I know it is a little hard to believe that Fall is almost here when you are sweating your way through another one of those 100 degree days, but trust me on this! I am setting here in my jammies with by coffee and looking out my office window at the Cherry tree. And there is another bone of contention with me. Kenneth and I bought that Cherry tree when we first moved in here almost 30 years ago. Bought it and two Peach trees. The Peach trees stood side by side in the front yard and the one on the right was loaded with the biggest sweetest peaches you ever seen. Course in my little Utopia here, you only get a crop every 7 years. But when you get one, it is fantastic! So the one on the right was prolific and the one on the left must have been a boy cause it never even bloomed. Finally the bores got to them both and they had to be pulled out.
And all the while the Cherry tree which we planted right out side the office window grew like a weed into a beautiful specimen. Every year it was covered with blooms and every year not a cherry in sight. The neighbors have one that is always loaded and the bees are swarming on mine, but not a cherry one. I have to get out there every few years and trim around on it to keep it from rubbing on the house. I have thought that maybe I would take it down, but the birds and squirrels like to play in the branches and peer in here at me, so it stays.
When we were hauling in Paonia we went and picked Apricots on the BLM, which you can do. I had a bread sack full that I brought home and made into jam. I threw the seeds out by the septic tank and the next Spring I had lots of seedlings, which I planted here and at my mother in law's. I am down to only two, but they faithfully produce every 7 years. The reason that happens every 7 years is the weather pattern more than something mystical, I think. I do not like Apricots, but some people do and the ducks (before they were fox food) and geese love them. Course either way, I have to pick them.
So this is how it goes around here... The back acre is barren except for goat heads which the geese refuse to eat regardless of what you and I both heard about them eating goat heads! The garden area is weed free for the first month of planting and sprouting season and then my mind wanders and it gets hot and the weeds take over. But the zucchini produces prolifically and I chop them for the geese. Saves on grain.
The yard area is pretty well going to pot. At one time I had 64 rose bushes which I fed and pruned faithfully, but the last couple years the ground has gotten so far down there that it has become impossible to do what was once so easy and so much fun! So the rose bushes are about gone. Except by the front gate and in the back. And the Choke Cherry bush that I planted 20 years ago has now spread out and enveloped most of the side yard. It has completely swallowed my Austrailian Copper Rose and is encroaching on the Lavender and Sage Herb garden. But you know what? I think this will make a very nice wild life area. The birds have first call on any fruit that pops up out there since they are a hell of a lot faster than me, so why bother? The Raspberry bush has thorns sharp enough to pierce my heart so that fruit is gone. The Rhubarb is inside the protection of the Rambling Rose which has thorns with hooks that have left scars all over me. I think me and and Round Up are going to have us some quality time this fall.
But any way, what I started out to tell you is this, fall is in the air. I once more have not gotten done what I dreamed of last winter. So here is the plan now, as I see it. Fall is here. I am too late for the Spring pruning. I think I will take a drive to the mountains and enjoy the fall colors. I will call Renate and Val and Dale and we will have a tiny picnic. Then I will come home and once more start thinking about what I am going to do this next Spring. I will write it down so I remember. Trim the Evergreens on the North side of the house. Trim the Cherry tree out of the rain gutter. Top the Austree by the car port. Oh, and do something with that tin shed! Or not...........
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