In California you can cross 5 climactic zones in under 2 hours driving, sometimes under 1 hour. That doesn’t happen in the midwest. We are ideal for ripening charts because there is almost no climate variety.
2 Likes
@ShiverMinneapolisZ4b
Members here have demonstrated otherwise.
2 Likes
On your map, I see that in California you could drive 30 minutes and cross 4 zones. In Minnesota you could drive 4 hours south and still be in the same zone. That’s why ripening charts are more consistent here and why you call our state a flyover zone for being so boring (no mountains, no ocean – I’m not saying you are wrong about that last part).
We are the ideal candidate for ripening charts, and no surprise I see charts for annuals all the time. I wouldn’t expect charts for inland states to apply in the PNW or Alaska or Leadville Colorado, but I’d have some help in planning a home orchard.
@ShiverMinneapolisZ4b
There’s more to local climates than cold hardiness and heat zones.
2 Likes
I am going to replace my isons muscadine with a Oh Yes…
Isons is a great (old school ) muscadine… if you dont mind tuf skins and seeds. We do mind tuf skins and seeds… seedless, edible skins much preferred.
I am still working on getting all my beds and tree mulch circles mulched good. I mulched several of them with maple leaves late fall…
Then bought a 3 in one push mower… that Bags, side discharge and mulches.
I have been mowing around the edge of my fields… where there is a mix of leaves and grass and bagging that… using it to mulch more trees and other beds.
Late spring early summer… i plan to mow and bag grass clippings and add those for another layer of mulch.
Going to graft Smiths Best/Giboshi persimmon next spring and two mulberries …
Clarks mulberry and Oscar or Lawson Dawson.
I need to move some strawberry plants from two beds where they are too thick… and start a new bed.
I hope to get bocking 14 comfrey planted in the mulch ring of several fruit trees this spring. I have walking onions on the north side… planting comfrey on the south side.
Between fall and winter leaves… grass clippings, and comfrey chop and drop… and wood chips… I should have some nice composting in place happening.
TNHunter
6 Likes
I am working on a bloom chart right now so I can better choose where to graft scions that aren’t going directly onto rootstock.
I am always working on water management here… keeping more of it on and near the hill and redirecting some of it from the low orchard. I have a little bridge to build and a barn, shed, and house storage area to clean, plus all the doctors appointments I schedule for January and February when I think it will be slow. Plus gearing up for a government audit at work.
I need to make better tree signage. I have a dozen or so unknowns.
7 Likes
I have not. I read about it a couple times and something put me off it. Do you grow it?
I forgot that I need to drill holes in 5-gallon buckets and a few used plastic tubs to make them into pots. Going to do that this weekend. The 5-gallon buckets take a LOT of potting soil/compost mix, and are heavy to lug around, but they let me keep things that arrive in spring or that I graft until fall or winter to plant. Anything put in ground after the end of March tends to die, so as of this year, I’m not going to plant late anymore. I also decided not to plant last year’s grafts until next year, so I can’t reuse those buckets.
3 Likes
I got a dwarf tree from Cummins last spring. It grew well over the summer with several 3 foot long limbs. But a couple of years away from fruiting.
3 Likes
I have done the Montmorency only so far. 30 more trees to go in the orchard, then berries, then 30 grape vines. Keep plugging.
4 Likes
I’m ahead of my usual, I am about half way through now. The apricots froze out this last spring so all the trees did was grow wood all summer… lots of wood! It took me a couple hours just to prune half a dozen apricots.
4 Likes
Love them worms. I use to go fishing a lot. I buy worm as bait. I dump the left over in the backyard. Since then, I have a lot of worms. I’m not afraid to hold them, but I find it funny that an old grandpa is scare of them. The grandpa use to farm and find it ironic that he is afraid of worms.
I too, have a couple of 2 years old bin that I throw worms in. I grow Cherimoya in them. The bottom is mostly wood chip, then dirt, more wood chip, and more dirt. The first year the Cherimooya growth is acceptable. Then in the second year, they really took off. Thank to the worms, the wood chip breakdown faster and supply a lot of food to the trees in the 2nd year. I’m please to see the result.
3 Likes
Zone 4: I pruned American Plum in Minneapolis last January during a January thaw, then we had below zero for 2 weeks in February including -18 degrees F. No winter dieback. My other plants had winter dieback without pruning.
I also have topped off 10-20’ volunteer Sugar Maple seedlings with a pole saw in December before subzero weeks and pretty much they all died.
Am wondering if I could prune anything else before the next deep freeze if I used chapstick or toilet ring wax as a sealant? I want to make some whips into open vase shape before their buds differentiate. That’s a big cut on a central leader, the kind that killed the sugar maples.
UPDATE: I did the pruning and took pictures, won’t have results until summer.
3 Likes
Sorry to hear about the Sugar Maples.
1 Like
Dec - Feb is my time to NOT garden. So my 1st activities in 2026 include (1) traveling to visit grandchildren, (2) working out at the gym, (3) continue to learn to play a guitar. Soon I will turn to (4) making mead, (5) making cheese, and maybe (6) trying to make a bow. I won’t return to gardening untIl February, when I will begin pruning. 
5 Likes
I’m in my third week of winter pruning on the apples and pears.
Also watering my potted figs in the garage - they’ve been a learning curve but getting better each year. The UK winters are rough on them but container growing helps.
8 Likes
Winter is the perfect time to do some heavy work in the garden now it’s not so hot. I am digging a lot of beds for my tree nursery. And of course there is the ongoing war against brambles.
Today I picked 60-70 trifoliata fruits from the neighbour for the seeds. I will plant them tomorrow and let them get natural stratification outside. That’s maybe not optimal, but as we don’t have a fridge it is worth the try. It will be at least 1000 seeds, so even when only 25% germinates I will still have quite some citrus rootstock.
6 Likes
My first gardening activity for this year (besides research, planning and dreaming) was to soak and refrigerate the new apple seeds that just arrived from Steven Edholm (Skillcult). Yay! And plant directly into pots outside, some peach/nectarine, apricot and pear seeds that my kids and I have squirreled away over the last year. Next will be measuring out the space allotted for my orchard and decide how many trees I can reasonably fit in the designated space. Not that I can actually limit myself to that number… I think my whole family knows that every spare corner, nook and cranny of our new yard is going to have some kind of fruit tree. As far as obsessions go, I think growing food is a good one to have. 
7 Likes
It’s fun to hear how many people are planting out Skillcult’s apples. I started a post for people to compare notes if you’re interested!
5 Likes