The Little Orchard

Here's how the little orchard is progressing. I've planted all 3 of the planned Paw Paws, the unplanned Toka and Satsuma Plums (from big box store on sale, nice looking trees), the 2 peaches from containers at home, a pie cherry (Montmorency) and the Petite negri fig that I grew from a cutting.

The Orchard

Montmorency Cherry.  I moved this last week, from my border at home.  It didn't seem to have a lot of roots.  The soil was dry.  I hadn't watered it all summer.  I dug as wide as I could, pruned lightly, rapped it, and moved to the little orchard.  The leaves did not wilt (good sign) but are now becoming yellow.  That suggests to me it is heading into dormancy, maybe a little early due to the trauma.  Or it may be heading into dead.  We'll know in the Spring.  It shouldn't be too big to move, under 6 ft tall. I've had it one or two years.

One of the Paw Paw trees. They appear to have held up well, despite my breaking a lot of rules. Not the least of which was planting them in mid summer.

Satsuma plum. Does it have red leaves? Or is that impending dormancy? Impending death? Mislabeled? I guess I'll know next Spring - it will grow, or not. And it will have red leaves, or not.

Peach. One of the supposedly leaf-curl resistant ones.  I plan to add one more Peach, probably the Indian Blood peach I have had for 2 seasons now.  It's still really small. I'm anxious to move the other trees that I planned to move, and plant some bare root trees in October. This is a bit of a forced lull now - I don't want to risk killing trees that I've nurtured for 2 or three years. So I'll await dormancy or near-dormancy.

Plums From Seed, part 2.

There are many conflicting versions regarding how to sprout wild plum, and other stone fruit seeds. I have a pretty good supply, from collecting plums. They have been washed and allowed to dry. Most are in an envelope after being allowed to dry overnight. Based on several you-tube videos, I chose 5 pits for removal of the hull. I used a vice grip so I could adjust the force, and because I don't have a nutcracker.

Vice grip and plum pits, dried overnight. These are wild plums. The pits are the size of a sweet cherry seed.

The first pit flew across the room. I used a little more finesse for the others. They cracked easily, releasing the inner kernel. Cool! They look undamaged.

I moistened a paper towel, squeezed out the excess, wrapped the pits, placed them in a ziplock back, and placed them in the fridge. Now I need to wait one to 2 months. After that, I don't know - if they start growing, it's the wrong season (fall) to plant outside, but maybe they'll grow on the window sill. I did a web search on coat removal and stratification and scarification. Coat removal would be a "complete" version of scarification. It appears that coat removal is beneficial for germinating seeds of fruits with pits, and many other seeds. In addition, stratification for peaches and plums, by refrigerating, shoulf last about 10 weeks. For example, from Iowa State Horticultural News, Cherry, Peach, and Plum (Prunus species) Harvest fruit when full mature. Remove the seed. Seed may be sown in the fall or stratified seed may be planted in the spring. Stratify the seeds at 33 to 41 F. The sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) requires 90 to 150 days, the peach (Prunus persica) 98 to 105 days, and European plum (Prunus domestica) 90 days. Seed of plums and peaches should be planted 2 inches deep. Sow the seed of sour cherry at a depth of 1/2 inch.

Backyard Orchard Culture: Progress Notes

Most of the fruit trees are near the end of blossoms. Some of the apples are midway through blooming, and a few blossoms straggle on, on the pears and cherries. Now some of the baby fruits are starting to show, giving me a hint of what to expect this year.

This is Almaden Duke cherry, planted last Spring, so just over a year after planting. Many of the buds took. The tree is about 3 1/2 feet tall. Since I want it to remain dwarfed, I'm going to let the fruits continue. Plus I want to see what they are like. Impressive, really impressive, to get fruit the 2nd year after planting, even if only a hand full or bowl full.

Hollywood plum. A few scattered fruit have taken. I thought it might not have any, due to frost while blooming. These are so good, I'll settle for having just a few.

The peaches that I planted in tubs late this winter. Starting to leaf out. I underplanted one with lettuce and one with cilantro, so as not to waste the soil and space.

Shiro plum. Judging from the number of tiny embryonic plums, I think there will be a bowl full or two. Like the Hollywood, I wondered if I would get any due to frost while blooming. Home-grown Shiro are so good, it's worth the wait and worth the trouble to get even a few.

Surefire Cherry - I'm guessing, about 4 years old now. I planted tart cherries largely because of late blooming, to miss those early frosts. This one is the latest of my many varieties, as far as blooming goes. They should set well, and we should get a pie or two. These have a wonderful flavor, different from the sweet cherries, and when very ripe can be eaten out of hand, sweet and tart at the same time, with red juice.

More Fruit Trees. Backyard Orchard Culture.

Some additional

Indian Free Peach from Raintree. I was able to cut it off very short due to placement of buds, so it will make a nicely formed Backyard Orchard Culture peach tree. This variety is reported as blooming later than others, and reported to be resistant to Peach Leaf Curl. It is not a genetic dwarf. I am giving up on those. Amazing number of flowers, and it is several weeks later than the genetic dwarf varieties. So far so good.  The flowers are near the ground.  I expect that next year they will be higher.

This is Almaden Duke Cherry from Raintree. It is on Gisela 5 dwarfing rootstock. It was planted last Spring. I pruned it to 2 feet tall, per Backyard Orchard Culture guidelines. I would have shortened further but there were no lower branches. Amazing it is blooming already. I wanted a later-blooming cherry. It is blooming at the same time as the sweet cherries. Raintree states Almaden Duke is self-fruitful, and is thought to be a seedling of a Mazzard cherry, both sweet and tart.  There are so many flowers, it may have enough for a pie.  I will let it fruit at a small age, because that will stunt it a little.  Small size is what I want.

This is that Illinois Mulberry. I may need to shorten the branches. Mulberries leaf out later than many other fruit trees. The buds are swelling. Once I start to see mulberry flowers, I will see if I can cut it back a foot or 18 inches to force lower branching and open structure.

These are the new peaches, from One Green World, an Oregon nursery. One is Charlotte, the other is Oregon Curl Free. Both are on Lovell peach rootstock. Both are considered resistant to Peach Leaf Curl. I could not find info about whether there are late blooming, which would also be good. I planted them in containers due to being unsure if the existing peach trees would bear. If the existing peach trees do not have peaches, out with the old, in with the new. If the DO, I'm not sure where I'll plant these.  The tubs were $6.00 which is cheap for a large planter.  I drilled lots of holes in the bottom before planting.  The rope handles will be useful for moving the trees.  Possibly even move them out of the rain in the winter?  Most of the low branches were pruned off.  I'm not sure where I prune them - the lowest buds seem too low, and the next higher set seems too high.

This is the Stanley plum. I left higher branches in place than I wanted, because I was unsure if there were lower viable buds. This tree is branching at about 3 feet. It came from a local big box store last year. Stanley is a well known, old European plum variety, reported to be self-fruitful. This is currently my only Euro plum. The others are Asian plums.

It's interesting to me that I have a Stanley plum, a Stella cherry, and a Blanche fig.  Such a passionate and literate orchard.

Almost all of the fruit trees I planted last year have at least a few flowers. The one that does not is the Methley plum.  Generally we don't want them to fruit when too small, but it's OK to hope for a taste.  Since I am not going for big quantity or big size, it should be OK to leave a few fruits on each tree. The Almaden Duke Cherry is big enough, and vigorous enough, I can leave all of the cherries in place.

Fruit trees in bloom.

Asian Pear in bloom. This is 3-in-one Asian pear. In keeping with Backyard Orchard Culture methods, I'm keeping it pruned short and summer pruning of new growth back to about 6 inches of new growth. All 3 varieties are blooming this spring, covered with flowers. I played honey bee with them and transferred pollen among the varieties to pollinate. Not many bees outside this spring.

Left to right, Illinois Mulberry, not yet leafed out. The buds are swelling. Then 5-in-one European pear, beautiful flowers. You can't see the little Morello tart cherry, it has a couple of flowers, is in its 2nd spring, so not expecting much. Then Lapin? Cherry, covered in flowers, and the 3-in-one sweet cherry. I played the honey bee among the cherry trees, too.

This is the front side yard orchard. Each summer as I prune back I think "I've done too much! It won't bloom". Not true - covered with flowers. Last summer mid summer I pruned 3 or 4 feet of new growth off, back to about 6 inches of new growth. The trees are covered with flower buds. One is in full bloom, the other are just starting.

Hollywood Plum. The petals have fallen off. In bloom it was very beautiful. Unsure if it will fruit - pollinator may be wrong type, and too far away. Supposed to be self fruitful. Last year had 2 plums. They were SO GOOD! IF THE late frost didn't kill the flowers, I hope there will be a bowl of fruit this year.

The genetic dwarf peaches are nearly done blooming. More to follow. Shiro plum is finished blooming.

"First Fruits" strawberries, cherries, and raspberries.

The cherries are ripening. I always wonder if we will get any. They are the first tree fruit of the year.

This is the multigraft cherry tree. Even though multigraft trees are often scorned, this tree always bears well.

Fallgold Raspberry. I usually don't get many to bring into the house. The reason is I stand at the canes eating them immediately on picking, they are so good. The one downside is the canes are invasive. However, it's easy pulling up spreading canes.

Strawberries, my favorite! This is the first bowl full. There are many, many berries on the plants.  These are june-bearing.  The ever-bearing are close behind, even though I pulled off the first flowers.  I think this will be a good strawberry year.

Pink Cherry in Bloom.

Each year, someone suggests this tree is either about to die, or that I should cut it down. Each year, it is more beautiful than the year before. Today the earliest blossoms are open, with many more to follow.

Doing what the honeybee does.

The sweet cherries and pears are blooming nicely. It's chilly and rainy outside at the moment. I didn't stay outside very long. I have a bad cold.

This is a 5-variety pear tree. I played the honeybee, using a paintbrush, taking pollen from flower to flower. With compact trees, it's easy to pollenate several dozen flowers in 10 minutes. That's plenty. Pears require pollination from a different variety. With a multigraft tree such as this one, I can go from variety to variety without going from tree to tree. The pollen is a bit wet. I don't know if that's good or bad.

I found the label for the Asian pear combo tree. The varieties from bottom to top are Shinseiki, Yonashi, Hamese, and Mishirasu. One is missing, I think Yonashi. Stock is OHxF 97

White Cherry, Harbinger of Spring

This white cherry is one of my favorite things about this house. I'm guessing it was planted when the house was new. That would make it 45 years old. The thick trunk suggests it is an old tree. This year it's blooming about 4 weeks later than 2010. I will need to prune dead wood from the top this year. That will be after bloom is over, and after the rains have stopped. Summer trimming reduces risk for rain-borne disease. Meanwhile, I can enjoy the tradition of oohing and ahhing over the double white blossoms. Under the tree, daffodils are blooming, ferns are starting to unfurl, and hostas are beginning to poke through the mulch. I avoid disturbing the soil. Except minor planting and cleanup. Soil disturbance would hurt the tree. I did spread some chicken coop cleanings around the tree this winter, to give the tree s nutritional boost. Not much, just a thin layer. Then mulched with bark nuggets. It's a low maintenance part of the yard.

A little progress.

As discussed, the Stanley plum and Montmorency cherry are in the ground now. I cleaned up about 200 more square feet of front border. Probably 1,000 square feet done, 500 to go, my wild guess. Moved a couple of roses and a peony to more convenient spots. There was also a cluster of Chinese chives that I saved from my parent's yard a few years ago, that I had grown from seeds 40 years ago. Moved them to a slightly better spot where I can keep an eye on them. Another case of Darwin at work - I did my best, but if they don't survive this move, the've taken their place with the dodo bird as far as my yard is concerned. I think the roses will make it but digging up the peony involved slicing through some huge tubers. It was unavoidable. My guess is it will sulk for a year then resume former blooming.

Pulled away a lot of the creeping phlox. The idea with that groundcover was it would keep weeds away. Instead, it sheltered crabgrass and other grassy weeds. So I'm pulling it all up.

I gave the blueberries and rhododendrons a scoop of Whitney's organic acid shrub fertilizer, and mixed with the compost mulch.

Roses have an inch of growth. Chinese chives are a few inches tall. Pussy willow is blooming. Stone fruit buds are swelling. As I type it's raining like crazy.

Now I've done it.

I was at Home Depot buying tree-rings for two miniature apple trees on Thursday. They are reasonably cheap, cement-composite edging that will keep grass away from the tree trunks, hold in the compost and mulch, and make my life slightly easier, less maintenance. I also installed them on Thursday, my day off, removing grass from around those baby trees, and applying a mulch of compost. While at the store, I saw bare root fruit trees. Well, sort of bare root, they have been placed into large plastic containers with potting soil so they look like container-grown, but I think they are really bare root.

I don't know what's got into me. Yesterday I returned and bought a Montmorency Cherry and a Stanley Plum. The cherry is another tart (pie) cherry. I don't know if it is red juice - something I like. Rationale is as with the other tart cherries, later bloom less likely to be killed by frost, compared with sweet cherries. Plus I enjoy making pies and it's hard to find real pie-cherries at the grocery store. The pic is from Edenbros.com. References list Montmorency as self-pollinating as well, so no concerns about going from flower to flower and tree to tree with a paintbrush. Plan is to keep it pruned small as I do all of my fruit trees. I don't know where I will plant it. Dumb idea to buy a tree not knowing where it will be, even though I've thought about it for several days.

Similar for the Stanley Plum. Not sure where I will plant it. This is also listed in most references as self pollinating. Unlike my other plum trees, which are Asian plums, this is a European plum, not the same species at all so really qualifies as a totally different beast. So I'm not replicating other fruits. Pic is from EdibleLandscaping.com, which I like very much but is too far from me.This pic of Stanley Plum flowers also from EdibleLandscaping.com. Which kind of makes the point, my "backyard" orchard isn't all about fruit, it's about flowers, fragrance, growing stuff, puttering, and super-slow food, and a "green" thing to do. I'll find a spot for it, I have several places in mind.

Part of my rationale is I suspect the genetic dwarf peaches won't last too long, and I'll want replacements. Peach Leaf Curl is too much hassle. It takes a few years to get fruits, so I want a head start. I can move them next Spring if needed, they won't be too big. The trees are actually quite large, though, 6 foot. I will prune them back severely once Spring is here, to promote low branching, "Backyard Orchard Culture" low branch training.

Monday off, with chores

I forgot that I had today off, and went to work. After insisting that I was scheduled, I looked at the schedule and... oops.

So I came home, cleared some more grass-invaded border, hauled a truckload of prunings and brush to the recycling & composting center, and returned home with a half cubic yard of composted yard trimmings. Moved two roses into a better spot. Neither had great roots, but they should be OK. This will be a "Darwin year": where survival of the fittest means they either make it with the care that I can give, or they don't. No pampering for fruits and roses and shrubs that don't thrive. Even so, I surrounded the moved roses with compost, then did the same with the night-planted Indian Free peach and Almaden Duke cherry. Placed circular concrete aggregate border around 2 miniature apple trees (Liberty and Jonagold), clearing / weeding the center and adding a couple inches of compost. So no more grass invasion, or at least minimal. I'm gradually installing edging to prevent grass invasion along the entire front border, but it's a lot of work pulling out the old grass, so it takes time.

What else.... moved a yellow shrub peony to a raised location, above a retaining wall. It only grows to about a foot tall, and the flowers, while very beautiful, huge, and fragrant, droop and can't be seen unless the viewer is on their knees. This is a weird peony, not big enough to be a "tree peony" but with woody stems that add an inch or two per year, not dying down like other peonies. It's nice as a cut flower. I'm convinced it's an intersectional, a cross between tree peony and herbaceous peony, much like this one - Garden Treasure. (Wow, these cost a fortune! It came with the house, I'm too cheap to pay that much or a plant!) Peonies don't like being moved, but it's been moved before and did OK after a year of sulking. This peony sends out underground stolons with new stems, so it spreads laterally instead of vertically. I cut off a couple as a gift, maybe they will survive too. The main plant was also given a liberal ground covering couple of shovel fulls of compost.

Oh, planted 2 half-barrels with the new Seascape day-neutral strawberries. That's about a dozen plants, so I need to figure out what to do with the other dozen.

Planting in the dark

Wow, the Almaden Duke Cherry and the Indian Free (Blood) Peach came yesterday via UPS. I knew they would be coming because UPS sent an email

No chance this weekend to plant them. I dug the holes before work, and when I got home there was the package. So I planted them in the dark, via flashlight.

Nice looking trees, as usual for Raintree.

The strawberry plants are in the fridge until I can plant them.

New Fruits for 2011

I've been cleaning up the front border, basically a renovation after a couple of years of neglect. In the process I'm moving towards less ornamental and lower maintenance. I'm putting in edging to keep grass invasion limited (a challenge and the biggest weed problem), and mulching with a medium bark nugget for decreased cat digging - seems to be working so far.

I cut down a Golden Delicious apple tree that has been in place for 8 years without bearing a single edible apple. Each year it blooms then disease strikes. It's not good for my garden/climate and time to get over it. Plus, I cut down a volunteer Japanese maple, nothing special, and taking "forever" to make a nice size. A fruit tree would be perfect in that spot, would look better, bloom nicely, be the perfect size, and provide sustainance. I've calculated that there is space for 3 eventually well-pruned fruit trees as a result of this cleanup.

Among the challenges here in my Portland Oregon - area yard, mild winter combined with late frost leads to some of the biggest fruit-growing disappointments. Sweet cherries bloom early, and last year the frost took a lot of them. Even so, we had several big bowls-full. Sour cherries have great flavor, and bloom later. I have added a "Sure-fire" sour cherry that looks like it will have a good year this year (3rd season) and now will add another variety.

This is Almaden Duke from Raintree Nursery. I'm hoping for a sort of wild-cherry flavor. It's on Gisela-5 dwarfing rootstock. After placing the order, I've been looking online for this variety and it isn't discussed much. I'm suspicious it's more in the sweet than tart cherry category, but I don't know what that will mean about bloom time.

This is Beauty Plum. The pic is from Dave Wilson Nurseries. I hope that my Shiro and Hollywood both bear this year. Last year (2nd or 3rd year, I forget) the HOllywood had one and the Shiro had none. It's probably their youth, but reading about pollination I get very conflicting data. Shiro is either self pollinating, or partial, or not at all, depending on the website. Same for Hollywood. Plus they don't pollinate each other. So, I'm adding Beauty, which Raintree Nursery states pollinates both Shiro and Hollywood, and is very precicious, bearing in the nursery row. So probably at least blooming in the first year and more likely second year, to provide pollen for the other varieties. Plus of course they claim wonderful flavor.

Raintree lists Beauty as one of its earliest ripening plums, Shiro in mid-season, and Hollywood as late. That should provide a spread of harvest as well as color and flavor. (Arggh, just now, looking at Raintree, Beauty won't pollinate Shiro. I can't win!) Here is a site (Wolcott Garden Treasures) claiming that Shiro can be pollinated by Hollywood and Beauty, and vice versa. WSU Extension lists Shiro, Hollywood, and Beauty as good for Western Washington.

The Peach-leaf-curl has also been a source of disappointment. This Indian Free peach is reported as resistant. I think I don't really need a genetic dwarf variety if I prune carefully. Also from Raintree. Needs a pollinizer; other peaches are nearby. Here's a website with a gorgeous pic of this peach; amazing. This peach is very well-regarded on the Dave Wilson nursery website as well, although being a commercial site, I doubt that they wouyld describe any peach negatively. " For some tasters, the unique white (and red!) peach ‘Indian Free’ (or Indian Blood Free - origin obscure) is still unsurpassed among the white fruits. The intense aroma and tart-sweet flavor of a fully tree-ripe Indian Free has to be experienced to be believed. " Apparently the "Indian Free" and "Indian Cling" are different varieties, and my be referred to as "Indian blood" as well. Not self fertile, but apparently many have been grown from seed, which would mean they are genetically diverse.

Interesting article about the history of Peaches in the American colonies of the SouthEast here: "Historians believe that peach trees were first introduced into the colonial settlements of the United States by the French explorers in 1562 at territories along the Gulf coastal region near Mobile, Alabama, then by the Spaniards who established Saint Augustine, Florida in 1565 on the Atlantic seaboard. The peach trees were planted from peach seed imported from Europe in an effort to establish a self sustaining, agricultural. fruit tree product to feed the colonists. American Indians spread the planting of the peach trees throughout vast territories by transporting the peach seed to other tribes that lived in the interior regions. This new crop of fruit was fast growing, producing a delicious peach two or three years from planting. The trees were so productive and vigorous that sometimes, widespread impenetrable thickets became established from the peach seeds that fell to the ground from fruit unharvested. The illusion was formed by settlers after 1600 that the peach trees were native to the United States, since they were so widely spread and grew so vigorously everywhere. " also "In December of 1795, Jefferson planted 1151, peach trees after he had experimented with planting in 1807, the "black plumb peach of Georgia," (Indian Blood Cling Peach). This naturalized peach wonder had been planted throughout the State of Georgia by the Indians and was a dark-red velvety color with tiger-like striping. This fragrant peach was extremely desirable because of its rich coloring and taste... Jefferson believed that this Indian cling blood peach was a cross between naturalized peach trees and a French cultivar peach, "Sanguinole."

Finally, the strawberry borders are invaded by grasses. I've learned that I like having a harvest spread out, not all at once. So I am adding Seascape Strawberry, also from Raintree. These will be in containers. As it happens, I left containerized cannas outside this winter and they froze, so will have a convenient place to plant the new strawberries. It's hard to find a reasonably unbiased review of strawberry varieties - here's a comparison on growingstrawberriesguide.com; they seem to like Seascape. Of course it's all person- and locality-dependent, but most of the other "reviews" that I could find were really just ads. I may also try a local source of another variety, to compare and increase my odds of getting some good berries.

New Test Fruits for 2011

I have some spots for new fruits. Golden Delicious has to go - no apples for 7 years; 2010 was the most promising but succumbed to disease. There is no room for consistent non performers. In addition, Chinese Mormon Apricot died last year. And finally, the Hazel nuts produced, and the squirrels got every nut. I don't think I can protect them from squirrels, and if I do it will be too much effort. So I think the hazel nut trees, will go, even though they look like they'll have a lot of nuts this year.

I need to re-think the peaches, too. The genetic dwarfs actually look beautiful, bloom like crazy, but require a lot of effort to cover from the rain to prevent leaf curl. I didn't have time this year. I may spray with copper this week, if I get a chance. Not sure how that will work if it is freezing.

Here are the selections I am thinking about from Raintree.

I did research on late-blooming (to avoid frost), leaf-curl-resistant peaches. There isn't enough information to choose one over the others - if I could, I would pick the latest-blooming, most leaf-curl-resistant. However, it looks like the old variety, Indian Free, has a good record in the Northwest (taking that with a grain of salt). The down side is it needs a pollinator, but I currently have 3 genetic dwarf peaches and one peach-plum hybrid, so I hope that at least one of those will suffice. Raintree states: "Said to be one of the all-time highest rated fruits at taste tests, this heirloom variety was grown at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson, who prized it for its rich color, flavor and size. Naturally resistant to peach leaf curl, the tree produces heavy crops of large, aromatic cling stone peaches that have red skin and white flesh marbled with crimson stripes. When fully ripe in mid to late season, the rich, sweet, distinctive flavor is excellent both eaten fresh." and David Wilson nurseries states this peach wins their taste test. I feel frustrated about the genetic dwarfs, they are really beautiful small trees and I invested a lot of time and effort, and space, to them, but to (potentially) lose a year's crop because I didn't have time to do leaf curl prevention in November/December is frustrating. And it takes several years to bring a new tree into production.

Cherries have been doing well, but the challenges are early bloom, resulting in loss of a lot of cherries to frost, and splitting when there is a late rain. Two years ago I added a tart cherry, Sure-Fire. It had its first few cherries last year, and I hope for a larger crop this year, although it is still young. Tart cherries do not nead a pollinator. Many, but not all, sweet cherries do, and it's complicated because some will not pollinate others. Raintree Nursery (source of these pictures) has pollinator information. I chose this variety, Almaden Duke, as a self-fertile variety, hoping they are sweet enough to eat out of hand and will bloom later. We'll see.

Finally, I want to re-think strawberries. I usually get too many in June, and they become a mess of runners. I would like to try an ever bearing variety in barrels or raised beds, for easier maintenance. I have a couple of barrels to use, so plan on trying that. I chose Seascape Ever bearing to test due to good reviews on the internet.

The change for strawberries will mean much less maintenance. The barrels are very easy to maintain. And I hope an extended season with fewer berries at any given time. This is in keeping with my goals of 2011. The cherry is easy to maintain at small size by backyard orchard culture methods (see label link), and the peach should be easy as well - so genetic dwarf may not even be necessary.

Status Report: my Backyard Orchard Culture

Here's Liberty apple. Doesn't require much by way of pruning - the apples keep the growth to a minimum. Unclear if the 'socks' made a difference, we'll see when they ripen.

I was surprised to see that some hazelnuts did set. I thought they passed that stage with no nuts forming. We'll get a few. I pruned the branches back a little to encourage branching at small size.

The sweet cherries were growing out of control! They had 2 to 3 feet of lush growth. I don't fertilize them at all, but they must like the clay soil. Plus, last year I mulched with compost, which is as good as fertilizing. I'll avoid using so much compost in the future.

The same cherries, after pruning. I cut all of the new branches back, to 4 to 6 nodes, which is about 4 to 6 inches. I chopped the pieces and threw them under the trees for mulch, but the area was so weedy, I mowed with the lawnmower. Now the choppings are mulch for the cucumbers. I think I'll plant grass seed this fall. Then I can just mow, and don't need to worry about weeding.

Backyard Orchard

This time of year I feel very excited. We are almost to the statistical last frost date, probably far past it. Small fruits have formed on most of the trees. It's now time to prepare the fruit to optimize the crop.

Strawberries are not tree fruit, so may not count as "orchard". However, they are fruit, and have been very productive in past years. Currently neglected, but blooming like crazy, so I expect a good crop in a few weeks.

Ponderosa peach. This tiny tree is about 1 1/2 feet tall. It blood way to early - while the covering was still in place. It will have a few peaches, so I will get a taste.

I've learned my lesson. Don't be greedy. If a branch has 20 peaches, it won't support them, they'll be late, small, and not as sweet. I can't eat that many, anyway. I've been thinning them to about 4 inches apart. In general, the little branches are about 6 inches long, so I'm leaving one to 2 peaches per branch. That will still mean about 100 peaches per tree, if they all develop. I see in this photo that I missed some, so will need to go out and thin them. Initially I used scizzors to cut off the little peaches, but I found that it's easier to twist them off with my fingers.

You can see that peach leaf curl is present. The late rains, after I removed the covers, resulted in some leaf curl, but not too bad. I lost a few small branchlets on the peach trees, but overall they look great!

Sweet cherries don't need thinning. Each year, they set more fruit. Backyard Orchard Culture definitely works for sweet cherries.

Surefire tart cherry. This is its second year. The fruit set was much better than the sweet cherries, probably due to the later bloom, avoiding frost. There won't be enough for a pie, but we'll get several handfuls to taste.

Hollywood plum. Also in its 2nd season. It's a lot to ask, to get a crop at this point. The prolific flowers gave me a false sense of hope. But none set. Today I pruned, to open the center, and keep it small, the central tenant of backyard orchard culture.

Oh wait - a plum! One isn't much for most people to get excited about, but for me it will be a treat getting to taste it! Cool! The leaf:fruit ration is probably several hundred to one, so there is plenty of photosynthetic surplus to make it juicy and sweet. We'll see.

I wonder if the red leaves will fool the birds, keeping them away from the fruit? I'll cover it soon.

Grapes are getting ready to bloom. Still one of the most reliable and prolific fruits in my yard.

The new apple, Karmijn (see prior entries). Despite having few roots, here it is. I've noted that new fruit trees often have deformed leaves at first. It doesn't bother me, later leaves usually grow nicely. It's mulched with some lawn trimmings.

These small trees may take 3 or 4 years to bear. Gives me something to look forward to. I'm already thinking about what I'll add next Spring - there is room for a couple of columnar trees, such as Golden Sentinel or Scarlet Sentinel. There is still a long time to cogitate over it.

Honeycrisp apple. It had even fewer roots. It's growing. It will need water during the summer, sue to the small root mass. I'm happy to see it grow.

I've been thinning the apples to one per flower cluster. The clusters generally have 4 to 6 blossoms, most of which set fruit, so this means removing 4 or 5 fruitlets per cluster. I might be too early. It will take a while to thin apples on all of the trees. Again, I feel a little concerned I'm starting too early. I've bagged the apples with bags, bought from Raintree. These are like lady's nylons, maybe that's what they used to be! The idea is, the bags keep moths from laying eggs on the forming apples, so the apples won't have worms. It's another "we'll see" situation.