KItchen Garden and Home Orchard. 7.24.17

Red Norland and Yukon Gold Potatoes.  7.24.17

 Lots of productivity in the Kitchen garden, and starting to get fruit from the home orchard.

I had not watered the Methley plum tree, so the plums are smaller, sweeter, and more flavorful.  Almost like moist candy.  This tree is about 6 years old.  When we bought the Battleground place, I moved it from the old yard, at about 1 year old at the time.  This is the first year with more than a couple of fruits.

Methley Plums.  7.24.17

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  7.24.17

Illinois Everbearing Mulberries.  7.24.17

Red German Garlic.  7.24.17

The potato crop is about half dug now.  The Yukon Gold is great for hash browns, every day for breakfast.  The Red Norland makes the best potato salad.  The Russets are not at harvesting stage yet, which is good.  Too many to dig all at once.

I thought birds would get all of the mulberries this year, but yesterday the tree was loaded.  We picked a big bowl of them.

I did not nurture the garlic as well this year.  Less water and less fertilizer.  The bulbs of most of the plants are smaller, but the Red German turned out nice.

Summer squashes coming on line now.   Some great fritters!

Zucchinis and Summer Squashes.  7.24.17

Orchard at 3 years. 11.8.15

Home Orchard.  11.8.15

Home Orchard.  11.8.15

This is the main orchard at 3 years.  There are also fig trees by the house and in the 2nd yard, apples and pears in the second yard, and columnar applesn by the house.

More should be producing next year.  Some of the plums have triple buds at the nodes for the first time.  Triple buds should indicate flower buds.  Those are:  Methley, some multigrafts, grafted Hollywood and Shiro, and some on the 1st year Ember grafted onto Hollywood rootstock that I planted here a couple of weeks ago.  Sweet Treat Plurerry has triple buds.  All of this is something to look forward to.

Others that look promising are Pawpaws NC-1 and Sunflower.   Rebecca's gold does not look like it, and Mango is just at first year.

The Asian Persimmons bloomed last year, so I am hopeful for next year.

The cherries should all produce next year.  They have lots of flower buds. Except Almaden Duke, which has tiny fungus mushroom-looking things growing out of the trunk.  Bad sign.  And some of  the apples should produce, they did this year and have active spurs.  Ditto for Asian pears and Euro pears.

Q18 peach and Charlotte peach have triple buds with fuzz - also look like potential flowers

Losses:  Indian Blood, I'm giving up.  No fruit and poor growth, it's been at least 5 years.  Minidwarfs on M27, I'm giving up.  Not worth the hassle and wait for minimal and bad yield.  Oregon Curl Free looks like it will die.

Anticipated additions or replacements:   Nadia Cherry Plum, Surefire Cherry.  Looking at web info, Rebecca's Gold Pawpaw may be late bearing.  I might buy an Allegeny Pawpaw which should be earlier and is a new-generation Peterson variety, probably the best of the best.  An apple and an Asian Pear.  That fills all of the empty, emptying, and potential new spots.

Just daydreaming.   I really don't need more fruit trees.  Pawpaws take 3 or 4 years, at least to bear.  That's a long way out, to start one at this point in my life.

There is a Korean Bush Cherry in the driveway that needs to be planted.  Possibly bloom size.

Home Orchard Plans for 2016. 10.27.15

Raining today. 

Thinking about next year.  Replace some trees that died, and plan for a couple that might, and replace a couple of non-
performers.

Esopus Spitzenburg Apple

Deaths:  
North Star Cherry.  2 years old.  Apparently voles.  There is no bark on the roots.
Big Asian Plum.  From the size and rings, at least 10 years old.  Apparently mining insects.  There were tunnels under the bark.

Non-performers.
Honeycrisp on M27.  Karmijn on M27.  I think this rootstock is way to limiting, and the trees can't grow worth squat.  These are planted near each other, and can be replaced by one larger tree.  I can use the Honeycrisp for scion.
Indian Blood Peach.  Maybe 8 years, only 4 foot tall, no fruit set, ever.

Opportunities.
I have 3 Hollywood Plum trees in containers, and one in-ground, started 2 years ago.  The container trees are larger due to TLC.
I have 1 Ember Plum, 8 foot tall whip, grafted onto Hollywood rootstock early 2015. 
I have potential scion sources, existing Toka plum, Hanska grafted onto on unidentified plum tree, Honeycrisp and Liberty apples on M27.
I have an unidentified plum grown as accidental cutting from the tree that died.  It's a good plum, large, meaty dark purple flesh.

Concerns.
Toka Plum.  Bark on trunk is highly damaged.  I don't know, by what.  I want to preserve the variety.  Use scion from existing tree,  on Hollywood Plum rootstock.

Montmorency Cherry

Plan.  Subject to change at any whim.

1.  Make a new Toka Plum, grafting from existing tree onto Hollywood Plum rootstock. 

2.   Move the unidentified plum cutting to a better location.  Maybe were the North Star Cherry died.

3.  Remove Indian Free Peach.  Replace with Surefire Cherry, new tree.

4.  Remove small Hollywood plum.  That one needs more TLC, transfer to container.  Replace with Ember on Hollywood rootstock.  I can  do that this fall.

5.  Make a Hanska Plum on Hollywood rootstock.  Grow in container to give it TLC until it is a good size.

6.  Buy scion for another plum variety - Superior?  Graft onto the 3rd Hollywood rootstock and give it TLC.

7.  Replace the M27 trees with Nadia Cherry / Plum hybrid.

8.  Try whip / tongue grafting to top work remaining branches of Almaden Duke cherry with Ranier and Lapin sweet cherries.  The T-budding didn't work so well.  A couple might have taken.  This tree has 2 rootstock suckers.  Maybe I should graft onto those, and cut down the original tree.

9.  I have the first apple that I grafted, but mixed the labels.  It is either Sutton's Best or Esopus Spitzenberg.  Either way, I can give that a try.  There is a second graft on that one, again mixed up.  Either Liberty or Jonagold.  I might graft onto that tree, a 3rd and 4th variety.  I can use the Honeycrisp, and might use scion from Fedco for another.

Hanska Plum

10.  I have rootstock, semidwarf but unsure which.  I can graft onto that and keep it in container for TLC.  Options, Pristine, which is early and very good, or something new from Fedco. 

11.  I think I will buy Sweet 16 from Burnt Ridge.   If so, it will need a location. 

12.  Oregon Curl Free Peach might also not make it.  The Peach Leaf Curl didn't kill it.  Canker might.  If so, I think this will be a good spot for a plum.  If  Toka doesn't make it, that will also be a spot for one of the new grafts getting TLC.

That seems like a lot.  I could easily use up the entire 2 acres, but I can't take care of that many.  This year I was not able to water enough, which might have contributed to a couple of deaths and some of the non-thriving trees.  Definitely Montmorency cherry and Saijo persimmon were stressed, but they look like they will make it.  The multigraft apples on the other side of the road, had very little watering but lived.  They are still young.  One is Chehalis + Akane + Jonagold + Summerred + Fuji, the other is the one described about with 2 semi-unknowns.

There is also a Jonagold on M27 in a flower border that contains 3 young columnar trees.  I think that will come out, and a new columnar that I grafted last year will replace it.

All images on this page are public domain, via U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705.  They either illustrate varieties I have, or might obtain, or I used as general illustration for that species.  Illustrations are late 19th and early  20th centuries.

Orchard Cleanup. 11.9.14

Orchard Cleanup.  11.9.14

Not much to clean up.  I'm changing approach to soil surface.  Previously, I planted various herbs around each tree.  Now I wonder of the more aggressive of those - peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm - competed with the tree growth.  The soil is very soft and moist today.  So for the first row - Saijo persimmon and the 3 paw paws, I pulled out the herbs and covered with collected maple leaves.  That's the end of the leaves, so something else will have to serve the rest.

Previous mulches have done a good job.  Soil was very soft and crumbly - not soggy clay.

Reading some permaculture, I wonder if this is what some hobbyists call the start of a "food forest".

Fruit Tree Shipment. Raintree Nursery. Apples, Jujube, Peach. 1.30.14

 The order from Raintree Nursery came today.  I've ordered from them many times.  As always, very well packaged.  The packing is shredded used paper, so environmentally friendly.  Compostable.  Based on this and other experiences, Raintree is AAA in my book.

The trees are very nice size.  I'm very impressed.  A little taller than the box, so bent over a little.  Not injured, straighten up nicely out of the box.

The miltigraft apple is Rubinette, Queen Cox, and Pristine.  Each branch is labeled.  All are listed as disease resistant.  In this climate, disease resistant is important.

When I get them to Battleground, I'll plant them and addend this post.

The Jujube looks many-times larger than the ones I bough 18 months ago at One Green World.  Those barely grew last year, so are still only about a foot.  This will need a pollenizer, but it's a start.

Now anxious to get out and plant.  Later today.  Good day for planting, overcast, cool, not pouring rain.  Yet.

The peach is Q-1-8.  Again, bought for reported disease resistance.  So frustrating to lose peaches to leaf curl.

Packaged Fruit Trees.

I take photos of the roots and newly planted trees, so there is reference I can look back too.  It helps me remember what I've done.

Q-1-8 is listed as peach-leaf-curl resistant, tested at the Washington State testing station at Mount Vernon "A sweet and flavorful semi-freestone, white fleshed peach. Great for fresh eating. Ripens early August. Showy blossoms. Self fertile".  Most peaches are self fertile.  Not that they would say one is not sweet or flavorful  :-)

Of the Apples, all 3 sound interesting.

Apple Roots

3-way Multigraft Apple

Q-1-8 Peach Roots

Q-1-8 Peach

Late December Gardening. Seedlings, Kitchen Garden Prep, Raised Beds, Lime. 12.28.13

Okra Seedlings

Seed and Cutting Setup

Today didn't do much.  In winter garden work can be when I feel like it.

Noted the okra seedlings have germinated.  That's 4 days.  See warming mat makes a big difference.  I had soaked them 1/2 day before planting.  That probably also helped.

I don't know how they will do inside.  That's why it's an experiment.

Chili pepper seeds have not germinated yet.

Opened fig cutting bags 2 days ago, and rinsed them.  Anticipate doing the same tomorrow.

Today -

1.  Spread lime in raised beds and around trees and shrubs.  I calculated the amount as 1 pound per 4 X 8 raised bed.  I estimated the area around the trees and shrubs, and orchard trees, and applied similar amount.  Two 25 pound bags.  Will need another later.

2.  There were some garlic plants and perennial onion volunteers that I pulled out a week or two ago when I cleaned up that raised bed.  I had set them aside.  Today I separated them into individual plants, and planted them.  They did not look the worse for wear despite sitting outside a week or 2.

3.  Spread blood meal around onion starts.  Something has been eating them.  Maybe the blood meal will be a deterrent.  The amount is the recommendation of nitrogen supplement.

4.  Cleaned up the strawberry raised bed.  Removed the fencing.  Raked out the deteriorating straw.  Pulled the few weeds.  Did not cut off dead leaves.  That can be later.  Plan:  Mulch this winter with compost.  Later this winter build a better fencing system, maybe a hinged box with chicken wire sides.  Wait until growth starts, to add straw again.

That's about it.  Sounds like a lot, but non of it was difficult and none took very much time.

Orchard ready for WInter

Home Orchard

The little orchard is ready for winter.  This week I added a layer of leaf compost on top of the mulch surrounding each tree.  Most of the trees are as pruned as the need to be.  For the most part, that's just removing a few terminal buds and small wayward branches to guide future growth.

I removed a fair amount of growth from the plum tree that came with the place.  Purpose, keep it compact, and keep the center open.  Last week I did the same for what I think is an apricot tree.

Most of the young fruit trees appear to have flower buds for next year.

Between now and Spring, I plan to remove the one jujube sapling, over to the bee garden.  Replace that with a 4-year-old plum currently growing in Vancouver.  There is a peach on order from Raintree, to plant in late winter. 

Fall Garden Chores.

No photos today.  Doesn't look like much.

I mowed the little orchard, until rain started.  I used the grass catcher, and collected grass clippings to mulch around the Buddleias and some of the fruit trees.  I try not to use too thick a layer.  Maybe 2 inches thick.  I extended the mulched areas a little.  It will break down quickly in the rainy weather.  It's a start.

Antique botanical sketch of mint.

I wanted to remove the rest of the culinary herbs from the bearded iris beds.  It was a nice idea.  If there was more room, I think it would be a great idea.  But with the small space, the herbs encroach too much on the bearded irises.  The herbs did not go to waste.  I moved them to the mulch rings around the fruit trees.  There the herb flowers will benefit pollinating nectar collecting bees.  And I can use them in the kitchen as needed.  I cut some tall mint.  It will be in the garage drying.  If it dries well, I can use it for mint tea (tisane).

Antique botanical sketch of Thyme

Among the herbs I moved, traditional thyme, French thyme, Lemon thyme; a short variety of Catmint - short but still encroaching on the bearded irises - and violets.  Most of these should provide bee forage.  I'm not sure about the violets.

Antique botanical sketch of violets

Violets are not considered a culinary herb, although some people candy the flowers.   I'm trying them because they are compact, make a mat that is difficult for weeds to penetrate, might be difficult for moles, too.  The roots are shallow, so I think not competing with the fruit trees.  They too were competing with bearded irises.  Not much, but shading the rhizomes.  So I moved them too.

I also planted in-ground, a 2-gallon size Lavatera.  I've gave it TLC all summer.  I have to plan for decreased energy, meaning fewer plants that need extra care.  With my illness, fatigue is a growing challenge.  It will have the rest of fall, winter and spring to establish roots before leaves and new branches grow.

I also did some minor shaping pruning for several fruit trees.  For the most part, that meant cutting the tips from branches, so they will branch out lower and more compact.  Peaches, Plums, Tart Cherries, Apricot seedling. 

Not much left for winterizing the orchard.  Much less work than last year.  I have a plum tree to move from Vancouver.  A jujube will need to move to the bee garden, to make room.  Late winter, add one peach and one jujube.  Get some compost to mulch the trees that I haven't so far.  That's about it.

Cherry Crisp

This is the recipe I used for Cherry Crisp using tart pie cherries from the North Star Cherry tree.

All along the plan was to make a cherry pie and be nostalgic about my late mom's cherry pie.  I'm too tired to make the pie.  Crisp is easier.  This was internet recipe.  I changed some ingredients.  Replaced shortening with butter.  Added vanilla.  I might have added almond flavoring but wanted to see how much the cherries tasted like cherries.

Cherry Filling
4 to 5 cups pitted sour cherries - I used 5 cups.  Cherry pitter worked great.
1 1/2 cups white sugar - seems like a lot, but that's what I did
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Topping
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 375F.

Sprinkle vanilla extract over cherries and stir to mix.  Combine cherries, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and 4 tbsp flour. Pour fruit filling into 9x13 inch baking dish.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbly.  Except I softened the butter, and it was difficult to make it crumbly.  It was more on the chunky side.   Almost a cookie dough.

I did my best to crumble it with my fingers and distribute the crumbs uniformly over the cherries.

Bake in preheated oven for 45  minutes until topping is golden brown.

It's in the oven now.  I'll edit this post when it's out.  And say how it tastes.  I proud of this.  It's the first thing I've baked from this cherry tree, which I grew from a small sapling.  In terms of slow food, that's about as slow as it gets.

Cherries and Berries.

Surefire Cherry

Surefire tart cherries

This was a good day for fruit.  Sweet cherries, tart cherries, raspberries, and strawberries.

Sweet cherries tart cherries, strawberries, raspberries.

Plums. Progress Report.

Hollywood Plum. Fruit set is the best I've ever seen for this tree. Promising.Shiro Plum. Ditto.

Ning planting 2 apricot trees

Neighbor had 2 seedling apricot trees they've been growing for a number of years. They wanted to give them away, so here we are! Nice neighbors! There is some risk - first, I've never been able to get an apricot tree to survive here. Second, seed-grown, no idea what the apricots will be like. Finally, they might need a pollinator. Still for #2, my neighbor has had these outside for maybe 6 years, in containers. I suspect they will be OK. Maybe there is a rootstock issue with the trees that have died? These are seed grown, so on their own roots. As for pollinator, since these are seed-grown, each should be genetically a little different from the other, so they should be compatible. As for the unknowns, we have room for them, and there isn't much risk, so here they are. This little orchard now has the 2 apricot trees, 2 pear trees, and an American linden (nectar source). Also planned are the 2 dwarf apples I bench-grafted at the Home Orchard Society grafting class, starting to grow. I'll keep then in containers for a little longer before planting in ground.

Planting Seeds. Planting Fruit Trees.

Planted these today.

The Catnip and Lemon Balm are listed in companion planting books as beneficial to various vegetables. I don't know that I believe that, but no harm either.  I could have just divided more of the volunteer lemon balm from the yard.  Wanted to see if the seedlings are different.  Somewhere I read, Malva zebrina is a Korean vegetable.  Better find that before eating it. Seedaholic.com states they are edible and have a mild flavor.  pfaf.org states the leaves can be used in salads and soups, and the flowers are an edible and tasty garnish.    Planted in old plant 6-packs I had in the garage. Reuse / recycle. Once they are growing I can put them in the protected raised bed to acclimate.

Also planted the Orca pear and Rescue pear that I had buried in compost on Sunday.   Glad they are in the ground.

Moving a Small Mulberry Tree

Now it's fall. It's chilly.  It's raining every day. Good time to move some more trees, I think. Better than summer, when I moved other trees. This time it's an Illinois Everbearing Mulberry. I originally planted it March, 2010. So it's had 2 summers to grow. I decided it will be hard to keep the growth controlled. The exposure was north of a privacy fence. The neighbor to the south has a massive uncontrolled apple tree, also competing. At the Battleground place, it will have full sun to the East, South, and West. So maybe more mulberries. They are very tasty. One of the most delicious fruits I grow.
 

"Mulberry Tree Wrap" in an old vinyl tablecloth for travel. No pics digging it up. It's the usual, dig a trench, then try to dig deeply under the tree. It was difficult to dig under the tree. Despite the rain, the ground under the tree was dry and hard.

This is my one chance to inspect the roots. Impressive root system. The roots look thicker than the trunk. They were not very deep. Maybe 18 inches, at the most.

Here we are, planted and mulched with about 3 inches of leaf compost mulch. I did line the hole with chicken wire, to annoy and frustrate the mole.  The mole had a tunnel at exactly this spot, so I think the tree was a sitting duck.

I read on another website that mulberries are a tree "not" to plant, due to the berry production. The main concern is that birds eat the berries. Then the birds defecate, the purple poop stains cars. The berries also stain sidewalks. There are no sidewalks here, and no place to park a car near the tree.  Cars are few and far between.  My plan was to keep the tree small, and cover with bird net. I may still do that. I could have cut it down, and bought a new bare-root tree to plant in Spring. Then I would lose two years of progress. By moving it, I may lose some progress, but not much.

I pruned about 1 to 2 feet of new branch growth.  That will make up for root loss.  I don't think I lost a lot of roots.  Probably less than 20%.  Maybe less than 10%.  That compares to commercially grown trees, which I read lose 85% of their roots when moved.

There is also concern about spread of mulberry trees via seeds in bird poop.  I don't think that's an issue here.

Home Orchard Society

Went to the meeting today. It was a great experience. I felt like I was among kindred spirits. Lots of fruit to view and taste.

Zillions of Apple varieties. All so much better than grocery apples.

These are the biggest. I don't need apples this big. They are fun to look at.

Grapes. Home grown grapes are fit for kings. People don't know what they are missing. Tasting many, I'm still convinced that grapes with seeds are superior to seedless grapes. Those tart tasteless things that pass for grapes in the grocery store should have a different name. They are not even close.

Chinese Haw / Shan zha. I didn't get a change to taste them. First time I've seen one. Second time might be on my own tree. Two years? Three?

Medlars/ I didn't get to taste these either. Another time. Later, other attendees told me they taste like spiced apple sauce.

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.

Asian Pears

Just when the plums are finishing, the Asian pears are ripening. Cool!

Hollywood Plums

A good crop of tree ripened plums - enough to share with friends and coworkers, who loved them. Grocery store plums are hard and sour. The tree-ripened plums are tender, juicy, sweet, and so flavorful!

Who is eating the Orchard Mason Bees?

Here are the mud-plugs carefully applied by orchard mason bees last summer. I noticed today that about 1/4 of them are poked out. Is it another insect? Birds?

Orchard Mason Bees are non-honey making bees that do not have the highly organized social structure of honey bees. They are efficient pollenizers of fruits (which is why I started playing with them). Honey bees are declining due to mites, and there is some thought that orchard mason bees will be needed in greater numbers to pollenate fruit trees.

There may be local bees anyway - they love the ornamental cherries. However, I bought a kit from Raintree Nursery (mail order), set it up, and even carefully left a bowl of mud near the 'bee house'. It was fun watching the enter and leave the little tunnels in the house. If only 1/5 of the tunnels remain intact, and those bees survive, it will be an increase over the original population.

Still, who is eating them?