wolfie and the sneak

Yep, I'm a little nuts (I guess that's a post for another day), but ever since a cross country trip to San Francisco, I've been dreaming of a backyard full of fruits. Not the ordinary southern fruits so much, I can get peaches from well within a 150 mile radius, but the citruses. Oh my, how perfect would a homegrown orange be? Maybe it's the fantasy of more tropical climates or reminiscent of our trip to Portugal, but oranges and lemons are daydream worthy.

Then, since the Permaculture Course, I've been even more focused on adding different fruits to the yard and making frequent window shopping trips to Raintree Nursery and Willis Orchards. It's a long process of filling up my virtual cart with dreams of loquats, pomegranate, and persimmons, then emptying it back out as I realize the total is always way over my $0 budget. One time I did cave, and checked out with a Satsuma orange and 10 Black Butte (snicker snicker) blackberry starts from good ol' Willis after several peeps I know seemed to think they're a-ok (seems some Dave's Garden users disagree).

Let's just ignore the fact that it's really a bit too cold for citrus in our climate (even the flying dragon seems to struggle from winter to winter), but I figure I'll have all Summer to devise a contraption to keep 'em warm through the winter. By "em" I mean the Satsuma will soon have the Dwarf Meyer Lemon we've had for a couple years to keep it company.

Yesterday I denied myself nap time and put the Satsuma Orange tree in the ground along with Powder Blue and Tifblue blueberry bushes, which C and I got a couple weeks ago from the hardware store up the street. We already have 2 apple trees in place, one Einshemer and the other is either an Anna or a Dorsett (too bad I can't remember.)

The ultimate plan is to create a semi-circle living hedge (denoted by stars on the low-fi mock up) in the backyard that would keep the kidlet away from the pond when he/she is old enough to play outside. It will also function as a barricade to keep the hens from the street, while giving them a little extra roaming room if we're home. (Click on the diagram to see the whole yard if you want to).

(Credit where credit is due. . .for images)
Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree, Einshemer apple ~ Willis Orchards; Satsuma Orange ~ Cooking Light; Blackberry ~ USDA Agricultural Research site; Blueberries ~ EdibleLandsaping.com

How was your weekend? Good naps and slow afternoons soaking up sunshine?