My Plum Tree

I have a plum tree.  I am very proud of it. In fact, I will admit right up front that my sole motivation in writing this post is to brag about my wonderful little tree.

I planted it in my front yard about four years ago.  I chose to put it out front for two reasons.  First, I didn't want it taking up the kids' play space in the back yard.  Second, I dreamed of a day when this tree would produce more fruit than we could eat, and I wanted it to be out in the front yard where our friends and neighbors could share in its bounty.

But the first year it produced no fruit. :(

The second year it produced one teeny tiny little rock hard plum that was half green and half purple.

The third year it was showing a lot of promise with dozens of green plums starting to grow.  Unfortunately my over-anxious toddler picked ALL the green plums before they had a change to mature in size or color.

This year was different.  We not only had hundreds of green plums earlier this spring, but dozens of them actually survived and ripened into actual real live edible fruit.  Real fruit!

I don't know anything about growing tree fruit.  I don't actually like plums that much, but do you know what I do like?  All natural food.  Fresh food.  Free food.  There really is something magical about eating the food you grew yourself.  We watched that tree for four year without success, but this year we had more plums than our family could eat.  That is a really good feeling.

There is an old proverb that goes something like this:

"The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.  The second best time is today."

Marcia