👋 Hello and Welcome to or Welcome back to
Lion Soul Homesteads blog!! 👋
STOP, don't buy those chickens 🐔 just yet, or start on remodeling projects🏡, there's something much more important to start with.......... 🌴🌳🎋 Trees 🌲🎄 and bushes, plus a few other plants that take a very long time to grow and produce for you.
Unless you don't want to grow any stone fruit, such as Peaches, dates, cherries, and other fruit trees, berry bushes, and some long-term veggies. You will definitely want to get started buying and planting these valuable trees ASAP!! Fruits are not only a great way to get a sweet treat, but they also have many vitamins and minerals our bodies need. some of these fruits can be expensive if you were to eat them more than once a month, or while trying to feed a family, these fruits often. If you grow your own in an amount that will give you or your family enough to harvest, you can not only snack on them but also make delicious jams, jellies, and desserts to enjoy as well!! Plus, many of these fruits and plants can be given to your livestock or pets.
Photo by Ryan Baker: https://www.pexels.com/photo/shallow-focus-photography-of-yellow-lime-with-green-leaves-129574/
🌴List of Fruit & Berry trees: It depends on your climate to which of these you can grow.
- Peaches
- Apple - can be grown in cold climates
- Pear
- Orange
- Lemon
- Mulberry
- Cherry can take 4-5 years before it bares fruit.
- Fig
- Apricot - one of my favorite juices from when I was a little girl!!
- Plum
💚List of Bushes & Other long growing fruits + veggies:
- Blueberries can take about 3-4 years to start producing fruit.
- Avocado - 5-13 years
- Raspberries - 2 years
- Asparagus - 2 to 3 years
Photo by Clément Proust: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hand-with-berries-in-plantation-21906696/
While these are just a short list of examples of how very, very long it can take to get fruit or to be able to harvest edibles from your trees, plants, or bushes. Which is why I think it's incredibly important to start planning your orchard and gardens first, including your livestock's garden if you're trying to be self-sufficient like we plan to be!
What is the approximate cost of buying trees, bushes, and plants? It, of course, depends on who you're buying from, but there is a little more to it than that. Some places do sell much older trees or bushes closer to the bearing fruit stage (more so with blueberries or smaller trees and bushes). The price of a sapling is usually going to cost you way less money than a 2 to 5-year-old mature tree, especially the ones that get over 5ft, such as a peach tree. Other mature plants, such as Asparagus, might not survive being uprooted or transported at an older age. Although I've also never tried, so that would be a question for your local gardening extension or greenhouse.
💛In conclusion:
- Fruit Trees, Berry bushes, and some veggies take years of growing before they will ever think about producing fruit for you to eat.
- Plan to combat this issue, buy your fruit trees and bushes as well as other take too long to grow plants, as soon as possible after purchasing or moving into your new homestead or farm!!
- Younger trees and bushes will cost you less money, but in some cases, for more money, you could have almost-ready-to-fruit trees and bushes.
- Contacting your local greenhouse or gardening extension is your best way to find out what you can or cannot grow in your area, as well as helpful resources on where to grow certain trees, bushes, and plants on your land.
- Do the best with what you can, try posting to a local Facebook group or on Craigslist, there might be someone nearby giving away or selling what you're looking for. Remember, being frugal can help your homestead or farm flourish more than you ever thought it could! Plus, with all that saved money, now you can buy goats and the infrastructure to keep them, but more about that later! 😉
Photo by Burst: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-blueberries-545040/
Happy Gardening and thank you for stopping by on Gardening Tips Tuesday!! 👩
