So, we live right on the border between zones 4 and 5. If you don't know what that means...it basically just means that it gets fairly cold in our area in the winter, and that we can have frost well into May some years.
That's fine for sour cherry trees, but sweet cherries...not so much. A hard frost in the spring will kill off the blossoms, and you won't get any cherries.
I knew that when I planted two sweet cherry trees several years ago, and sure enough, we've never really had more than a light smattering of cherries make it to ripeness. And then, usually the birds and the bugs eat the "crop" before we can get to it.
Until this year.
It was a weird spring, and it's been kind of a weird summer so far too - but, apparently, the weather has been ideal for fruit-bearing trees, because take a look at this:
Yep, these are homegrown, zone 4/5 sweet cherries!
Lol, we were so taken aback by how well they did that we didn't exactly optimize our picking schedule, so we really only got one good batch when we could have had a lot more...but that one batch was very yummy. :)
(Special thanks to Rachel and Timothy [siblings #4 and 5] for helping me with the picking!!)
The apples are looking good so far too, and the poor beleaguered little Italian Prune Plum tree is also heavily loaded. (The grapevine is another story, though...I pruned it heavily in the spring because I was going to give it away, and it might still be in shock.)
But, anyway, we were grateful that God gave us just the right weather this spring so that we were able to enjoy a little bit of fruit off our own trees. :)
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