That doesn’t surprise me. Lots of stuff grows well in the Pacific Northwest. Bushes and trees both. Lots of plant nurseries around. And there are so many trees (mostly evergreens) all over the place that any space without trees starts to seem odd.
1 Like
when I was little my great grandparents had a garden then my grandmother. and I always helped and wanted to have a garden
I was homeless at 15 and did not have an inch of dirt to call my own until I was 36 years old. as soon as I did, renting! a slumlord duplex- I planted there. as much stuff as I could. I was there a few years when he got in legal trouble and sold the place and I was out- and couldn’t dig up my things to take. within 6 months the place was demolished and all those plants and trees were destroyed
I did not grow again on rented land. I moved here at 44 years old. my partner and i have a small mortgage. it’s a tumble down shack really but the dirt is all mine.
it’s been ten years on this place and I started right away and haven’t stopped. and probably won’t until my body stops me.
yes it’s obsession and it started young for me and never being able to act on it, that was no fun. to rent apartments and see other people have a yard. to live in the city park on a bench and see other people with a houseplant, all of that. all of that.
I can’t plant enough to satisfy and I look back sadly and think man, what if I had been able to start younger? will I ever taste a hickory nut? probably not one I grew, but I’ll still plant em.
edit. my great grandfather grew figs, plums, all kinds of small fruits. hickory and walnuts. little orange trees in the garage and “greenhouse” he had built. he used a lot of cold frames and I want to build some.
he grew tomatoes and showed me how tomatoes like to be yelled at, shaken, beat up. he said, you should never hit a person or get mad at them, because of you save it for the tomatoes you’ll get better food, so save it, and yell at the tomatoes. my great grandmother helped him in the garden but her growing was all basic foods- cabbages, eggplant, peppers, turnips.
my grandmother grew all the vegetables, berries and flowers, herbs. she had a million tiger lilies in front of their house. seemed like an ocean of them. and we would go out to pick things together and plant things together, and she was a great cook. they grew some sweet corn but not much so I would steal from the neighbor’s much bigger patch!
I saw my great grandfather, a brick layer, build a glass house greenhouse for my great grandmother to put her pepper plants into. he grew his figs along the brick outside it. he grafted plums, and showed me for to whittle but not how to graft. I think he would have if I was a little older when he died, he was 96 and I was 8 or 9.
21 Likes
I’m glad your getting to live your dream now. It is hard for me to believe most people hate the things we love. I still find it fascinating most men here will only eat meat , beans, and potatoes. I like vegetables and fruit very well. The way i usually convert the meat and potatoes guys is with salsa peppers. They love salsa typically. They begin growing those then branch out to tomatoes or tomatillo.
9 Likes
everyone I know will eat just about anything- but I’ve worked around guys like that before and they’ll usually take a piece of something I would bring for lunch and then want more. some of those guys garden now, it gets to be an obsession for sure as soon as any part of it is a success. one of them now grows currants and figs too
the place I work now one of the counter staff and her boyfriend will come and help me with big multi person chores and they “grocery shop” in the garden, that dude will walk around tasting leaves.
another coworker of mine grows grapes and cherries and we both bring our extras to the shop and everyone loads up and takes it home. tattoo artists like to eat.
at home my partner is a Navy vet and will eat anything he’s told us food, and universally enjoys just “food”. he has no preferences about anything except he likes sweet fruit and salty veggies. my step son doesn’t like fresh tomatoes or acidic stuff so I have sweet varieties of things for him, otherwise he also will just eat anything, and his mom is now gardening after hanging out with me some and she’s growing all kinds of things.
I finally gave in this year and actively started flowers to put out on the porch. the guys wanted some.
I get real tired of greens because they grow well all spring here and I’m sick of salad and hot greens right now, but they like them so we end up with tons. I’d rather have crookneck year round…
8 Likes
I taught myself to graft using a Sunset Magazine book on Fruit and Nut trees, and a seminar at a local nursery. Had lots of fun while living in the PNW. Not so much fun now in the high desert of southern Utah, but at least I’m enjoying a real apricot crop which I could never get up there. We do miss all the apple varieties we had though. Oh well, transitions, pluses and minuses…
7 Likes
Nothing about this hobby comes naturally to me. Nothing
I like fresh, ripe fruit a lot so I’m motivated.
The first time I successfully grafted a tree, it felt like I had caught lightning in a bottle.
Grafting is a worthwhile life skill, within the ken of any high school student, so I agree that it should be taught there.
My general attitude is that if you have a patch of land, you might as well grow a tree that will give you apples, or whatever. One. Even if you aren’t into it. Land developers would do well to include one unobtrusive sure-fire semi-dwarf tree with their tract houses.
10 Likes
You know it’s turned into an obsession when you start walking into stores through the garden section every time. You know, just in case.
14 Likes
Two, so they cross pollinate
4 Likes
Or when you STOP walking through the garden section because you assume that they could not possibly have the variety on your wish list.
14 Likes
Nah. The developer can see to that by having a small variety scattered in the development.
Pears are an attractive tree, and because pollination is an issue, they would be a suitable variety where they do well.
1 Like
I just got done with planting, told myself I was done for the spring. Then, I ordered another quince tree. Gah! I don’t want to stop, and I can’t stop, and as Snidely Whiplash used to say, “I just got this Thing!”
10 Likes
i planted 25 persimmon seed last spring all grew out but many didn’t make it through winter due to late snow. i’m waiting to see leaves before planting them out. just transplanted 4 siberian peaches and some hybrid hazels from my nursery beds. gave a bunch to my kids as well as about a doz. apples i grafted. mistakenly double ordered rootstock. thankfully i collected lots of scionwood from wild trees i found with great disease proof apples i found over the years.
6 Likes
Sounds like nature is selecting out the superior seedlings. I’m really excited to see how it goes for you! Too much root stock is a good problem to have. 
2 Likes
Look into the Master Gardener program in your area. They are supported by the state university extension program. You will meet lots of people who are totally bonkers about gardening. You’ll be amongst your people. There is a mandatory training that includes 8 classes, a few field trips and 40 volunteer hours.
5 Likes
Park near that exit because you know you’re gonna go through it and check out in that section and leave from there. least that’s what I do, I know my flaws
7 Likes
Year 1: plant an orchard
Year 2: expand it because you were not aware of several varieties you needed
Year 3: tell your partner the orchard is full and now it’s just time to harvest.
Year 4: a few trees need to be replaced for various reasons. So you order a few trees. And a few more.
Year 5: expand orchard to fit the “few” trees you got to replace the few trees …
And so on it goes! Containers, closer spacing, patio and decks as nursery areas, grafting skills improve so you end up with more trees than you planned…
Sound familiar to anyone else?
25 Likes
Obsession? Today I weeded and mulched berries all morning, sprayed apples and pears all afternoon. I think I’m enslaved by the fruit.
7 Likes
Well, hope springs eternal!
2 Likes
I am the custodian/ maintenance guy at a small Christian school in a small Michigan farming town.
I hoping to graft a multi-variety apple tree to put in the landscaping as a ongoing science experiment for the 5th grade class.
13 Likes
my partner was incredibly skeptical about the fruit trees and chose an Italian plum as “his” tree when I started putting them in.
he now plants every seed from every fruit he eats, in little pots and cups, and he has a nursery full of his babies that he checks on and worries over every day.
I keep trying to find space for more bare roots so he has something to graft the babies onto eventually
me, year 2: I need another pawpaw and to replace that pear that’s died
my partner: expensive but ok. I guess. pfft
me, year 5: we don’t have any more space
partner: where will the baby trees live???
11 Likes