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.