Tiny Orchards

I'm still hopeful that my lemon tree will have some buds soon. Les assures me that he saw bees up in her lemon blossoms several times, so, fingers crossed, I hope I will soon be updating you with some lemon buds. But I haven't seen any yet.

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, my gardening successes have been a bit underwhelming so far. One green bean (now shriveled from the heat), one cherry tomato (still green) and a handful or so of surviving herbs. The green pepper plants are still chugging along, but so far no sign of fruiting.

So, I was getting a bit antsy about a "harvest". I decided that if I saw an established plant at that farmer's market that looked promising for a payoff, I would buy it.

And so, I lugged this beauty home last weekend:

A Fig Tree! Whoo-hoo! For $12!

With starter-figs on it! Just a few weeks to go, said the farmer, and these little nubbins would be ready to eat. And if you're asking yourself "Does she really eat enough figs to justify a whole tree?" the answer would be Yes. I love dried figs and I'm learning to love fresh figs. And they are not cheap. So, I thought that if I can 10 or 12 fresh figs from the tree this year, that would be a good start. Plus, it's just a pretty tree. Kind of swooping and sturdy and almost bonsai-ish.

But I am, in fact, trying to grow these guys in North Carolina. It is supposed to be 105 degrees today. And it almost hit 100 yesterday. I've been watering my new little tree every day, but it still looks a bit scorched and sizzled when I get home. Those plush figs in the photos are looking a little worse for wear in this nasty hot spell.

Oh well. They're trees, right? So if I can keep them alive we can try again next year. They are still young. They will live to see another figging. In the mean time, I can do more research about container orcharding.