It is hard to get too excited about the garden in the dark depths of January, but February is upon us bringing with it sunsets after 5 PM moving forward until November! While it is not yet PLANTING time (our last frost date in Seattle is not until mid-March) it is a great time to start PLANNING what you might want to grow this year.
Bare Root Trees are Available Now
Have you considered expanding your skills into growing fruit in your own yard? Now is a great time to think about adding a tree (apple), shrub (berries), or vine (grape) to your landscape.
Bare root trees are available at nurseries in the winter and are a more affordable option. These trees are as the name alludes to – they are dormant and bare of all leaves, fruits and even soil. They are a slightly more environmentally sound option as they are not sold in plastic pots, though sometimes still in plastic bags. Bare root trees are stored in damp mulch or newspaper to keep the roots alive and are ready to get into the ground soon after purchase. If bare root trees are planted too late in the season (after they awaken from dormancy) they have a high risk of dying from shock.
Bare root trees may not look like much, (you might even feel like you are just purchasing a stick) but they will grow into productive contributors to your home garden over the next few seasons with proper caretaking. And since they are just a stick (called a “whip”) you have a lot of flexibility in training and pruning the tree into a shape that fits your space.
Nurseries offer an extensive selection of bare root trees so go shopping soon and ask questions about which varieties are easier to grow and resistant to disease. This will allow you to choose the best trees for your garden and tastes. Why not give it a try!
A Community Organization that supports Fruit Trees (and more!)
While pondering bare root fruit trees, I started thinking about our local organization City Fruit, located on 40th and Aurora Avenue. I was able to speak with Kara Martin, Executive Director and Tiare Gill, Education and Volunteers Program Manager to learn more about the ways that the organization supports local fruit trees.
City Fruit is a community based organization and their mission is to improve access to fresh fruit across the city. They do this by partnering with nearly 400 local tree owners, volunteers, and community partners to steward our local trees and harvest tens of thousands of pounds of organic fruit every season from Seattle’s private and public orchards. They then distribute this market quality fruit through food banks, meal programs and “Fruit-For-Alls” (free fruit farm stands) in communities across the city.
If you visit the Wallingford Farmers market in the summer you have already seen one of the orchards that City Fruit stewards (with the support of Historic Seattle steward Megan): the Good Shepherd Center Orchard at 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103! City Fruit has also partnered with the City of Seattle and local community groups to support work at Meridian Playground and the fruit trees along the Burke Gilman Trail Orchard 2400 N Northlake Way, Seattle, WA 98103.
There are many ways to get involved in this neighborhood organization from volunteering in these public orchards, donating your own excess fruit for harvest, or attending a workshop or other tasting events. Check out all the ways they support Wallingford and consider supporting City Fruit in whatever way might work for you and your trees!
So get yourself Good to Grow in 2024 with some fruit trees!
To clarify, City Fruit works with Horticulture Manager Megan Stanek (Historic Seattle employee) to care for the fruit trees that are in the parking lot of the Good Shepherd center, not where the farmers market sets up, which is Meridian Playground. City Fruit is not currently allowed to do anything to care for the fruit trees at Meridian Playground or the Burke Gilman Trail except spread wood chip mulch, as the Urban Food Systems group at Seattle Parks has taken over care of the fruit trees in all Seattle city parks.