http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=83a90c34a8021b45
Photo by Heidi Sheesley
Galveston County gardeners are fortunate to have a climate that is favorable for
growing a variety of fruits, including several types of citrus and mango.
Growing fruit year-round in your backyard
By Dr. William Johnson - Contributor
Published February 3, 2010
If you want fresh fruit right off the tree, every month of the year, you can do it. Galveston County gardeners are fortunate to have a climate that is favorable for growing so many different kinds of fruit trees that you can have something wonderful, fresh and packed full of flavor in the fruit bowl on your table throughout the year.
Fruit trees well adapted for our climate will be at the annual Master Gardener Fruit Tree Seminar and Sale on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Heidi Sheesley, of TreeSearch Farms, will provide a seminar on Fruit and Citrus Varieties for the Gulf Coast from 8 a.m. to 8:55 a.m., highlighting the star varieties.
The seminar and sale will be conducted at Carbide Parks Wayne Johnson Community Center, 4102 FM 519 in La Marque. A printable copy of an area map and directions is available on the Web site listed at the end of this column or by contacting the County Extension Office, 281-534-3413, Ext. 1-2.
The trees at the sale can offer you an endless banquet of gorgeous, luscious fruit throughout the year.
Winter Cheer
In the late fall and early winter months, citrus fruit just bursts from our Gulf Coast trees. There are more than 20 citrus varieties featured in this years sale, the biggest selection ever oranges, mandarins, satsumas, limes, kumquats, grapefruits, lemons and several hybrid citrus varieties like limequats, tangelos and mandarinquat.
Spring Flavor
Spring is ushered in by berries and ends with a cornucopia of peaches and plums. In recent blackberry plant trials, the Kiowa was such a superior producer of luscious berries, planters tore out the other varieties so they could have more Kiowas.
Starting in May and going through June, our peaches come in, full and ripe. Several varieties of peaches will be available. Tropic Snow is an exceptionally sweet peach and still remains my favorite variety. The great plum cultivars include Beauty, Gulf Beauty and Gulf Blaze.
Summer Abundance
The Anna and Dorsett apples signals the arrival of summer with crisp, juicy harvests right from the tree followed by our stupendous figs, Celeste and Banana.
Just as the figs are fizzling out, the pears come in. Do they ever! Last year, folks had so many pears on their trees, the limbs would bend to the ground or break from the abundance. Pear varieties available this year include Acres Home and Southern King Tennosui Hybrid.
Autumn Plenty
Just when you think youve been buried in fruit, here come the persimmons to round out the year-round fruit, just before the citrus trees begin to go into production. We will have four varieties of persimmons will be available.
Fill-in-the-voids
We also will have a wide selection of other fruits, including blueberries, grapes, mangos, jujubes, pomegranates and star fruits. Several varieties of avocados also will be available.
The Fruit Tree Sale and Seminar is sponsored by Galveston Countys Master Gardener volunteers. Of course, dozens of Master Gardeners will be on hand to help you select your fruit trees and will tell you everything you need to know about planting, pruning, fertilizing and caring for your fruit trees.
Proceeds from the sale of the plants are used to develop and maintain the Horticulture Demonstration Gardens located at the Galveston County Extension Office and Carbide Park which the public is invited to enjoy and learn from year-round. For information, visit the Galveston County Extension Office, 5115 state Highway 3, in Dickinson, or call 281-534-3413, Ext. 1-2.
Dr. William Johnson is a horticulturist with the Galveston County Office of Texas AgriLife Extension Service, The Texas A&M System. Visit his Web site at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston. 
