Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
"Gene's Backyard Orchard" Web Site Review #1.
Here is a site that visits Gene and his backyard orchard, in a Chicago Suburb.
Gene has been growing dwarf apples in his yard since 1983. He has 93 varieties of apples in a 2,500 sq foot yard. He keeps them pruned and maintained to a mini-dwarf size - generally, smaller than our fruit trees (although similar to our mini-dwarf apples).
Visting his web site, I get the feeling that I'm visiting a real person's yard. It would be fun to follow him around the yard and hear what he has to say about the individual varieties, and talk about his grafting technique and what works, and what doesnt.
He's not organic, but does pay some attention to avoiding spraying when bees are present. He tells us how he knows that an apple is ripe. He describes why his beds are geometric, squares instead of circles.
This is the kind of folksy, 'next door neighbor' site that I especially like to read. It's kind of an old posting. On a news story link from the the midwest fruit grower's site, he states that he now has 176 varieties.
This also has me thinking - with a California Rare Fruit Grower's association, and a similar association in the midwest (see link above), maybe we need a backyard fruit growers association in the Maritime Pacific Northwest. Hmmmmm.
Gene has been growing dwarf apples in his yard since 1983. He has 93 varieties of apples in a 2,500 sq foot yard. He keeps them pruned and maintained to a mini-dwarf size - generally, smaller than our fruit trees (although similar to our mini-dwarf apples).
Visting his web site, I get the feeling that I'm visiting a real person's yard. It would be fun to follow him around the yard and hear what he has to say about the individual varieties, and talk about his grafting technique and what works, and what doesnt.
He's not organic, but does pay some attention to avoiding spraying when bees are present. He tells us how he knows that an apple is ripe. He describes why his beds are geometric, squares instead of circles.
This is the kind of folksy, 'next door neighbor' site that I especially like to read. It's kind of an old posting. On a news story link from the the midwest fruit grower's site, he states that he now has 176 varieties.
This also has me thinking - with a California Rare Fruit Grower's association, and a similar association in the midwest (see link above), maybe we need a backyard fruit growers association in the Maritime Pacific Northwest. Hmmmmm.
Asparagus Planting (delayed entry, planted 2 14 08)
These were the asparagus starts that I planted 2 14 08. Other people eat chocolate or send cards with red hearts. I plant asparagus.
See today's entry below for how it looks now. Sprouts are 1 to 4 inches tall today.
These starts are bigger and plumper than I tried last year. They are mail order from Raintree.com.
This time they were soaked in water. Soaking time was about 2 hours.
They were planted in a trench. I covered them with a couple of inches of soil, wtihout filling in the trench completely. This is closer to the 'traditional' method, so hopefully I did it right this time.
See today's entry below for how it looks now. Sprouts are 1 to 4 inches tall today.
These starts are bigger and plumper than I tried last year. They are mail order from Raintree.com.
This time they were soaked in water. Soaking time was about 2 hours.
They were planted in a trench. I covered them with a couple of inches of soil, wtihout filling in the trench completely. This is closer to the 'traditional' method, so hopefully I did it right this time.What's Growing March 15 2008
VIctoria Rhubarb. This has been fertilized with generous helping of Chicken Compost, after earlier servings of Starbucks Coffee Grounds. The mulch is chopped yard waste, mostly trimmings from lavendar and grasses. Can rhubarb pie be far behind?
Chinese chives. Similar supplements as the rhubarb, but the mulch is bark mulch. This is more weed prone than the rhubarb, so I wanted something less likely to allow seeds to sprout. Chive dumplings ahead, in about one month....
Success at last! At least, in so far as getting purchased asparagus starts to sprout. So far 7 of the 10 planted have come up. On from of the asparagus, potato onions, about 5th generation of saving starts. This time I want to settle on this one heirloom variety only.
What's Blooming March 15 2008
Blooming indoors, anyway. Ning's yellow clivia, grown from seed. "Yellow Sahin's". The sprouting berry was planted today as well.
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