Summer Garden: Be Careful What You Wish For

We wished that our fruit blossoms not be zapped by late freezes this year. And somehow we dodged that bullet (unlike last year when all fruit was lost).  At this point, it looks as if we may actually have a bumper crop of peaches, a few plums, and a few pears on our young trees. — Too soon yet to know about persimmons, pomegranates, grapes and pecans.
We wished that our fruit blossoms not be zapped by late freezes this year. And somehow we dodged that bullet (unlike last year when all fruit was lost).  At this point, it looks as if we may actually have a bumper crop of peaches, a few plums, and a few pears on our young trees. — Too soon yet to know about persimmons, pomegranates, grapes and pecans.  

Some things come back to life after the winter sleep much later than others. For instance, our tiny fig tree that’s been trying its best to grow for the last three years or so always greens up late. Every spring, Zack says, “Look at this. It’s DEAD!” And with that, he starts breaking off pieces of the poor little thing to show me. Every year, I push his hand away in horror and tell him it’s still dormant and needs more days of warm weather. Zack is not a patient man. Sure enough, the little fig tree will look for all the world like dead sticks for weeks later than everything else. Then suddenly, tiny leaves begin to appear. Every year it’s a little shorter in stature, though, due to Zack’s emphatic and demonstrative “pruning.” I think we’re producing a bonsai fig.

So many things can go wrong with fruit-bearing trees and plants — from the time the blossoms bring us one of our first breaths of spring — until they may eventually bear ripe fruit. So although things do look promising at this early stage, only time will tell the final tale.

We’re also putting the first plants into the garden just now. We  finally took down last year’s old, dry plants stalks a few weeks ago (Other projects trumped striking the garden during the winter). Zack broke up the earth — with the large tiller behind the tractor — then the hand tiller, to make rows.  Every year we promise ourselves we’ll wait until April 15 to plant the garden, and every year we break that promise. But at least this time, we managed to hold off a little longer. Looking at the 10-day weather forecast, it appears there won’t be any late cold snaps. We’ll see. “APPEARS” is the operative word. Last year we replanted three times when unexpected, late freezes killed the tender plants we had enthusiastically and prematurely entrusted to the earth. A year or so before that, we awoke one April morning to frost on our bluebonnets. This was a first in my memory.(Life is full of surprises). Our current crop of bluebonnets (and boy is the patch thickening and expanding!)  just started blooming during these past few days, so wish us luck with this weather thing.

It’s always so exciting to begin again with this seasonal renewal, the affirmation of the return of warmth and promise. However — soon the reality of watering and weeding (in the hot, hot sun of late spring and summer) will set in. If most of the fruit matures and most of the garden plants do well — and if we’re lucky enough to have a wild mustang grape crop (for wine and jelly), we have just created almost endless work for ourselves come summer. Of course, I wasn’t thinking of any of that as I gleefully planted veggies this afternoon. (Well, OK, maybe for a fleeting moment).

Last year, there were no grapes or fruit due to the late freezes. And still, I almost worked myself to death with only my flower beds, the garden maintenance, harvest, and pickling of cucumbers and okra. How will I ever manage to wash, prepare, and cook or freeze all the fruit, weed the garden, and handle the bounty — if everything “makes”?  It will be necessary to enlist Zack’s help, for sure.  This will be the first growing season since he fell ill that he may be able to more fully pitch in to help reap what he hath sewn! Follow-through is everything!

Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a Bosque County resident who returned to the family farm after years of living in New Orleans, New York, and Florida. She’s an artist who holds a doctoral degree from New York University and is writing a book about the minor catastrophes of life. Check out Genie’s blog at <http://rusticramblings.wordpress.com/>.