RL, I planted about a dozen more Barbados seeds. This time I did not nick them with a file. I just soaked them for 2 days in a glass of water. After just 6 days, I have 5 plants up already. I'll use this method going forward.
I'm taking notes. Thank you, Wolffman! apparently,my seeds won't be here til' late August. Coming from Barbados..via snail mail. Out of all the folks that was on ebay, I had to buy the one from Barbados. I did picked a few seeds from the plants that I have here per your suggestion.Thanks again!!
Busy weekend
Harvested peaches from my tree ~26 pounds. Not quite ripe but not being lost to a chipmunk anymore.
Hosted my son's birthday - 8 kids under the age of 7. Maybe I should say my wife did this and I avoided the kids.
Did some maintenace at my community garden. That thing is a mess. Harvested 18.1 pounds - 2 watermelons, 4# of tomatoes, a bag of green beans. The big vining plants are out of control but I do have some of the largest butternut squash I have ever seen.
Pole beans are much easier than bush beans.
My harvest is now up to 127 pounds. Including the wheelhoe I've spent $297 (without the fancy tool I have spent $71). This works out to spending $2.37 a pound of garden produce.
I have some major problems with peach scab on this tree and leaf curl is starting to show up. I need to become a fungicidal maniac before the next crop.Super nice, Mr Yan! especially the peach. There is something seriously wrong with my peach tree.Close to 11 years old, and all I got was 3 harvest.It was far fetch of 26 lbs. like yours!! LOL!!
I have some major problems with peach scab on this tree and leaf curl is starting to show up. I need to become a fungicidal maniac before the next crop.
Last winter was really a failure of a season as we really only went below zeo once nad had almost no snow. But that turned into huge fruit crops. Have you read about the cherry farmer in Traverse City MI who had to dump 14% of his crop on the ground? I used to work on a cherry farm in northern Michigan and shaking fruit to the ground sucks.
I just read that the farmers alminacs are calling for a cold hard winter. Who knows they may be right one of these years.
The drouught killed the rabbits, so the coyotes ate the feral cats before they starved, then the hawks all starved or moved to greener hills, and now with no help from Nature to control the pests, I am back to trapping ground squirrels, rats and a possum. And i do not live in the country.
Yan, i am surprised you have such a long growing season. We only had 100 frost free days, ending by September 15, in Idaho. We were close to the 49th parelell, which is a good bit north of you, but i assumed you had colder, longer winters there.
Ernie
@ErnieCopp We tend to get both cold and hot though large areas of the country get either hotter or colder. We also, usually, have a sharp transition between winter and summers. We're slightly north of the 42nd parallel and just above 700 feet elevation. I don't think we have had a day this summer above 100 F though we have had several days in the upper 80s to mid 90s with dew points in the upper 70s. We don't get much snow in the winter (70 inches and they start talking about setting a new record) but we do get cold. Typically we have at least a week where the temperature doesn't get above 0 F.
@RLwhaler I'm lacking a good source for home fruit growing. Most books either cater to absolute beginners and fail to help with grafting or pest / desiese control or cater to much larger and specialized orchards. I'm thinking about making a post that would compile links (mostly extension office articles) and use that as a reference. I'll also print much of it out as I like to have reference materials in hard copy. Still kicking myself for selling off many of my engineering texts from school - now I'm starting to re-buy similar books and they're expensive.
I also have a chipmunk problem here. Not a fan of poisons. The terrier is a useless wimp. Don't want to use snap traps with kids (one is only a year old) playing back there. Starting to think either pellet gun or get really good with a bow. Pellet gun would be easier but I don't really like the idea of shooting lead into my garden area.
Other notes:
Kids started school today here.
One kid had their 4th birthday today.
I wound up with 10 Barbados seedlings. I'll see how big they get before winter. I planted the Pride of Madeira a few days ago, hopefully some will sprout. RL, you'll need reading glasses to plant the Madeira.
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Wettest August I've ever seen. I can barely keep up with all the yard mowing. RL, I did not have any luck with the Ebay Madeira seeds, nothing came up. I'll try to find some from a reputable source.