Blooms Abound!

Beautiful Azalea Bush 

Bumblebee on a Blueberry Bloom

The blueberry bushes have been blooming for almost 2 weeks now. I love all of the delicate pink bell-shaped blooms! I heavily pruned them late last fall and, as always, it broke my heart and I worried that I had cut off too much. I know better, but it still bothers me to cut off what seems like perfectly good branches! The amount of blooms this spring is spectacular! Apparently the bushes really appreciated my work. I'm guessing that the fertilizer I gave them earlier this year when the buds barely started to appear, and the good dose of heavily used chicken bedding from when the coop was cleaned recently, helped a lot too. Despite the abundance of blooms, I was initially worried that we would still have no berries this year! Usually there is a steady hum emanating from the area near the bushes from the hundreds of bees busily buzzing back and forth. This year it was silent. Not a single bee was anywhere in sight. No bees means no berries, regardless of how many flowers we have. On top of that, we had a couple of hard freezes last week. Thankfully, the freezes seemed to have had no effect. Even better? There are now bees! Only a few at first, but now there are tons of them buzzing around everywhere along with a couple of hummingbirds that seem to be enjoying the blooms as well. I guess the cooler winter just made them a bit late this year. They are here in time and that is what is important!

Peach Tree in Bloom

My peach trees have also gotten me all excited. They are covered in pink blooms too! I know that it is probably a bit early to allow them to produce, having just planted them last year, but I can't help myself. I pruned them about two weeks ago so at least they aren't wasting as much energy on growing unneeded branches, but I can't bring myself to remove the blooms. I want to see what happens. While I was pruning the peach trees I also staked and pruned the pear trees. They are not blooming yet, but they are getting beautiful new spring leaves. I'm so happy that they made it through the winter! The grapefruit and key lime trees were not so fortunate. Most winters they would have managed, but this winter was the coldest on record for many, many years, and they just didn't have a chance. Perhaps cherry or plum trees would make a good replacement? My new goal is to find some of those for a good price this year. Maybe if I choose to get more citrus trees in the future I will plant them on the south side of the property or keep them in pots in a greenhouse. The fig trees are next on the list to be pruned and staked. They badly need staking! The figs grew an amazing amount last year! Leaf buds are starting to appear on those too! I am so excited about my little orchard!

Strawberry Blooms

If fruit bushes and fruit trees aren't enough, the ground berries are flowering like crazy too! There are big white dewberry blooms as far as the eye can see! They are everywhere! I can't wait for them to grow into big juicy blackberries. Fresh berries growing wild with basically no work other than picking them = Amazing! The strawberries are peeking through the mulch and starting to produce little white flowers too! Sadly, not as many are appearing as I had hoped this year. It may be early yet, though. Last fall I mulched them with shredded paper and hay and I fertilized them this spring, but I think the soil may be too compacted for them to grow well. It was my first garden when I moved here and I wasn't very experienced. I didn't make paths through it or make it narrow enough to reach from the sides, so the giant bed has to be walked through to get to the middle. I need to get a metal pole and loosen the soil a bit and see if that helps the plants do better. I really need to put a fence up around them or I won't get any strawberries before the chickens steal them all anyway (like every year). Regardless, strawberry picking season at the you-pick farm starts in less than 2 weeks and I definitely plan to go! We went through the strawberry and mixed berry (blue and dew) jam I made last year entirely too fast and I need to make much more this year.

 Frolicking with my Entourage 

I feel like I am in my own little Garden of Eden. I am so blessed! I know better than to count my chickens before they hatch and counting my berries before they are picked is equally as bad, but I am excited and looking forward to whatever may come. For now I will frolic happily through my fields of flowers. Closely followed by my herd of chickens and turkeys, I'm sure. :)