Good morning! Spring is just a month away and that means that we need to get busy on the tasks that have to be done before it arrives. This year one of our projects will be expanding our mayhaw orchard.
Mayhaws are a type of hawthorn with an incredible little red fruit. They are predominately found in Louisiana in the bayous and swamps. Families would get together for mayhaw gathering, floating down the bayou and shaking the trees, scooping the fruit that fell off the top of the water. It makes the most wonderfully beautiful jelly and in fact one of the best tasting jellies ever.
My wonderful father gave me some birthday money, and I am using that
to buy mayhaw trees. I have four already that I bought a year or two ago from an online store, but this time I bought from a mayhaw developer. I am going to start planting and see if the Lord
has in mind for me to have a mayhaw orchard/breeding program. I picked two cultivars that bloom
late in hopes of avoiding any frost loss. The trees themselves are
hardy to zone 4, but the blooms can be destroyed by frost.
I
also am planning to dip my finger into the world of grafting (which
will need to be done if I am going to develop mayhaws). I found a
wonderful tutorial for grafting trees here. Plus my father in law has a great deal of experience grafting ans he and my sweet late MIL grew champion hibiscus.
The good thing about mayhaws is that they are fine in wet, boggy areas that other plants might balk at. We have a great deal of soggy soils on our land, so I am hoping that the trees will be happy here.
What about you? What are you planning for your garden/yard/balcony this year?
