Peaches!

O'Henry peaches are on the menu for fresh, local (my backyard) fruit.  There are blemishes, but it's the price you pay to have tasty peaches at your fingertips and taste buds.  Bird netting was draped over the tree as the fruit started to blush.  It's not tied down and blows in the Sahara-like breeze.  Sorry birds. You lose.  There are some blemishes; but that's the price you pay for delicious, nutritious fruit.

O'Henry Peach

This espalier tree got away from me last summer as I wanted to have a canopy to shade the trunk and avoid scald.  Pruning was very light last summer.  Fruit develops on the growth of the previous summer; so I only pruned lightly to encourage fruit development.  Now I have all this growth and can't decide how to handle the growth.

Leave it and enjoy the fruit. Prune it and enjoy the look. Hmmm. Now that I have those options before me the answer seems pretty obvious.

With this historic drought, has anyone adjusted fertilization along with irrigation?  I've heard both arguments -  Fertilize less to reduce production that need irrigation.  Fertilize well to support stressed vegetation.  I heard the second argument on a radio ad for ag fertilizer so...

Scratch & Sniff with a Latin Flare

I would like to be more proficient with the Latin names of plants.  Right now there is only room for improvement.  There are plenty of scents in the spring garden.  The temperature is predicted to be 83° today; so there are many buds breaking and many bees buzzing.  I tried to associate Latin handles with some pungent scents in the garden today.  No way.  I had to cheat and look in my Sunset Bible for help.  See what you know.  I'll list the Latin name in the caption using the scientific name (genus/species) along with the plant family if I know it.  See if you know the common name.  Easy.  Cheesy.  Light & breezy.

Ready?  Answers below.

1.  Syringa Oleaceae

2.  Rosmarinus officinalis Labiatae

3.  Rutaceae

4.  Cruciferae mustard (or cress)

5.  Aloysia triphylla Verbenaceae

6.  Cruciferae mustard (or cress)

1.  Lilac.  This is one of my spring favorites.
2.  Rosemary.  Use the woody sprigs for kabob skewers by removing the leaves and soaking in water before threading you favorite BBQ stuff.
3.  Lemon.  Always a favorite and most always in bloom.
4.  Cabbage.  Ready for March 17th?
5.  Lemon Verbena.  I like rubbing my hand along the leaves to pick up the scent.  Adding some dried leaves in a card before mailing makes getting that piece of mail so much better.
6.  Broccoli.  It's bolting like mad and attracting so may bees and bumble bees too.

Garden Update:
All of the trees and berries (including blueberries) have received their 1st dose of fertilizer for 2013 followed by a long soaking.

Who Put the Ape in Apricot?

Blenheim Apricot is the 2nd fruit tree to blossom in the garden this spring.  It follows behind the Santa Rosa Plum.  All the trees are scheduled to be fertilized this week.  No rain or freezing temperatures predicted to get in the way of bees coming in to do their thing. The sap is flowing in all of the trees with some oozing out where it can.  Some is oozing where a certain dog applied his teeth leaving puncture wounds. I hope that the temporary blockades will keep the dog from pruning this tree any further allowing a bumper crop of apricots for 2012.

Another Winner!

The Santa Rosa Plum is once again the first fruit tree in the garden to break its bud.  Here’s the history:

• February 20, 2009
• February 14, 2010
• February 24, 2011
• February 11, 2012

2011 was the 1st year this tree could hold fruit.  Production was vigorous.  Temperatures have been very warm so early in the season and rain has been almost nonexistent.  The trees were fertilized on February 20, 2011 through to October 29, 2011.  Fertilizer was applied every 4 – 6 weeks between those dates. I plan to pick up some fertilizer next weekend and apply the 1st feeding of the year.Manual irrigation will most likely continue on through the growing season of 2012. 

This year, the tree was pruned to encourage healthy espalier growth.  Dormant spray was applied 3 times:

• January 1, 2012
• January 19, 2012
• February 5, 2012

Even though the dog is using his own pruning technique on the trees, I’m hopeful for a bounteous year of tree fruit.

Citrus Cafeteria

The trees in the garden are fertilized about every 6 – 8 weeks from the time they start blooming until the end of October.  However, the citrus continue to be fed (on a less regular basis) through the winter months.  Over at Chiot’s Run, Suzy in Ohio only feeds her Meyer Lemon 3 times a year - Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day.  I was told that citrus trees were heavy feeders; so I looked up the recommendation at UC Davis.  Sure enough, 3 – 4 times each year is a good fertilizing schedule.  I must have been told by a fertilizer salesmen that a more rigorous schedule was needed. 

All the trees were fertilized on October 29.  2012 will be the year that I save money on fertilizer. 

Family Tree

Grape – Red Flame

Farmer MacGregor is the right man for the job…the job of thinning grapes.  He’s been studying the best way to prune the vine and the bunches in order to produce big, beautiful grapes with an eye toward future production.  I don’t know a thing about it and I’m glad he is taking control of the vineyard.  Does one grapevine constitute a vineyard?  Thinning is difficult for me.  I know I’m not alone.  Onions are easy because they can be thinned and used as you go along.  The fruit trees are a different beast.  The fruit trees were thick with fruit earlier this spring.  All that fruit is a promise of jam, pie, cobblers, fruit leather, and just plain fruit.  Many encouraged me to thin the fruit out to enable stronger fruit.  I didn’t.  Mother Nature and her wind loosened the weaklings and threw them to the ground.  Thanks Ma.

With days full of garden chores and a nighttime addiction to ancestry.com, I have had little time to make entries in my blogging garden journal.  There is no 12 step program for this addiction and I don’t care.  Like gardening, history is especially interesting.  My branches extend back well beyond the Mayflower.  Farmer MacGregor’s branches are a challenge to me though.  One of those branches is especially difficult because so many records were destroyed during the wars in Europe.  Finding information, and some of that information is only a sliver, can help create a character in a complicated story.  This type of history gives me a greater appreciation to those before me.  Thank goodness they didn’t thin me from the tree.

 

Garden Note:

• Planted Sugar Baby Watermelon 05/22/11.
• Thinned grapes 05/21/11.
• Harvested garlic 05/16/11.
• Planted red peppers 05/22/11.
• Thinned & repotted spider plants 05/25/11.
• Fertilized vegetables 05/24/11.
• Amended two middle beds 05/22/11.  Added sand and Gardner & Bloom.
• Sulfate of Ammonia applied to front lawn 05/20/11.

Fruit Trees

Most all the fruit trees are producing great this year.  They are 3 years old and trained espalier to keep them manageable, tidy, and productive.  Organic fertilizer is applied about every 4 - 6 weeks.  Irrigation occurs as needed.  I use a moisture meter to determine when to soak the basins.  Pruning/pinching happens as needed and it’s been needed quite a bit lately.  So far, the trees have been pruned 3 – 4 times this spring.  The goal is to encourage a dense canopy over the open branches to avoid any sun scald to the fruit, trunk, or branches.  The wire cable seen in some images is used to train the espalier.  When the branches mature, it will be removed.

Plum - Santa Rosa

Plum – Santa Rosa:  This is the western most tree and maybe the hardiest.  The fruit is really developing nicely with the weaker ones thinning out naturally.  Thank goodness.  Thinning is taxing to me psychologically. Seeing the smaller, weaker plums take a dive for Darwinism helps me out.  Thanks weaklings.

Peach – O’Henry

Peach – O’Henry:  Pinching the tender new growth of the peach tree is a snap and can be do simply using my fingernails.  By pinching the tips, new growth is forced elsewhere helping to form a thicker shade canopy.  The peach isn’t the most vigorous tree but the fruit is really good.

Apple – Granny Smith

Apple – Granny Smith:  Not many fruit was produced in 2010 on this tree.  2011 looks to be way more successful.  These should be ready to harvest in August.  Old Granny had sun scald troubles.  Umbrellas will be used to shade any trees that are showing signs of being sensitive to the sun.  The umbrellas will go up nonetheless to comfort a whiney gardener with swamp pants.

Pear – Warren:  Sadly, I didn’t snap off a picture of Warren.  There are no fruit but the foliage is looking great.  Pears are some of the easiest trees to espalier train.

Nectarine – Fantasia

Nectarine – Fantasia:  Poor thing.  This is the 1st year any fruit has formed.  Sadly encouraging.  This tree suffered major sun scald.  I thought it would need to be replaced this past winter.  But it seems to be producing.  The goal is to encourage more leaves and make it stronger. 

Apricot – Blenheim

Apricot – Blenheim:  One of my favorites.  “Who put the ape in apricot?”  Name the movie.  This is really exciting to have a healthy apricot tree.  Blenheim sits at the eastern most point on the line of espaliers.  It is as vigorous as the plum.  New growth is regularly pruned/pinched.  Only recently has it begun to shed weaker fruits.  There are still plenty of beautiful, healthy apricots that should be ready in a few more weeks.

Another application of fertilizer is due in the next few weeks.  The trees were last fertilized during the 2nd weekend in April.  Heck.  This weekend seems like a fine time to feed these hungry babies.

Clip Clip Here. Clip Clip There.

 Santa Rosa Plum

This past weekend the fruit trees enjoyed a little beauty treatment.  A light trim to encourage the leaves to bush out and shade the branches from the sun, a nice helping of fertilizer, and a good deep soak was provided for all the espalier fruits.  Citrus trees will have to wait until I buy more fertilizer.  Most of the trees are not symmetrical and that burns Farmer MacGregor just like he burned the weeds in the lawn.  You see, Farmer MacGregor enjoys symmetry.  So, not only will the goal for the trees this summer be to bush out a bit more but once the abundant (I hope.) harvest is complete, a bit heavier pruning may be needed to get things in line.  Some branches will be encouraged to extend past their current boundaries.  That’s the goal for these trees – plum, peach, apple, pear, nectarine, and apricot –for the summer of 2011.  These trees weren’t the only items trimmed this weekend.

Yes.  Farmer MacGregor received a haircut from yours truly and looks much more symmetrical.  He may even experience a burn to his neck similar to the sad state of the lawn.

 

Note to self:  Schedule tree feeding with Farmer MacGregor haircuts.

Tree Feedin’ Time

  Today was a perfect day to fertilize the trees.  To be clear, cool and overcast is perfect weather for this gardener.  The trees don’t give a hang.  The recent storm was breaking up so conditions to work in the garden were great.  All the trees were given their 1st feeding of the year.  This will be repeated every three month (approximately – if I remember) during the growing season. 

The boysenberries were fertilized with the same fertilizer.  The recommended schedule for the berries is every two months.  The canes were purchased last February as bare root stock and produced one berry.  This season is off to a great start with several buds on the year old canes.

Gardner & Bloome is the organic line from Kellogg.  If this is junk, let me know; but it’s what I’m using for the time being.

Along with the boysenberries here’s the list of trees fertilized with Gardener & Bloome today:

Blenheim Apricot

Fantasia Nectarine

Granny Smith Apple

O’Henry Peach

Pink Variegated Lemon

Rio Red Grapefruit

Robertson Navel Orange

Santa Rosa Plum

Satsuma Mandarin Orange

Warren Pear

It’s Good for the Roses

The spring weather has the weeds/wildflowers sprouting.  It’s warm enough to go out and enjoy a walk and meet new friends while enjoying their gardens.  The days are getting long enough that there is no rush to hurry before the sun sets.  It stays light until about 6pm now.  Plenty of time to take a walk, start dinner, and do a little gardening before it gets dark.

Horse manure is supposed to be great for the garden.  Steer manure can have salts and seeds – but I’m no expert.  My experience has me favoring bunny poop.  That stuff is potent.

A local rancher is looking to put his bounty of manure from grass fed cattle to work not only in his own garden but marketing the stuff for “tea”.  I hope he does and has much success.  Perhaps he would like me to test his product for a review.  I would be delighted. 

In the meantime, I need to bargain with that stead for its leavings.  It is good for the roses.  Please watch the Quiet Man to understand the reference to the roses.