (about 10' x 20') traditional bed for vegetables.  I will be turning that area into raised garden beds using small space gardening methods.  I have a few new ideas I want to try but they will have to wait until spring.

There are three peach trees on the property.  I suspect they are Red Haven and know they are cling-free so will have our local nursery help identify them.  Two are nice sized but the third is small enough that we are considering moving it.  I think two peach trees will be sufficient.  The peaches were ripe to over ripe when we started moving in.  They were small but plentiful with a lovely flavour.  The biggest problem was the yellow jackets helping themselves to the over ripe peaches.  Within a couple of days both of us had been stung so I knocked the remaining partially eaten over ripe fruit from the tree to get rid of the yellow jackets.  It was a good decision as the fruit was not salvageable.

Over the winter months I will be researching how to care for peach trees.  With proper pruning we should get fewer but larger peaches.  I will also be researching on how to discourage the large number of yellow jackets that are not welcomed with a pool and outdoor entertaining.   I suspect on of the easiest ways is to do a clean pick each day as the fruit ripens as well as remove any over ripe fruit.  I can't tell you how excited I am to begin another new gardening adventure!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Orange Tree

Orange Tree

September 18, 2010

Apparently the oranges are so plentiful here that people put boxes of them to the road hoping someone will take them.  Pictured is one of our neighbour's orange tree.  They said to help ourselves when the fruit is ready for picking.  We rented in the park our first trip here that was meant to purchase a house in the park that we had seen online.  We decided against that house but looked at several others, got to know the park and basically enjoyed ourselves.  That trip we enjoyed a lot of fresh picked oranges and let me tell you they taste so much better than store bought!  Now that we bought here I want to plant an orange tree.

One neighbour told us that the orange trees can be problematic and they are higher maintenance trees.  Leaf drop seems to be an issue for some gardeners.  My husband thinks I should just take advantage of all the free fruit rather than try growing an orange tree but the challenge sounds fun.  I plan on visiting a few nurseries in the area of our vacation home where I look for a nice, healthy tree as well as get advice for growing it.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010