Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Dwarf Almond for Urban Spaces

This spring I purchased and planted a few new dwarf fruit and nut trees to replace some other trees and plants that just weren't producing. I finally decided to pull out some pear trees that always suffered from trellis rust and never produced any fruit, in spite of all the pruning and perseverating over.

In place of one of the pear trees, I planted a dwarf almond - something I've wanted to have for years, but just couldn't find something suitable for an urban space. Well, the Nikita's Pride almond tree, developed in the Ukraine, does great in both small spaces as well as in cold environments. It will grow about 10 - 12 feet tall (although I'll keep it smaller) and is hardy to -20 degrees F. They bloom at the same time as peach trees, which helps avoid damage by last frosts.

These dwarf almonds are partially self-fertile. Another reason I bought this tree was in the hopes of making more of my own almond milk, which I started making earlier this year. Buying bulk organic almonds can be pretty cost prohibitive for making milk.

The Nikita's Pride is prized for their profuse, pinkish-white, fragrant flowers. I haven't had it long enough to flower and produce anything yet, but it's grown quite a huge amount just over the summer. When I planted it, it was about 2 feet tall. It's about 6 feet tall now. Hopefully we'll see some flowers on it next year. I have to say, I'm pretty excited about this tree.

Do you have any nut trees growing on your property?


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