2 miniature and one columnar apples.

Jonagold. Last year this tree had fire blight and was "appleless". This is the first year to produce some fruit. Almost ripe.



Liberty. This tree was free of blight last year. The apples were bland. Will try eating them sooner this year, maybe there will be more flavor.



North pole. Also bland last year. Does anyone know when to pick the apples?

Today I pruned the sole non-fruiting apple tree (a golden delicious). This tree had a severe case of blight last year, and survived but no flowers this Spring.

Summer pruning keeps the trees compact. There are various methods. In some methods, the branches are cut back to a couple of nodes (Lorette pruning) in mid and late summer (more than one pruning). Since these trees are still young and small, I did not trim back so severely. I did cut back about 3/4 of new growth on the golden delicious. About one month ago, I similarly pruned several dwarf Cherry Trees.

Here is a good article about maintaining a backyard orchard. The key features are:

1. Plant a diversity of fruit trees for a succession of fruit over many months.
2. Choose dwarf varieties.
3. Plant them close together.
4. Keep them pruned to control size and optimize production on the small tree.
5. Don't be intimidated by pruning. Some shapes, such as espalier, can further increase the amount of fruit in a small space.

I would also add,
1. Also grow small fruiting plants (such as strawberries) and fruiting shrubs (such as blueberries and raspberries) which can be very productive in a small space. Fruiting vines, such a grapes, can produce in areas (such as an arbor on the side of a house or over a deck, that might otherwise not allow for plant growth.
2. Try container methods, which expand the climate limits by allowing for storage of dormant plants indoors, and which can be moved to different locations depending on yard needs and plant size.
3. Mix in other plants to improve pest control. I think that some herbs, such as chamomile, mints, chives, garlic chives, lavender, and others, attract small insects that help control pests.
4. Changing to a minimalis attitude about the lawn can reduce the nitrogen and water used in the garden. Decreasing nitrogen use can improve fruit production (by decreasing rampant growth favoring leaves over fruit). Im not sure about the effects of decreasing watering on fruit production, but at least one reference startes that an overwatered lawn also reducesfruit production.

There is still a chance: Figs from Oct 2005

Days are becoming shorter, nights getting cooler. Will there be any crop figs this year? Photos offer hope. Taken 10/15/05.

This is Vancouver Brunswick.



This is Petite Negri.



One of each. So, there is still a chance.


I think that the Brown Turkey figs will start to ripen in a few weeks.

Waiting for Gentrification: Downtown Quincy, Illinois

Well preserved architecture. I remember when this theater was open (boy am I old). I didnt have to wait for the street to clear - it was this empty already. There are so few cars - it's like a scene in an old sci fi movie, after everyone dies of a mysterous disease and leaves the town vacant (like, say, the Andromeda Strain).



When I was a high school student, this was the Quincy Free Public Library. I was a page there. Boy am I old. By the way, the year that "The Andromeda Strain" came out was about the last year that this building housed the Library.



Diamonds in the rough. If these buildings could be moved, brick by brick, to, say, Astoria, they would be a great tourist attraction. I suspect that the main reason that they are still standing is that no-one cares enough about the neighborhood to either renovate them (in the wrong hands, disasterous) or demolish (which would be a big loss).



Washington Park. These trees are huge. Lindens, Elms, Maples, Sycamores, a Ginkgo, various evergreens. What a treasure.

Three Ginkgo Trees in Quincy, Illinois

This tree is female; she is the mother tree of the ginkgo in my yard in Vancouver WA. (This begs the question - many animals have different term for male and female - ewe and ram, cow and bull, doe and buck, woman and man. So, is it ginkga and ginkgo?). In about 1965, Herman Deege taught me about ginkgos (or ginkgas) via this tree, which when young had the shape of a pine. He was a WWI veteran who was a POW in the UK.



Impressive tree in Indian Mounds Park, south side of Quincy. I dont recall ever seeing a larger ginkgo in person. Probably male, given that there are no fruit on the branches (probably why it survived. Dinosaurs may not have been a problem, but chainsaws are)



Even a ginkgo in Washington Square. Also inpressive size. Do I recall this one from my adolescence?

Travel / off line for 4 days

Flying to Quincy Illinois for 4 days. Probably can't post (at least, not photos) until return.

Quincy is a historic town, by the Mississippi River. A few interesting things happened there.

It's hot and humid in the summer, cold in the winter. Great tomato growing weather. Rich black loamy soil. Good for apples and corn and soybeans.