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| One of my five new apple trees. This one is called Cinnamon Spice. |
While I am certainly not the first to grow an apple tree (or five) in Florida, I can guarantee that I am am one of the first, if not the first, to grow the varieties I have planted. I have been wanting to plant some apples for quite a few years. After
much research, I ordered the five you see below from
Trees of Antiquity in California. These varieties should do well in the warmer climate here in Northeast Florida if I play my cards right. The varieties I have are White Pearmain (2), Fuji (1), Cinnamon Spice (1), and Newtown Pippin(1). Save for the Fuji, you most likely will not find these in the local grocery stores.
It will take 3 - 5 years of select care to make sure these babies produce a good crop. An excellent resource I picked up at the library is Michael Philip's "
The Holistic Orchard." Along with my research online, I think I have a pretty good chance of keeping these tress alive. But I am not getting my hopes up too soon. Going to depend a lot on the weather, my time and gain knowledge/experience, and the blessings of God. Keep checking back for updates.
On another note, we recently cleared/bush mowed some of our property ( one reason to get ready for the apple trees). While mowing, I came across many hidden huckleberry bushes that seem to have been growing for quite some time. They are all budding now as shown in the photo below. Looking forward to see what we get off these new discoveries.
And last, I got some of my vegetable garden planted (taters, peppers, okra, cow peas). Hope to get some corn and tomatoes going here soon. I have a few peas already popping thru the mulch!
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| The five trees in their new "orchard." |
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| One of the many huckleberry bushes we found while clearing part of our property. |
