I’ve been feeling sympathetic with you when you’ve complained about your weather. Pffft! If that’s what your worrisome sounding weather helps you produce, there was never any reason for sympathy. My struggle to keep things alive over the summer has begun. I’ve got 3 hoses running right now, and have carried jugs of water out to the impossible to reach spots. This past week I’ve watched the thunderstorms build up and go elsewhere to drop their rain. When I saw apples on a tree starting to shrivel I decided it was time to give up on hoping that some of our rain forecasts would be true.
Everything you posted looks so happy and promising. I hope you have a wonderful year of harvest. That mango would be happier here in my tropical beds, though. Just kidding. I’m sticking with cultivars that I can move to containers.
We also had a late spring here with freezes every night until a couple weeks ago. The upside to that was it turned to summer overnight jut at the right time and we are also having a banner growing year for things( except the morels ) ! Might not happen that way here for several years again …
I was sweating that mid May freeze big time. We did drop to 30F that night and surrounding spots hit low 20Fs. I caught a huge break on that one. I think the big temp changes were what was causing all the fuss. Being very warm and then very cold. The plants overall did very well. I think i have more damage from borers then anything else.
This morning was warm and mostly sunny after a nice rain late last night. Love these mornings. Not much wind. Hopefully it turns drier as things start to ripen or the brown rot monster will show up.
Unfortunately About 5 min from MN and about 25 min from Iowa. I think the NE has had the brunt of the spring time cold. I haven’t looked, but yesterday the model had a nice slug of cold Canadian air dumping into at least northern parts of NY state… I’ll be honest. A little cool air this time of the year isn’t a bad thing.
The Flavor Supreme is potted, the Tangos, the Sweet Bagel, and the pluot seedling. I also have a bunch of other potted stuff. The in ground trees produce way more fruit, but the potted stuff seems easier (except watering) to handle (they stay dwarf/very easy to spray/minimal pruning/minimal thinning/no winter die off/spring freezes not an issue–just move them).
I also have a seedling apple that is fruiting for the first time. I really have no idea what to expect.
I am running out of planting spaces in ground and am wondering if growing in pots is for me. I know you have done potted plants for many years. I consider you an expert.
No expert! I use a lot of woodchips (free is best) or better would be pine bark, peat moss, perlite and even leaf mold sometimes. The goal here is to try to keep it on the light side because some of my trees are in 25 gallon pots now. Fertilize often (in the past i wasn’t doing it enough) and water often during the heat of the summer.
I’m still figuring out how much fruit to leave, how much pruning to do to force new growth for next year (peaches) …haven’t even attempted root pruning, although i have pulled the rootballs and added more soil to the bottom of containers (the soil shrinks over time–woodchips breaking down).
I grew iceberg type lettuce for some reason. I have 5 heads going. I actually prefer it to loose leaf type lettuce (which i use to grow a lot of). I should probably get back into growing more veggies.
Thank you. 25 gal pots! Not sure where I can find spot in a garage in the winter for them.
I just have a spot fot veggies for the first time in many years. I like lettuces, too. Maybe, I should try. Yours look very healthy. I have seen at least two bunnies running around. They are my potential destroyers.
Rabbits don’t actually seem to bother them that much. I have some lettuce that isn’t fenced, and while nibbled on, they don’t hit it that bad. They by far hit the small trees way more–especially new pluot/plum growth. There must be vitamins/minerals in those leaves that they crave or maybe they are sweet or something.
I’ll look up Joker. I’m going to pick some iceberg this week to make some salads. It is suppose to torch late this week so it might be time to be done with them.
I sowed all my veggies yesterday. Perfect weather, light rain and a bit cool.
I went with green leave lettuce because it is supposed to be picked sooner than iceberg, like two weeks earlier. Planted carrot, green beans and snap peas, right in the middle of my front yard.
Don’t have skills to build any aesthetically pleasing trellis for the beans and peas. We grow bamboo in the backyard. I could just criss-cross bamboo sticks and call it a trellis. Fortunately, I do not need to comply with any housing association protocol
I thinned them more last night. They really overset. I was assuming PC would get some of them, but that hasn’t been the case yet. Properly thinned…those are excellent plums.
I chopped back this Mericrest nectarine a few weeks ago. I kept three lower limbs because i like lower limbs for container trees (easier to get into the garage). This one is in a 15 gallon pot.
Same here…people park in their front yards. Its an older housing addition(1950s). I try to keep things as clean as i can, but it takes a lot of time to weed/etc. My lawn is just a mess of weeds…well clover too which the bees like.
My main reason for not wanting to live within any city limits or anywhere that has an HOA is the restrictions they place on utilizing and enjoying ones own property. I’m with you in enjoying the freedom to plant what I want, where I want.
This is a glorious morning here. We’ve had a soft rain falling for several hours. Finally! I so needed a rain that would water more than grass and weeds. I wish we could get something like this once a week. I went out and spent some time weeding in the rain. The break in the heat is as welcome as water. I can work without having to come in to collapse. I’m greatly enjoying it today, because we never know how long it will be between rains in the summer.
Just kidding. I’m sticking with cultivars that I can move to containers.
About 5 min from MN and about 25 min from Iowa. I think the NE has had the brunt of the spring time cold. I haven’t looked, but yesterday the model had a nice slug of cold Canadian air dumping into at least northern parts of NY state… I’ll be honest. A little cool air this time of the year isn’t a bad thing.