Fresh Fruit. 7.11.15

Crimson Pointe Plums.  7.11.15

 The Crimson Pointe plums are ripe.  Small plums, juicy but not watery, and a nice plum spiciness.  This plum is ornamental but the fruits are tasty.  Just not a marketable size.  The tree is no-maintenance.

I bought the Bella Gold Peacotums (peach/apricot/plum hybrid) at a farmer's market.  Initially I didn't think much of them.  Just kind of a generic stone fruit flavor.  After they ripened for another day, they seem sweeter, and I can taste the mix of flavors from each parent. They are pretty good.

Crimson Pointe Plum Tree.  7.11.15

Purchased Bella Gold Peacotums.  7.11.15

Bud grafting. Progress Report. 6.21.14

Shiro Plum Bud Graft at 3 weeks.  6.21.14

Shiro Plum Bud Graft on Older Wood, at 3 weeks.  6.21.14

Hollywood Plum Bud Graft at 3 weeks.  6.21.14

These are some of the plum bud T-grafts at 3 weeks.  I read they should be unwrapped at 2 to 3 weeks, so I did.

The Shiro graft on new wood looks very good.  Still green, plump.  So I'm confident it took.  The bud portion also looks viable.  I pruned the branch back some more, about 6 inches above the bud graft.

The Shiro graft on older wig - many 3 years old - is less  green looking, but maybe OK.  I think the younger wood is much better, when there is a choice.

The Hollywood graft is burgundy, so harder to see if it is alive or not.  I think is it alive.

The second batch of bud T-grafts look OK.

I think I'll wait for July or August before grafting more.

Sunroom. Budding. 6.17.14

Homework day.

Not bad.  The sunroom makes for a more tolerable time.  The tile floor warms up nicely, even on cloudy day.  Under the floor, is 6 inches of insulation, so it should be warm in winter, too.

I did take an hour break for garden project.  I grafted new buds from Shiro and Hollywood plums, onto the existing plum trees.  I imagine if they take, it will be 2016 when they first bloom and bear.  That will help with pollination, so I don't have to run form tree to tree with a little paintbrush.

I used Hollywood and Shiro because those are what I have.  I think they are good choices - easy to see the burgundy leaves of Hollywoodo, so I easily know those are grafted, and easy to identify which plums are the small bright yellow plums of Shiro, and burgundy of Hollywood, for harvesting.

It rained Sunday and Monday.  Today drizzled.  So the tree tissues were moist, the bark slipped easily, and the grafts were not too difficult for a novice.  I don't know if they will take and grow.  If not, there is July and August budding as well, and now I have more practice.

Fruit Progress Report. 5.3.14

Hollywood Plum fruit set.  5.3.14

Shiro Plum fruit set.  5.3.14

 Fruit set so far.

Hollywood Plum.  Not a lot but better than I expected.  I did not hand pollinate this year.

Shiro Plum.  Much more than Hollywood.  I did not pollinate this one either.

Hardy Chicago fig.  Very few brebas.  Growth is good so far.

Petite negri fig / Petite aubique.  Generous production of brebas.

Hardy Chicago Fig.  5.3.14

Petite negri fig with brebas.  5.3.14

Fruit Tree Blossom Times. 3.30.14

Asian Plums 3.30.14

Apricot  Blossom 3.30.14

Log for plum blooming times.

Unknown plum, not quite full bloom.
Toka, full bloom.
Satsuma, just past full bloom.
Methley finished blooming.

Among others,
Greengage just beginning to bloom
Stanley, doesn't look like it will bloom.

I pollinated several times using paintbrush.  Today it did not rain.  There were many pollinating insects, especially on the unknown variety of plum.  I didn't see much traffic to Toka or Satsuma.

Among other stone fruits,
The apricot seedlings have just a few blossoms.  I have been trying to pollinate them.  Looking,on a few the base of the pistol has minimal swelling.  That is  also the case with Methley.

Among the cherries, the first flower opened today on Vandalay.  Sweetheart has not started to open.  Those are only one year old.  Almaden Duke is covered with buds, none open yet.  The tart cherries, not near opening yet.  Montmorency and Northstar.

Peaches are done blooming.  Except the one and only blossom on Indian Free.

Toka Plum Full Bloom.  3.30.14

Almaden Duke Cherry 3.30.14

Sweetheart Cherry 3.30.14

Vandalay Cherry 3.30.14

Progress Report. Rain. No Puttering. Grafting Illustrations. 3.26.14

It's been very rainy.  Constant rain for a week.  I'm concerned the plums and peaches may not pollinate.

When I use a small paintbrush on anthers there is no visible pollen.  Washed off.  Just water.

Today about 50F.  Inside poly tunnel raised bed, 55F.  Not enough sun to warm it up.  Portugal Red Pepper I moved a week ago looks OK, maybe some new growth.  Chinese chives a foot tall.

At about 3 weeks, only one Four O'clock from the first, room temp non-soaked batch has germinated.  At about 1 week, one Four O'clock from the second, soaked, seed-warmer batch germinated.  So now, so far, I have 2 plants.  Better than none.  It looks like another is beginning to push up seed growing medium.   Will keep them on the seed warmer a few weeks.   No conclusions.  Not a randomized, controlled, statistically analyzed trial.  I think the soaking and warming is probably beneficial.

On Grafting, so far the grafts look OK.  Slowly swelling buds on all.  None have shriveled.  With the cool wet weather, they might look OK if they have not taken.  Found some illustrations from Gutenberg.org which are available to everyone to download.

Whip and Tongue Graft Illustration.  Dr. John A Warder.  1867.  American Pomology.  Apples. 

Side Graft Illustration.  Dr. John A Warder.  1867. American Pomology.  Apples. 

Whip and Tongue Graft Illustration.  H. Harold Hume.  1906.  The Pecan and Its Culture.  

Cleft Graft Illustration.  H. Harold Hume.  1906.  The Pecan and Its Culture. 

Hollywood Plums

Ning harvested the plums

Hollywood Plums

Ning harvested the Hollywood plums.  Nice big bowl of plums.  Very sweet and full of flavor.  I love these plums.

Planting a WIld Pulm Tree, grown from seed.

This wild plum tree was started from seed last summer.  It's now about 4 feet tall.  I'm impressed by the rapid growth.  I waited until I had a chance to build a deer cage, before planting it. 

This may need a pollinator.  I have 3 smaller specimens, started at the same time.  The plan is to plant at least one nearby.

I read that the leaves are a deer favorite.  So it is caged.

I don't know if these will serve as pollinators for my domesticated plums.  It's worth a try.

At this size, maybe it will bear in another season or two or three.  I would like that.


I like growing from seeds, for the genetic diversity and wondering what I will get.  I know they may or may not be good.  Since these are selections of wild plums, not hybrids, they may be more predictable compared to domesticated varieties.

 This photo is from last year, July 2012.  These are the plums.  The tree is down the street from me.  They are the size of a sweet cherry, but are sweeter, juicier, and have a plum flavor.

 After cleaning the seeds, I let them dry for a day.  Then cracked the hulls using a vice-grip.

 There isn't a lot of info about growing wild plums.  I based the hull-cracking method on some web info about other stone fruits.   I placed the naked seeds in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel, and refrigerated.  After about a month, they started to sprout and I planted them in potting soil.

Others were planted directly outside in potting soil.  Those grew more slowly, but they did grow.  They grew late summer 2012.  Not all of the seeds grew.  Maybe half.

This is the seedling late last summer.   I left them outside to overwinter.  No problem.

This Spring the trees grew rapidly.  I potted up as needed, in general purpose organic potting soil.  They've been at the Battleground place for about one month.

Kitchen Garden.

Zucchini

Blueberries

Now picking a couple of zucchinis a week.  We've eaten 4 nice zucchinis.  At the moment, all of the flowers are male.  The yellow ones are more tender.

Blueberries are in full season.

Mulberries are near the end.

Shiro plums are in full season.

We are getting a few figs a week.

Starting to get more Sungold tomatoes.

It's nice.

Home Orchard in Bloom

Almaden Duke Cherry.  Moved from the house in Vancouver mid summer.  At that time, it wilted a bit.  This tree is roughly 4 years old.  The blossoms indicate a nice bowl of cherries this year.  I'm happy it not only survived, but is thriving.

Euro plum. This tree came with the place. Deer ate virtually all of the leaves. A few new branches grew but it was shot for the summer. That it survived at all is a surprise. The new branch will supply some plums this year. The older branch, which was denuded, I will be happy if it just grows. Looks like it will. We will see if the fencing keeps out the deer.


Vandalay Cherry. This was planted bare root last month. I don't expect any cherries at all this year. The blossom suggest a few could happen. Just a taste.  

Shan Zha.  English name is Chinese Haw, Red Sun.  Beautiful new leaves.  Planted bare root last fall.  No blossoms, that's OK.  Too small for fruit this year.  Needs to grow and settle in.  The new leaves are a special effect.  Very nice.

Toka plum. Caged to protect from deer. Bought as a container tree at Home Depot last summer. Part of my attempt to get things started for the home orchard as quickly as possible, and start tasting fruit from my orchard as quickly as possible. If we get plums the first year after planting, that is awesome. Even a few.

Satsuma plum. Caged for protection from deer. In bloom. This was purchased last summer from Home Depot. Nice to see it blooming. Plums the first year after planting - nice. If they happen.

I can't get the text to align with photos, since the program updated.  Maybe I will figure it out.  If not, these will have to do.