Winter Citrus trees

Winter is in full swing here. With the sun hiding for 3 weeks. I have also been hiding and not doing a whole lot of projects or updates. But the sun may break through today! So I might get this out 😊

Pantry Staining

Before I took a break from all the home stuff. I had started working on the pantry shelves. Our pantry is woe-fully underutilized. And with 7 (8 in a couple months) of us living here. Here are a couple shots from when I was last working on it. With 100% humidity even when it’s not raining and with highs in the 50s. These pieces of wood take a long time to dry out from staining.

Researching Fruit/Citrus Trees

So now that I have lots of land and lots of desire to eat fresh fruit I’ve been compiling ideas/ lists of what to do. I talked with a friend who’s dad grew an orchard. He is a big fan of Dave Wilson Nursery. I was unfamiliar with it. But they are a great resource for all things trees. I watched this very helpful video on Backyard orchards.

A backyard orchard is apparently what I will be doing. So far I’m only looking at about roughly 18 trees. I’m a spreadsheet-aholic so  I made a spreadsheet of trees, useful resources, and where I’m thinking of buying them. Here is my current spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vCfsafmhDSrqI6T1NiXzyhDK90jRsslW23uylEMMy9w/edit?usp=sharing

Where to plant the trees

I have a very flat lot with no obstructions for my home. There are several guides to how/where to plant trees and fruit trees.
https://arbordayblog.org/treeplanting/tree-planting-how-to-choose-the-right-planting-site/

https://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/growing-fruits-and-nuts/planting-your-backyard-orchard

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/place-plant-fruit-trees-55623.html

Most of them are concerned with obstructions like utility lines. Or micro-climates (like hills, shady areas, wet areas) which I do not appear to have. All to worry about here is what views we want to obstruct from the street (my bedroom) and what views we want to keep (like mt diablo)

Various Rootstocks

What I enjoyed from Dave Wilson’s video about backyard orchard, is to not choose your tree based on its rootstock. But to choose the rootstock that best fits the needs of your location. i.e. Don’t let the rootstock determine the size of your tree. Let your pruning decide the size of your tree.

Fruit tree rootstocks: https://raintreenursery.com/fruit-trees/rootstocks

Apple Tree rootstocks: https://www.davewilson.com/product-information-general/rootstock/apple

I thought I had to choose based on rootstock. I suppose that could be less work. But I’m planning on working on these trees.

Christmas Cookies

Not much else to report, other than we’re trying to slowly get into the holidays here. It’s a bit difficult with everything going on in life. But today someone decided to make Red/green cookies.

Baby

For any who don’t already know, at the end of march we should have a new addition to our homestead. And it’s not a tree 😊

Merry Christmas to all of you!