Sunday, January 15, 2017

fruit tree sale


40 pages of fruit tree varieties and information on planting, growing, and caring for them

First of all, I didn't take a single picture of the fruit tree sale! I meant to, but I just never thought of it. It started at 9AM and was about a half hour drive to the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds where the sale was being held. Usually, it's held outdoors but because rain was forecast for Saturday, they held it in one of the big barns. We got there 15 minutes early because, as my sister said, it's not exactly like the 70% off sale at Macy's with people tugging trees out of your hand, but it's a close second. So, 15 minutes early and the parking lot is already full of cars and trucks and there is a long ass line and I'm not talking single file either, plus a good many of them had brought wagons and garden carts.

We got in line and I perused the list I had made the night before from their web site narrowing down the possibilities because seeing all those people ahead of me, I knew by the time I got foot inside I needed to know exactly what I wanted and go straight for it. I had peach, fig, navel orange, satsuma, blueberries, and something called cherry of the rio grande on my list with several choices of each. They offered 24 different kinds of fruit trees including things like avocado, olive, persimmon, jujubes, pomegranate among others plus blackberries, blueberries, and goji berries with most things having several varieties and some having many varieties all good for growing in this area.


It's a well run event. They made sure everyone in line had a copy of the booklet that listed all the trees and all the varieties and had a map of the space included so you knew where to go for what you wanted. They had some wagons available for those of us in need, check out was organized and speedy with lots of people herding you into the proper line and getting all the info down so that when you got to the cashier you just forked over the proper amount.

photo credit:https://www.facebook.com/FortBendCountyMasterGardeners/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Imagine this room filled elbow to elbow with people and wagons and garden carts from the first row of trees back.

photo credit:https://www.facebook.com/FortBendCountyMasterGardeners/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Anyway, by the time we got to the door I had decided on a satsuma and blueberries and fortunately for me, they were both on the same aisle. I headed straight for the satsumas and my sister went for a wagon. I got about 30 or 40 feet in and came to a screeching halt as the crowd in front of me with all their carts and wagons made forward progress impossible. However, being skinny and limber has some advantages, plus I learned how to move through crowds when I was a teenager at Mardi Gras in New Orleans so I'm stepping over people's wagons and slipping between people keeping my eye on the trees to my right til I spotted the satsumas and picked up the first one I came to that was on my list (I had 3 varieties selected) and then headed back the way I came, stepping over wagons and slipping between carrying the tree in a 3 gallon pot, for the blueberries and my sister with the wagon and checkout. We were probably in and out in 30 minutes, back on the highway in 45.


I was going to work on the new raised bed over at the shop today for the blueberries and figure out where to plant the satsuma but as things usually go, it's rainy out there today. Not enough rain to do us any good, of course, but enough to make it impossible to work outside.




11 comments:

  1. Looks like sort of heavenly chaos. Or chaotic heaven? A good day, anyway.

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  2. Sure beats any sale I have ever been to, glad you got what you went for. MMM can taste the fruit already!

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  3. I live reasonably close to the Fiesta Ware factory, and when they have their annual scratch and dent sale, it's the same scenario. I don't like Fiesta Ware and never went, but my sister did, a couple of times, and my daughter outfitted her restaurant with Fiesta Ware, and made several trips, one when she was eight and a half months pregnant.

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  4. I am glad to know that your trip was not wasted. You got what you wanted. Another advantage of NOT being overweight! With your tender loving care, whatever you plant will flourish. (If Global warming doesn't screw things up!).

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  5. What a good shopper you are. I wish that planting season was on my near horizon, but we still have a few months of winter to get through. Happy planting!

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  6. What a nice assortment of trees they had. My satsumas are sweet as honey. Avocados stay on the tree for a very long time. I would have had trouble choosing.

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  7. It will be interesting seeing pictures of your garden when the weather warms up and things are blooming.

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  8. OK, that sounds a little crazy! I love fruit trees but I hate competitive shopping. (Or competitive anything, for that matter.)

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  9. I like that - a well run insertion op - in & out. That's how I prefer to shop :)

    P.S. I first read "plus a good many of them had brought wagons and garden carts." as "WEAPONS and garden carts" & thereafter every time I saw the word wagon I read it as weapon. Ha!

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  10. Wow. That looks like quite a sale. I've heard stories about the plant sale the Houston chapter of the native plant society puts on, and it sounds like the same thing: mass chaos, but relatively polite. Satsumas are so good. I hope yours thrive and produce like crazy. Froberg's Farm over in Alvin has strawberries already, and citrus picking on the weekend. I may go over on Saturday morning and get some.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.