Baby Fruit

A home orchard is the best way to savor the delicious sweetness of summer fruits. I would argue that it is just as much fun to watch the baby fruits develop as it is to devour them when ripe. It’s like Christmas as a kid – the presents were that much more fun because of the excited anticipation leading up to the unwrapping.

I’m not sure how our apricot tree branches will be strong enough to ripen all the fruit it is growing. Some might fall, but I expect a bumper crop this season. We should be about a month or two out from enjoying apricots at every meal. (And you can see from this picture that we may not be through the woods yet on fighting blight)

The fig tree continues to tempt our taste buds, as always. It is covered with low maintenance fruit that will ripen in early August. Last year we literally took a bucket of figs with us on vacation. I’m already dreaming of fig pizza again this year.

Baby pears! Look closely and you can see the area right behind the spent flowers is swelling. If you have fruit trees at home, check your apples, pears and plums for a similar sign of ripening fruit.

The Italian Plum (or Italian Prune) I just planted a couple months ago is finally leafing out. No fruit this year though. In fact, if you have young fruit trees, you want to pick off any developing fruit for the first three years. Let it focus on establishing a healthy root system first, not producing fruit.

Are your fruit trees old enough to produce this year? Are you expecting a good harvest from them or will it be a few years before harvest time? Tell me about it in the comments below!