The weather is beautiful, in the 70's, and it just feels so wonderful outside. This is why we live in Arizona! The mad flurry for spring planting has begun!
Our yard has a little micro-climate on the north side of the house. This spot gets very little direct sun, and the soil really does stay pretty moist all year, even in the middle of the summer, partly due to the air conditioning overflow drip that continuously drips into the area. Anyway, this spot is definitely cooler than any other spot in our yard. Every yard has these. It just takes a little observation to notice them.
This spot is perfect for the berries and fruit trees. Last year, I put the raspberry and blackberry canes in, just a few of each. The raspberry canes took off, although they aren't quite thick yet. The blackberry canes didn't do as well, so I ended up replacing a couple of those on top of the clean-up chores. I also had transplanted 12 little strawberry plants last year. Wow, they really spread, and are now all over the area. I have yet to get any berries this season probably due to the fact that my husband decided to turn off the water to the yard. Why? It's a mystery. I finally figured it out, and managed to get the drips working again. YAY!
My friend gave me 3 banana shoots from her neighbor up in Mesa 2 years ago. I had plopped those down without much thought into the area. Last year, they had gotten frozen, and I thought that I had lost them. Much to my surprise, one of them really grew, and even put off another shoot. So, those are looking ok. We shall see how they do this year.
What started out to be a quickie trim of the apple and peach trees soon turned into something much more, when I realized the raspberry and blackberry canes needed a quick prune of their tips and the strawberries that are so happy underneath them, needed the undergrowth cleaned out.
After consulting a book on how to prune an apple and peach tree, I attempted as best I could to prune them. May I say, very nervous? Anyway, it turned out not to be as bad as I thought. It did, however, make a big mess, that the dogs proceeded to track around the yard. "Oh, goodie, mom is making us some toys!" Hopefully, this will be the year we get some fruit off these little 2 year old babies.
Since raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are all heavy feeders, they needed a little organic fertilizer, some water, and some mulch, and the yearly chore was done.
All in all, it was a delightful day!
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