our Italian plum had its first fruit this year, they were excellent. I planted a “schoolmarm”, the label said, plum and I’m not sure what it is besides a European plum of some kind. we have native plum growing I just put in this year
I’ll be interested how the shackleford does. my heirloom apple is an orleans, this was its second year in ground so I’m hoping for maybe blooms next spring.
are you in the snow too? the garden and orchard at my house is under a foot deep blanket still.
8-10 inches of snow on the ground, depending on elevation in & around town so far; more on the way.
I might have Orléans Reinette: one loose twig in a bag some years ago was the only graft to succeed from the three varieties in that bag. OR was the only reddish apple of the three. New growth on this graftling is deeply red, so may indicate its identity. My understanding is that it, like many really old heirlooms, will take its own sweet time to begin blooming, You may have to wait some years, depending on which stock you have Orléans standing on. I hadn’t mentioned it in the entry above since it is still a guess for ID.
This one grows very slowly, perhaps not at all in high summer; will check it more closely in '23 for this. OR is supposed to do well in drier parts of Europe, although I haven’t heard it being grown in really dry parts of Spain. That area may be the closest match to our growing conditions.
The last apple I grafted that ceased growing in high summer was Wynoochee Early. A boxful of them grown in Royal City area - real desert - had zero flavor or keeping.
Raintree has a rather large yellow European type plum they call Schoolhouse. Perhaps your plum meets its description. On the other hand, you may have a plum found elsewhere with other history. New name to me.
From what I read, Prunus americana likes moist situations but is pretty tough once established.
I have a five gallon bucket with a small nail hole drilled at the base. It takes almost two hours to drain & has been helpful in keeping young trees adequately watered. Dumb guy drip irrigation.
Hi All, just introducing myself to the group. I’m establishing a test orchard, focusing mostly on cider apple varieties (or multi purpose varieties with potential for cider, and a few pears) at my home south of Albuquerque, NM, zone 7. I have a little over 30 varieties, though only a handful are mature enough to fruit. And I plan on grafting about 30 more varieties this spring. My wife and I have also taken over a larger family property north of us in the Jemez Valley (zone 6) where my dream is to plant a medium-ish sized cider orchard for commercial production. Maybe in about 10 years or so, when our kids are out of the diaper stage, and I have a better idea of what varieties I want to plant.
Of my trees, been really pleased with Hewe’s crab, which has high brix and has cropped 3 years in a row. Golden Russet has been really vigorous and produced a few really good apples too, no crop this year though.
Welcome. I’m just west of you in northern Arizona. Most of my trees are also too young to bear but I have grown some really good no spray apples here. I have maybe 150 varieties on 200 plus trees at the moment. Very little in the way of orchards or apple trees here so definitely a test orchard as well. I have a feeling you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you can avoid the late frosts….
So far I have planted just a few with cider potential. Harrison, Redfield, Claygate & GoldRush are doing all right. Interesting to find Hewe’s doing well for you. I planted it in that nearby orchard & it has languished, perhaps even died last year. I might have to graft another onto Bud118, based on your experience. (A dry land orchard. I water young trees in summer, but last year got up there seldom.)
Am also looking at Campfield. How has that done for you?
My Hewe’s is on MM106 and has done well so far. Not the most vigorous tree but has cropped reliably. I do water about once a week during the growing season though, which seems to keep it happy.
I have Harrison and Campfield on Antonovka and MM111 respectively. Very vigorous, they want to grow straight up. Both are about 8 feet tall and haven’t bloomed yet. Need to do more branch bending. I had grafted Redfield and Goldrush last spring, but gophers got into my little nursery and killed them. Will try again in the spring.
If you need scions of either GoldRush or Redfield, let me know by the end of January. I cut them in Feb.
I have drip from milk jugs with a pinhole!
I think it is probably a schoolhouse plum renamed by my partner in an attempt at poking fun at me. which makes me laugh a little.
I’ve got pears, I think harrow delight, coming in spring. I also put in hazelnuts last year, again I’m unsure of how long for them to produce.
the apples that did bloom this year were a granny Smith and some kind of golden delicious ish that I lost the label to. they are a year older than the others. I also have a gravenstien because I am a sucker for tart apples. I’ve looked at some of the better flavored crabs as a possibility, but I’m unsure about putting them in yet
I ordered some chestnut crabapple to try out as a pollinator, I don’t know if anyone has one in our area to see how it’ll go
Rowan Jacobsen speaks highly of Chestnut Crab in his book, “Apples of Uncommon Character.” Worth a look. If I had more space…
I’m trying it out because I’ve got only a little space for more apples! and apparently they are not over large trees. I’ll update in summer. still under the snow here
Looking back on my entry in November, I failed to mention growing thornless raspberries, black currants & saffron. The rasps were culls from a work colleague about the year 2000; no name. Strictly summer bearing: excellent.
Black currants are Ben More, the mainstay, Orphan (nameless bonus from a Raintree order) Westwick, Black September in a bad spot. Risager & Laxton’s Giant have barely survived due to neglect. Now I am retired, they may do much better after this coming season.
Saffron has also been neglected, but has done well due to better care in previous years. The bulk of this year’s bloom was buried under a foot of snow, so I don’t know how many blooms came up. Saffron has taught me that watering well in September will trigger blossom development in October. I wish I had done so this time around.
how’s your saffron? mine started poking out two weeks ago, we’ve had a foot of snow since then.
is anyone growing peaches up in WA/the north end of high desert? my partner wants a peach tree, a dwarf I could fit I think but I’m not too sure how well it’ll do
SpokanePeach is the guy for you. His stone fruit collection is dizzying in so tight a situation. He knows stuff.
As to saffron, I asked my wife (we had snow falling 10 hours yesterday that amounted to 4-5 inches) if she had noticed. Yep, she said the leaves are about 4 inches tall already. They are all weighed down by wet snow now, but this has happened before & saffron will do fine.
I’m excited for the saffron. I’ll look to @SpokanePeach for answers maybe about what’s working well locally
If you message him (click on the magnifying glass upper right of this page and type in his moniker/by-line, follow the prompts) he is dependable in answering questions.
Regarding your Golden Delish seedling, I wonder if Chehalis might be the cv. If it looks and acts kind of like GD, only better… Check it out.
spent the day plotting out and putting edges for “raised beds” (mounds with some edging to hold them in place) and filling one. it’s pine straw under aged horse manure. about 6 to 8 inches deep
not sure if I should top that with any soil bagged or just plant right into it, it’s about a year old all of that material so it may be good enough to grow in? first time I’ve used the old horse poop, it’s been sitting waiting since last summer to get used.
some pictures of the layout so far
I really do just use any old junk I can find in the alley to make “sides” for all this. they’re really just big piles that have junk tied and staked around them. the two I did last year (that keyhole one now) did real well, so I figured it’s a good way to do it. I don’t till I just add on top. last year I added soil conditioner and some regular “raised bed” soil as the horse manure was too fresh.
here’s last year in one of these, it needed a lot less water than the in ground plants;
I have a decent sized chunk that’s just the regular ground, herbs and perennials and garlic/onion are in there. my body is wore out, glad we aren’t filling these for 5 days or so, I am not a kid anymore. my aching shoulders!
we have rain on the forecast, if it doesn’t I’ll have to water already. early in the year for that.
filled a second one of the beds with composted chip drop from 3 years ago, topped with horse manure a year old- starting to think I should pick up some better soil bagged to mix into top layer.
Today replanted the narrow Russian apple, Kandil Sinap, standing on Geneva 890 as of '20. It is still a whip, as is Otterson/Gen30, a deeply red-fleshed apple which began life here the same year. Shackleford is the third to be replanted, grafted in '19 if memory serves, making up for the removal of Bardsey, Hunt & Rosemary Russets.
lilacs breaking bud. nothing below 40F at night in the forecast which is good. no rain at my place though, it’s starting out dry early.
edit: spoke too soon, it rained last night and yesterday. not a lot, but some.
adding pictures of where things are at. this is the first week with 40F+ in night time
