I’m just getting started and I have over 100 fruit bushes, canes, vines, and trees. My family thinks it’s just another of my quirks (I have a lot). My friends love it. My coworkers are excited because it means I’ll eventually bring fresh fruit to work.
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What podcasts? Please share.
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Yes, growing fruit has turned into an obsession. I have always loved plants and I am not sure why. My earliest memories as a child were of tasting the sweet nectar of the wild honeysuckle flowers and picking wild blackberries in rattlesnake-infested patches by the creek in Alabama. Eating delicious peaches from my paw-paw’s (grandfather’s) tree in south Alabama and sweet cherries from my grandmother’s tree in Germany also made an impression on me as a child. And I once spent a most memorable afternoon as a young teenager sitting under our big old backyard fig tree, gorging myself on sweet, juicy figs on a very hot southern day. A wonderful day to me was getting to go to the watermelon patch to help paw-paw pick out the perfect, ripe watermelon for the family. I guess I should thank my grandparents for the best obsession ever!
My plant obsession followed a fairly predictable path, starting with houseplants, then a few annuals, progressing to a perennial flower garden, then a large vegetable garden, and finally culminating in fruit trees and berries. It has been a fascinating journey, even with the disappointments and failures along the way. There have also been many joys and successes on that path.
It does seem that most people do not and will not ever understand my need to be with my growing plants, but I will never stop trying to help even just one person to get into this world of growing living things. I have spent way more money and time than I care to think about on this “obsession”, but it is good exercise, calming for the spirit and soul, and I thank God every day that I have been blessed with such a good life, puttering and working around my land with the plants I love.
My family and my in-laws are always saying to us that we should sell this place and get a condo or something, as we are getting older and have some health problems as most older people do. They just don’t get it. I tell them that if God allows, I will find a way to stay here in my peaceful haven growing my fruit, veggies, and flowers until they take me out of here feet first!
Sandra
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my favorite part is harvesting until i cant due to too much of a crop. the folks i know that say they would be happy to pick free fruit , suddenly have no time to come pick when you contact them but if you pick it for them, they gladly will take it. picking fruit to me is super relaxing. i can be out there in the heat and i barely feel it as im picking. obviously these other folks never harvested with
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we did. some of my earliest memories is picking something with somebody in the family. i realized the last couple days that 90% of my tree crops should be setting a good crop of fruit for the 1st. time. seeing all those blooms ready to pop is like waiting for xmas morning. i told the wife but she didnt share my enthusiasm. i few friends thought it was cool but not even close to the feeling i have. theyre probably thinking in the back of their heads that i need a life. that IS a big part my life! seeing things flourish, whether is in a orchard, a forest or seeing a bunch of wild animals doing their thing just makes me happy. its a feeling of accomplishment that many of the modern day folks have forgotten how to appreciate.
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Amen Sister!
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Reminds me of a t-shirt that my old neighbor had. It said “You don’t hunt? Why am I even talking to you?” My dh and I have said that it would be funny to have a similar t-shirt that says “You don’t grow food? Why am I even talking to you?” 
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I’m here to prove my sanity.
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Looks to me like your fixin to graft stumpy.
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I keep my kit in a box instead of a bag. I keep a knife and some wax in my pocket because I might need to throw a graft at any moment, even if I’m not at home, even if I’ll never see the result. This is just a way to be in the world, keeping life flowing, growing.
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That sounds about right. I worked with a co-op of farmers in central america (in the Peace Corps) who grew coffee and lots of different fruits, and those guys were killer grafters. Many of them did nurseries with dozens if not hundreds of grafted coffee plants and fruit trees every year. Next time you see that family at your local nursery ask then what they had in their finca back home.
I cherish running into somebody else who is as much of a nerd about growing things. My wife has been enduring my unfiltered thoughts about fruit trees for a couple years and this year got into flower gardening, so that’s awesome. Nice to share a hobby.
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About a dozen years ago, I was in Washington state and went to a flea market where I saw a bunch of walnuts for sale. I could see several species and varieties that I recognized. When I started talking to the guy selling them, I found out he is a member of Northern Nut Growers and I recognized his name from conversations with common acquaintances. You can meet people with common interests even when thousands of miles from home.
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@clarkinks My 76 year old neighbor, born & educated in Germany was taught grafting in school. I thought that was fantastic. I agree it should be taught in school.
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I turned to Europe where space is an absolute premium for most people, and indeed found a good trellis system that is less anxiety inducing to me: they often grow them in old wine orchards there, so use a simple wine espalier design. No huge T trellis, no deciding where I’m shading out which sacrificial trees. I feel nothing but relief now. That’s what I am doing. I remembered that I saw an actinidia deliciosa orchard in France once that grew them like wine, nothing above the head.
This guy has a kiwi nursery and demonstrates this type of trellising and how to prune (YT).Turn on closed captions and auto-translate. I speak multiple languages and wish I could share what is out there and entirely hidden from people due to YT and Google algorithms. I have to jump through hoops myself to find this info, but at least I know to look for it.
There is also a Youtuber who grows some kiwi entirely vertically. He needs a tall ladder to harvest, but it takes up the space of a pole. Then there is the grandfather of the guy in the video who has been breeding them for decades, and he seems to have a dense hedge of them. That one is beyond interesting to me, but I’ve only seen it in as a back drop to a video with no explanation. I’ve been thinking of starting a new topic for alternative kiwi trellis systems.
I get the night time rabbit holes, and then I dream of the one thing I obsessed about. There were many nights researching kiwis and trellis systems, then dreaming about kiwis that need trellising.
I just planted two more pomegranates in the front yard, BTW, even though I am in 7A and of the 4 poms that I planted last year only 2 seem to have survived, but they broke dormancy way too late and haven’t bloomed yet.
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These are audio podcasts and apart from orchard people, they have annuals and perennials topics mixed in. There are a few missing that I lost when Google podcast became defunct. Any additional ones I should check out, even if in other languages? I love listening to them while out gardening.
English:
- Orchard People
- Propaganda by the seed
- Roots and all (and suddenly I needed a cold hardy eucalyptus that I am still looking for!)
- The urban farm podcast
- Food gardening
- The Joe gardener show
German:
- Garten Ede
- Die Zarten im Garten
- Im gruenen Bereich
- Gruenstadtmenschen
- Stadt. Land. Garten.
- Komm mit in den Garten
- Garten Radio
- Keep it gruen
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Now that you say this, I loved sitting in my grandparents’ plum tree and eat my fill, or walking through their village and eating fresh fruit off neighbors’ trees. My grandfather had two lemon trees in barrels that I was absolutely obsessed with growing up. He grew them from seed, then grafted them on rootstock way before I was born. All my life I’ve been obsessed with those lemon trees and lemons in general. He brought them in each the winter. Last I heard, decades later, they were still alive.
I think I’ll change my name on here to lemon. That is truly one thing I could never live without. I eat lots of lemons, and I plant all the seeds. One day, one of these will be a new cold hardy lemon cultivar. I can’t stand seedless lemons, what even is this nonsense?? And they don’t tell you, so you randomly cut a lemon open and are gutted to find no seeds.
My biggest achievement this past winter was keeping a tiny Flying Dragon seedling alive outdoors in a pot. Its twin was planted in ground and something (mice?) were hungry enough to eat even that, thorns and all.
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I can tell my blueberry varieties apart by taste and I have over a dozen. Varieties matter
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Start the thread and please post pictures of yours!
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My grand daughter is not 2 years old yet and can identify and properly say the name of goumi berries, raspberries, strawberries and mulberries allready.
She will be learning blueberries and blackberries soon.
She can talk fruit with me better than most adults 
TNHunter
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Some of Gastropod are also excellent!
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I have been told several times that I am obsessed with fruit. Especially berries. There are all these interesting fruits that you can’t even taste unless you grow them yourself. So what choice do I have?
And I love to make jam and I want lots of different stuff to make jam out of
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