Apples and Blueberries

Yesterday afternoon I had another package from Ison's waiting for me. The apple trees and the blueberry bushes seemed to be packaged with a little more care than my previous order. The plastic wrapping was filled with moist wood pulp to keep the roots from drying out.

I honestly hadn't thought about trying to grow apples here. I didn't think it would get cold enough, and that is the case for most cultivars. However, Anna and Dorsett are reported to do well here with a minimum of chill hours required. Anna requires Dorsett to be a pollinator, so I bought one of each with the intention of planting them next to each other.

Unfortunately, I had not yet cleared the site or prepared the soil. To keep them alive until this weekend, I potted the trees in 5-gallon buckets. (I drilled holes drilled in the bottom) I was low on potting soil, so I made a mix of 50% topsoil, 50% potting soil. I think this actually gave the trees a little more stability than purely soft potting soil would have. After being potted, watered, and just decompressing after being packaged, they didn't look half bad. I even noticed a few little blooms on the Dorsett. These varieties are ripe in June, so I don't expect any fruit this year, but I hope by next year they will be well established and well positioned to give us a good crop.


The blueberries looked a little dry, but in alright shape. I wasn't sure what variety to get, so I got one of each reported to grow well in Houston: Climax, Premier, Tiftblue, and Brightwell. For whatever reason, Ison's included an extra Tiftblue, but I'm not complaining. I hadn't prepared the site for the bushes yet, so I potted them in potting soil and gave them a little Osmocote fertilizer. Once I finally get all the brush cleared, I'm going to plant them under the tall pine trees by the shed. They require acidic soils and heavy mulch, and the pines should provide both. I'll head over to Walmart this weekend an reload on mulch and get some peat moss to mix in with the potting soil.