Anyone can grow fruit!

Emma & Evan Ison digging for potatoes

Tamara and I give our friends fruit plants from time to time. We have given olive trees, pomegranates, and blueberry bushes as gifts. My father-in-law is a man who if he wants something will go out and buy it. For his birthday or Christmas we always struggle to find the perfect gift. Over the last couple of years we have hit home runs in being able to give him things he will enjoy and look forward to. The first home run was a customer of ours brought us some homemade moonshine (if you are an ATF agent reading this the evidence has disappeared). When I gave him the mason jar he whirled it around to check for the beads. The more beads the better the moonshine. He smiled and said there are two kinds of moonshine: "the selling kind and the drinking kind, and this is the drinking kind." The next home run was a wonderful pomegranate bush. He was excited about receiving the bush and even more excited when he planted it; he had a couple of pomegranates on the tree the first year. He by no means is an avid gardener or has farmed much his whole life, but with a good hole and a good plant he is a pro.

Now my mother-in-law (Duane Lane Smith) is a gardener's gardener. We have given her blackberry plants, bunch grapes, and a fruit salad tree.  She grows tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and just about everything else in her garden. Our children, Evan and Emma, went to Nana's house recently on a school break. Emma loves whole potatoes. However, when Nana went to dig some fresh potatoes to cook, Emma said she would not eat them because they were dirty. I think if Nana had a bigger yard she could feed everyone in Milledgeville.

We have friends that we have given olive trees to. He is a lawyer and his wife is a school teacher/stay-at-home mom. Their yard is full of the usual azaleas, roses, nandinas, etc., but in the corner next to their children's play set is an Arbequina Olive and an Arbosana Olive tree. About once a month he will text a couple of pictures of the trees with olives on them and say "they are getting bigger." They by no means are master gardener's or have years of experience, but with a good hole and a good plant they are an olive growing machine.

We also have friends we gave blueberry bushes to. Their yard in the spring is the envy of all that pass by because their yard is full of beautiful white dogwoods. It is an amazing show of white blooms and entices me to plant some in my own yard.  I gave them three blueberry bushes that already had fruit on them. He is very precise and waited until he found the perfect place in his yard. He is an outside kind of guy and his wife works in the finance industry. While they by no means are horticulturists, I love to hear the excitement in their voices when they tell me about the fruit they have just eaten or how well their plants are doing.

Each year we give some of our friends a bag of fresh muscadines. She is always so excited when she eats them (who can blame her).  A bag of muscadines is such a simple gift but she loves them.  I think my next plant gift may be some muscadine vines for her and her husband to enjoy. They both are in the medical field, but any given Saturday you can find her husband working outside cutting grass or pulling weeds.

So what is the message behind this blog?  The message is no matter how big or small your yard is, no matter what type of plants you have in your landscape, no matter if you do not know what a shovel is or your hands have never been in the dirt...You my friend can grow fruiting plants.

What are you waiting for? Give us a call!

Happy Planting,
Greg Ison

Emma Ison
4th Generation

I did not know I was so green

We have all either noticed or taken part in the new green movement. We all know the importance recycling, we now take our own shopping bags to the grocery store, we are fuel conscious by buying hybrid or electric cars, and email has taken the place of letters. But are we as green as we should be with our most important commodity.  Water is essential in our daily lives. From the showers we take, to brushing our teeth, to washing clothes, the food we cook, to quinch our thirst, and to water our plants. I have always taken the approach that someone else would do my share and that one single person can not or could not make a difference. Water is the life line of a farm or plant nursery. We have to have it, the plants have to have it, and we would not be in business without it.

One of the ways we are "green" is the use of our drip irrigation systems. Drip irrigation is a low flow, low pressure watering system that drips water right to the root zone of our plants. When we water with a hose or overhead sprinklers we are wasting water either by runoff or watering weeds or other undesired plants. Drip irrigation can provide optimum moisture levels in the soil at all times, resulting in less water lost to the sun and wind. With drip irrigation, water is not wasted on non growth areas, and the root zone  is maintained at a steady moisture level.

Drip irrigation is simple and inexpensive to use. If you can connect a garden hose to a water faucet then you can install a drip system. We have fittings that will adapt to a garden hose or faucet, from there you will run the tubing on the ground by the plants you wish to water, and lastly punch a hole into the tubing and place an emmitter near the root zone. Simply turn on the water supply and  you will have water going to the root zone of your plants without the waste of time nor water.

We recommend using drip on new or established planting to ensure healthy plants, larger fruit, increased yields, and earlier production.

Over the last year we have planted additional acreage in peaches, blueberries, blackberries, and muscadines.We had to plant the majority of the acreage during the hot months of June and July, our nursery schedule does not allow planting at other times. Because of the use of drip we were able to successfully plant with little or no plant loss.

Yesterday before I left work I turned on a single valve and was able to water 2 acres of peaches, 1 acre of blueberry, and  a 1/2 acre of blackberries with our drip system. Not only was I being green with the conservation of water, I was able to get home and enjoy time with the ones who mean the most to me. I think I may wear a green shirt to work tomorrow.

Save money and lower your water usage.
Give us a call with any drip irrigation questions.  We will be happy to assist in the layout of your drip system.

Greg Ison

 Isons drip irrigation by Jain

Drip Irrigation

Advantages and Benefits of Drip Irrigation System

·   Water Efficiency

·   Water only goes where needed

·   Ease of Installation

·   No special tools or glue required

·   Reduced pest problems and weed growth

·   Only water the roots plus increase fruit yield and plant quality

·   Works anywhere in the home garden

·   Save money and lower your water usage