Fruit Trees

I got a hot tip that one of our local Lowes had a variety of fruit trees available and I'd love to have some fruit trees in our yard for shade, food, and beauty. So, I lugged my toddlers out there and harassed my husband into meeting us there, anxious to get my garden going. I browsed through the fruit trees they had available, reading tags and dreaming of the delicious fruit I could expect in the next couple years. Then I noticed one thing they kept mentioning on the tags... pollinators. Pollinators? I had no idea what they meant. Like, maybe they mean we need extra bees or something? So, sadly I chose against buying any trees yet because I wanted to do a bit more research.

Here's what I found. It seems that many fruit trees need another DIFFERENT type of fruit tree to cross pollinate in order to get a better yield. Glad I checked. Here's the link for more information on which trees are the best choice for cross pollination purposes.

Seedlings!

April 15 I started a bunch of seedlings. I had planned to start more within a few days but as yet have not. That said, we have seedlings!! I'm excited. This is my first time being serious about starting my garden from seeds. Previous years, I'd usually start some seeds, forget to water them, they die, then go out and buy plants for my garden from a nursery. Anyway, I have pictures!!

Green(uh, purple until cooked) Beans:

 

Pumpkins:

Cucumbers:

 

Now, with the cucumbers, I was using seeds I had bought back in 2002 (and subsequently never used), so I wasn't convinced they would all come up - or that any would come up, so I planted a TON of them. I guess we lucked out though... out of 17 seeds, I have 15 plants. O.O I was NOT expecting that. So, I'd say it's probably a good idea to try using any older seeds you might have laying around because at worst, you don't have them come up and you get more *shrug*