Fruit in Front

Works-in-progress abound around here right now. That's always the case, of course, but is especially true at the moment - right down to the the face this blog presents to the world. (I'm experimenting with a new look after four years(!) of the same template. Don't be alarmed if things look different.)

More on other projects to come, but first the results of a mostly complete task: the transformation of the front yard into a fruit orchard. Let's call it Project Fruit in Front.

Last year I planted a peach tree and a plum tree on either side of the front walk.

Peach on the left. Plum on the right. And a couple of fruit loops in the middle.

This year we have a handful of cute, fuzzy little peaches!

These are peaches of the donut-shaped variety.

Also last year, I moved the raspberry and blueberry bushes from the backyard to the side of the house (in preparation for building a chicken run, one of the other works-in-progress). The blueberries look a little sad and may need yet another move, but the raspberries are thriving.

Raspberries on the left, blueberries on the right.

These raspberry bushes are descendents of the ones that inhabited my grandparents' backyard in Mt. Clemens, Michigan; my mom dug some out and brought them up to Burt Lake where they've been steadily expanding for years, and I harvested some of the ones overstepping their boundaries there to start my own patch here in Traverse City. They get around.

Yield from one picking session at the peak of the harvest.

On the other side of the raspberry patch is lonely Mr. Kiwi.

I need to get him a lady friend if we are to have any kiwi fruit, but I have been assured that this hardy variety of kiwi does indeed produce in our climate. My plan was to remove the ivy climbing up the chimney and replace it with a trellis and the kiwi (which is a climbing vine). The ivy is thriving and lush, but it's nearly impossible to keep it from overextending its welcome, climbing onto the new siding, and - eventually - engulfing the whole side of the house. So it really should go, but I haven't yet brought myself to do anything more drastic than hack it back from time to time. So that's why Mr. Kiwi is still hanging out in his bachelor pad with no permanent home or family to call his own. I really should get on that.

Meanwhile, two years ago, I started Project Turtle Bed. I tackled it with a "just do it" attitude, instead of my usual thinking and planning to excess. But now I've paid for my haste twice over. Last year I had to reorient it away from the peach tree. This year I took it completely apart yet again in order to build up the sides. That's because the dirt was mounded up too high, causing water to run right off instead of soaking in. I used more of the cement chunks from the old driveway to piece together the border. Then I filled it with strawberry plants, so it fits the fruit theme nicely.

You must imagine what this will look like once the strawberry plants fill in and spill over the sides. The center is a clump of lavender.

I still have another big (but fun) project awaiting me here: creating stone mosaics for the turtle's head, feet, and tail. I've started making the molds from some garage-saled metal lawn edging.

Now I'm collecting stones and design ideas. I have high hopes for this, folks!

In the meantime, I'm munching raspberries, speculating about whether we'll actually get to eat those first few peaches, and feeling pleased that the front yard looks more or less presentable, in addition to being edible.

Edited to add: Two days later, all the peaches are GONE! They weren't ripe, so it seems unlikely that some person or critter harvested them, and they aren't lying on the ground under the tree, either. They've simply vanished. Any of you Sherlocks have a theory?