Living in Illinois the weather is just starting to reach into the 50s. It smelled like spring yesterday, and I see the beginnings of leaf buds on my Japanese Maple. I even sat out on my deck (without having to wear a coat or hat!) and started my 2018 garden goals/todo list. This list, so far includes:
Prune nectarine tree, grade flowerbeds on south side of house, check roots on failing yew shrubs, move rock board to more compliment fence installed around pool last fall, among other planting and maintaining tasks.
I also want to add more railing boxes to my deck and front porch, but our deck is starting to rot in places so the focus will probably be on repairing that and the boxes will have to wait til next year.
My in-laws want to have a garden this year, and I’m excited to help with that. I tried Cherokee purple tomatoes last year, and we just don’t get the sun here for many vegetables. Next month I’m going to start some heirloom tomato seeds, and maybe some pepper seeds, and pumpkins for my son so we can add them into the mix after the last frost. Can’t wait!
That’s a valid point, especially with straight toilet bowel wax. I add candle wax to the toilet bowel wax and the result is a harder wax with less chance of contamination. I only cover about 2/3 of the scion with wax but still must be cautious about contaminating the cut. It’s useful when storing scion for long periods of time. It’s probably too much trouble for anyone doing a large number of grafts. Waxing can also be used when trying to root cuttings.
What’s Happenin’ in Southeastern Virginia.
Well . . . pomegranates are showing up in the high end supermarkets. Poms from Chile. I bought one. ($2.99 a pop) And I’m curious to know if anyone knows what variety they are? I don’t think they are Wonderful. The rind is thick . . . and almost spongy. They don’t have as hard a seed. Same color aril. Not quite as tart. Skin is smooth and a bit lighter in color, although my photo doesn’t look it. (Skin is a bit more ‘pink’.) These were marked ‘LARGE’. But they are really only about 3.5" across.
I am very excited and pleasantly surprised today. For a long time I’ve ordered my beloved Imidan 70 WP from the various on-line sellers listed in this sites reference pages. I’m a little embarrassed that I hadn’t tried this before, but today I stopped at the local co-op to see if they sell some of the sprays that I use and I wash shocked at the price of Imidan 70 WP (wetable powder). I’d been paying around $115-$130 per 5 pound bag PLUS SHIPPING. Turns out my local co-op has the exactly same thing- even divided into the 5, one-pound water soluble bags- for $59.99 and NO shipping. What’s more, I don’t have to pay sales tax there. So the final cost is well under 1/2 of the total price I was used to paying.
I tell you all this to encourage some of you to check your own co-ops if you haven’t already. Mine didn’t have it in stock but said it would be just a few days until they will receive it. I also ordered some Myclobutanil, but it wasn’t nearly as good a deal. It was $35 for a pint or $177 for a gallon. Obviously the gallon price is a big discount over the pint, but I don’t think the pint price is much cheaper than I’d paid online or even at Lowes.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised and thought some of you might be as well.
I add just enough paraffin wax so it’s not tacky nor to brittle. I also used it to root cuttings. Sometimes I just dip the cut tips. I didn’t like a full coat on my peach wood last year. I didn’t get any takes that way, but I did with wrapped peach wood.
The cold winter we had really made my contender happy. It has not bloomed this big in 3 years. Brings back memories of previous years where I got big blooms and some fruit from this tree. Excited to see what fruit forms next month. Contender is probably the best tasting peach I grow - just have not gotten the chill it needs in most years.
Oh cool! I didn’t know it had a showy bloom. I almost posted the question asking if any cold hardy peaches had a showy bloom like that. My Redhaven most certainly does not.
Darn. I am waiting for the buds to open on my new little Redhaven - to see what they look like. Swells but no open flowers yet . . . which probably is a good thing. Someone told me there is one more winter storm in our future.
That is one really ‘wonderful’ thing about pomegranates. Their blooms never ever ever disappoint! And they are around for such a long time! But . . . there’s nothin like a peach!
I will have to look into those. I am specifically looking for showy late varieties for my mom’s yard in Fayetteville, NC. None of the NC varieties are especially attractive, that I have found, but at least peaches grow fast enough to impulsively cross.
I am still looking for Carolina Belle, but the Georgia Belle it’s descended from isn’t very showy so I don’t expect it to be much different.
Redskin is another fairly hardy variety. At least in my climate it has produced some peaches every year for a decade. My avatar shows a Redskin flower. It’s a late peach.
I have a Ba-gillion scions, I should be able to add this one easily. I like that flower!
Spring yesterday, winter today! The snow is coming back for an encore.
One I would really want to try is June Pride (have scion). it is a late bloomer. It may not be a good fit, but thanks to fruitgrower growing it and posting photos, this one needs to be tested here. Fruitgrower is a good name for Jon, he has the touch! Jon thought June Pride was so good, it compares and even beats some of the best nectarines. For June Pride the patent has expired.
Zaiger has got to be one of the biggest breeding programs around and I think it is a mistake to ignore some of his peaches. Everybody was going for the whites with mixed results and the yellows seem completely ignored. Another with potential for the east is Kaweah. Beautiful looking fruit on this one. It is a high yield peach too. Jon said it’s really good too. Now these not work at all in the east, but they look to be top shelf peaches and deserve some trials in the east.
@Olpea, what does ‘showy blossom’ mean? Aren’t most peach tree blossoms pink, maybe i’m missing something. Least the 2 varieties i have and the peach orchards around me are pink…
