Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Fruit trees and bushes

I just realised it might take  a few posts to show how many plants I already have :)) There are too many to fit in one post and I am not very good at aligning the pictures.

I apologise for the quality of the photos, I took them with the phone but I hope the things are visible enough. When possible, I added a picture with the seeds/package for the plants and the link to the site used for buying them.

I'll start with the unusual plants and trees, then follow up with the vegetables, then with the herbs and at last with the actual flowers.

This is a bush called Deutzia Purpurascens (Kalmiiflora) that I bought from Carrefour in March when they had a sale on garden items (here's the link to the vendor's page)

According to them, it doesn't need special conditions or soil, I just need to remember to prune it because it tends to expand a lot.

I used potting soil (the type available from any store) and moved it to a bigger pot when I realised it will grow larger than I expected.
It currently sits outside on the balcony edge and I added some improvised supports because the branches seem to be pretty weak.
I have the advantage of living on the second floor and the balcony edge is pretty sheltered from the wind, but if there is a storm I will have to bring the plants in, other-ways they might fly away :)

I did have some problems with it at first, because my cats ate half the leaves :))
But it bounced back fast after I moved it out of their reach and got them some kitty grass.

This is the first plant I bought, together with a sour cherry tree that I planted in a bucket. Yes, I grow two trees also - they aren't doing so great so far, but I hope things will improve soon.



I also ordered a Jasmine bush from Sieberz and planted it in a big pot. I was worried at first because it had very few small leaves, but it seems to be doing ok. I really want to see if it will flower. So far I think it needs more sun than it's getting, but hopefully sunnier  days are coming :)



This is the Sour Cherry tree - it didn't grow any additional leaves since I bought it a month ago, but it seems to be doing well (no drooping leaves).

 I also bought a Sunburst Cherry tree from Sieberz when it was on sale and I was very dissapointed because  it was just a stick with roots, absolutely no lateral branches or leaves.
So I learned a valuable lesson - make sure to order potted trees, since the odds of them actually looking like trees are higher :)

 I did plant it in a deep waste basket and since then it started sprouting some small leaves (there's a picture of it in the next post, the one with the vegetables).

Now, the first problem I had with the trees is the cost of deep pots. After visiting some home improvement stores and seeing that a large deep pot costs more than all I spent on the actual plants, I decided to improvise. So, I bought tall waste baskets and pokes holes in the bottom - I paid 7 to 15 lei (2-4 euros) for one and a deep pot is about 60 lei (20 euros).

I also chose the cheapest version of potting soil for them (about 5 lei/1 euro per 10 liters of soil) since trees in general don't have special needs when it comes to soil.
As a general rule, I soak the roots in a bucket of water for a day before planting the tree and I make sure to remove the sawdust wrapped around the roots. Also, make sure to release the roots (they usually wrap them tight for easier transport) - it will help the tree adapt faster.
I am no expert by any means, so I'll just add some of the things I did for the plants that actually thrive.
On to the next category!



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