THE OPPORTUNISTIC GARDENER IV – FREE FRUIT TREES

Yes, now I’m getting fruit trees for free too, just by being opportunistic!

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Honestly, when I recently made a second post and called it “The Opportunistic Gardener” just like my Free Asparagus Seeds post from so many months ago, I really had no intention of actually making a series out of it. I just wanted to link a post from many months ago so that newer steemians could check out a great older post from @papa-pepper.

It seems, though, that my life is taking an opportunistic gardener turn for the better though, and new blessings continually present themselves to me to take advantage of.

ENTER THE ORCHARD

When we moved to Arkansas, there was an orchard nearby. It contains fruit trees like Pear, Peach, Apple, Plum and Cherry. However, it had kind of been abandoned and left unkempt for some years now. I obtained permission to attempt to revive it, and spent some time last year removing dead branches and pruning some of the trees a bit. Some of the trees were pretty sad to look at, and some have completely died.

This year, I have continued the process a little more, and plan to observe the orchard this year and then really prune it back next dormant season. With “spring fever” coming on, one of the neighbors took the initiative to cut the grass around the trees. Since this had not been done for years, he used a brush hog to chop down the growth…

Once I realized what was happening, I ran out to talk to him. What others may not have realized is that this old orchard was reseeding itself. Under multiple Peach trees and even around an old stump were many Peach tree seedlings!

THE SEEDLINGS – A NEW GENERATION!

Some of the fruit from these trees has not exactly been enjoyed in recent years. When bugs infest it, birds peck it, or a disease hits it, the fruit will just shrivel and drop to the ground. Thankfully, the seeds inside of those peaches know what they are supposed to do, and many small seedlings are growing beneath the parent trees.

It is not always easy to notice them, but I did. The photo above has around 20 Peach tree seedlings growing in it.

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Since many of these seedlings are from last year’s seeds, or even the year prior, their root systems are not very big. If you look closely, you can see the actual seed that these little seedlings are growing from.

Once I instructed the man brush hogging the orchard where to avoid, I figured that I should lift a few seedlings from the soil just in case. Depending on pollination, the fruit from these seedlings will most likely not be exactly the same as the parent tree. In order to have the exact same fruit, you would need to graft a scion from the original tree onto compatible rootstock. Interestingly enough, these seedlings can act as a rootstock if I wanted them too.

Within a few minutes, I had a “bucket-full” of seedlings, complete with their tiny root systems. I thinned out the soil a bit before potting to get rid of the Bermuda Grass, which I’d rather not transplant elsewhere.

Today I only replanted 12 of these Peach tree seedlings, but there are plenty more where that came from. Without trying too hard, I could most likely get another 20 or 30 Peach tree seedlings.

Overall, it was not a bad half hour for me. I “saved” some little trees and hopefully can get some free food from them a few years down the road. Since I had fun doing it, it wasn’t exactly “work” either.

The only downside was that I broke one of my spade shovels, but that was probably a $5 version anyway, and I’d gladly pay $5 for 12 baby Peach trees!

As always, I’m @papa-pepper and here’s the proof:

proof-of-free-peach-tree

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To check out my previous Opportunistic Gardener post, click below:

• THE OPPORTUNISTIC GARDENER – FREE ASPARAGUS SEEDS

• THE OPPORTUNISTIC GARDENER II - PROPAGATE THE PRUNINGS

• THE OPPORTUNISTIC GARDENER III – FREE FLOWERING HERBS

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Until next time…

BE OPPORTUNISTIC – STEEM ON!

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