I guess ill jump on the bandwagon. My lifes work has been in high end marine aquariums, specifically in replicating living coral environments. When we bought our 1.5 acre irrigated parcel it just seemed natural to me to take up growing. That vast stretch of dirt and the water to wet it just looked like opportunity to me. Took out existing citrus (because in the land of citrus, no one wants it. Cant give it away) and started planting real fruit. Taken alot of expensive lumps over the years but have never failed to learn from it. Today we run a small farmers market operation with a self serve farm stand at our place. We also do markets when we have time and product. Our fruit plantings are growing all the time. Right now I believe we are over 100 trees, some mature some just planted. Dabbling in grafting and experimental rootstocks. My work in keeping exotic animals in unnatural environments has led me to zone push with a broad range of tropicals. Along with Apple, quince, pear, pluot, plum, peach, cherry, nectarine, pomegranite, grapes, etc we also grow passionfruit, mango, white sapote, black sapote, startfruit, guava, avacado. Its taken alot of false starts but Ive develped solid techniques to keep those tropicals alive and fruiting even with our harsh weather.
Yeahā¦my wife is actually from Mindanoa, so mountains arenāt the issue so much as the crazy population numbers. She actually speaks Bisaya as her native tongue, but also Tagalog and of course English.
Yes indeed Pinays/Pinoys and Thais look pretty much identical. I can actually distinguish Asian races quite well, but yeah the Thai / Filipino thing is always a wild card.
Iām glad you mentioned where your screen name came fromā¦I always wondered about that. I think there used to be a guy who posted on GW who lived in Thailandā¦he posted photos of some trees he bought there once at a local market.
My wife and I (and our children) all love Mangos. My wife says the ones they have in the Philippines were much smaller, sweeter and yellow than the typical variety sold here. She said there were also many different types available, including the variety most often sold here,they called it Caraboa. They type most common in the phils was available here when she lived in Chicago and was called Manila mango as sold here in the US Weāve found it maybe twice at walmart here in Maryland. She also speaks of the papayas, bananas, pineapples and other fruits there often. All, save for pineapple a bit different than here. I wish I was in a climate where I could grow them.
Fortunately, she also loves apples, pears, peaches and everything else and said grapes were something rarely seen, reserved for the wealthy who could afford them and said they are much better quality here in the US.
I can tell from your writing you have been here some time. Your English is impeccable and your use and command in writing is far better than the average native-born American.
As Iām sure you are aware pinays and thais are always looking to meet one another and because of the similar looks weāve met a lot of very nice thais in supermarkets, resturaunts etc. At least thatās how it is out here in the boondocks.
Sorry for the long post. Very good to know you Mamuang.
My wife (from mainland China) likes the smaller yellow mangos as well. The ones she gets in China-town are called Champagne mangos. Though Iām not fond of mangos, I successfully germinated a seed from one and it is growing in my living room. I far prefer Lychee and Longan. Iāve got seedlings of both of those growing inside as well, though it is mostly for fun. They canāt take temps below 32, so no chance to grow them in-ground around here.
Rob, I do the same thing with tomatoes. I donāt like them at all, but grew 8+ varieties last year. My wife does like them a lot however (cooked with eggs), so it is one thing I can grow which gets ample appreciation.
I think I was on the old GardenWeb forum at one point, but when I came back it had switched to the Houzz format, I saw a link to this forum and decided to check it out.
Anyways, Iām 37, married and father of 2 boys (5 and 2). 2 year old is sitting on my lap as I type this out. Anyways, growing up we didnāt garden much except for one year we had a garden in an unused portion of our yard in Ohio. But now I live in Southern California and decided to plant a few fruit trees where I live now and got hooked a bit. I only have a few trees as where I live I donāt have a lot of space and I like to keep some space open for my sons. But when I started I planted a Burgundy Plum, Nectaplum, and a Flavor grenade pluot along the back fence of our yard. I currently also have a feijoa trea and a satsuma mandarina tree along the side fence. I also have a passionfruit vine and also just planted a dragonfruit in hopes to have more fruit out of my little fruit orchard.
Of course, my wife thinks Iām just wasting money on this little hobby, but then again I do change my hobbies a lot. But this one I hope will still fruit me some fruits to enjoy. I had a couple nectaplums last year, but winds ravaged all of my plums and pluots last year. This year I hope to do better.
Welcome Mtux.
Tony
Hi Bob, we gave a lot in common. My korean wife loves Jujubes, badminton, and grows tomatoes to cook with eggs. Only 4 varieties of tomatoes, but many Jujubes.
Yep, PU to houzz.
I know this thread is supposed to be for people to introduce themselves. I apologize for hijacking it. I donāt know where else to respond to Appleseed and Bob V.
Appleseed - You only half-right. Yes, I am here for some time now (over 25 years) but no, my English is not that good. I have to pay attention when I write in English. Otherwise, it sounds odd. Sometimes, I have to run it by my husband.
Bob V.- Have you tried Rambutan and Mangosteen? Rambutan is as sweet as Longan but the texture has more crunch to it. Mangosteen is my and many othersā favorite fruit. Itās a nice combination of sweet and sour. It is supposed to be full of health benefits. Itās a delicious fruit to begin with. Mangosteen is harder to find than Rambutan in Southeast Asian markets in the US but I think you will like it.
My favorite tropical fruit are mangosteen and durian. Yes, durian. It is an acquired taste. We say ādurian tastes like heaven but smells like hell.ā Itās the most expensive native fruit in Thailand.
Mamuang, Iāll ask my wife to look for Rambutan and Mangosteen next time she is shopping in Flushing NY (the Chinatown closest to where she plays badminton on the weekends). Iāve smelled Durian before and I think that is as close as I ever want to get to it 
. Persimmons and jujubes (only sometimes good from market) are also on the list of things she has successfully introduced me to.
BHawkins, I knew about the jujubes (thanks again for the scionwood!), but I didnāt realize that your wife plays badminton too. Is she playing competitively? Mine regularly plays in amateur tournaments, but I didnāt know that there was a lot of badminton in Texas. If so, weāll need to add it to our list of potential future retirement destinations- must be warm (for both of us), have lots of badminton (more for her, but I like it too), and a decent climate for me to grow things in.
She didnāt ask me to grow 8+ kinds of tomatoes- it was all my interest in seeing how each performed (similar to Rob Thomas). Sheās more concerned with quantity than quality. So, even though some of the heirloom varieties (Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, and Pineapple) were better tasting (to her and others I gave them to), they also had low production and some rot issues (Cherokee Purple in particular is never pretty). Big Beef is the leader so far in terms of productivity. Rather than messing around with so many kinds of non-productive tomatoes, I may just get fewer plants and limit it to the more productive ones. That way I can reduce the footprint and devote the extra space to more potatoes (fingerlings and purple ones are both great), which I like a lot.
Welcome aboard Michael!
Oh yesā¦Durian. Forgot about that. I simply cannot imagine a fruit so bad that I could not at least get it down. Andrew Zimmeran (sp?) on bizzare foods could eat purposely rotted goat meat in Morrocco, Balut in the Philippines, worms and all other sorts of nastiness, yet couldnāt do Durian. That says it all for meā¦no thanks.
My wife says itās good. I hear it smells like sweaty feet. She likes jackfruit too, and being a member of the Mulberry family, I think I would probably like it.
Mamuangā¦this thread is about introducing ourselves, so small talk involving fruit is fine Iām sure.
Hello everyone! You, guys, do not know me, but I have been reading your posts and the other Garden Web forums for about two years. Iāve got a lot of information just from reading. In the future I hope to participate more actively as my trees are growing and Iāll have more things to share.
My name is Masha. I have a husband, two kids ages 6 and 15 and a dog. I have a degree in biology and I work in the research lab. I was born and raised in Russia, in a small town not far from Moscow. So, please, excuse my odd English. Back there we had long cold snowy winters and short cool wet summers, so I would assume It should be around zone 4b.
As long as I remember myself my mom and dad were gardening at different lots of land in the community gardens. As a kid I was taken along and I played in the garden or in the adjacent wood or at nearby creek. Eventually I begin to help my parents and I had my small projects like raising peas or tulips or strawberries. Our gardening was on the extreme edge, like it was for many other Russian people. Since we did not own a car we have to walk for about 40 to 50 min to reach our garden which was outside the city boundaries. And we have to carry all our supplies with us. There was no irrigation in our garden, so think about fetching the water from about 1/4 mile away. Our piece of land was in the middle of the open field and we had no shelter to hide from the cold wind, sun or rain. Besides, our family was on a tight budget and our gardening was always frugal.
Somehow Iāve lived through all this experience and still loved growing things.
Eventually we planted fruit trees and berry bushes in the garden. I discovered then, that it was very hard to acquire the good varieties of fruit trees. There were very few nurseries selling quality trees, bushes, etc. I began to graft and propagate plants. I would ask my community garden neighbors and friends to donate wood from their favorite trees and I experimented with grafting.
Long story short, we moved into United States and after several years we settled and bought a house. One of my requirements was to find a house with a decent lot for the garden. Now I have several vegetable beds and I grow enormous amounts of vegetables, more than enough for our family and friends . Last year I planted fruit trees: 1 apricot, 3 plums, 2 cherry trees, 3 apple trees. This year I am planning to add 1 more apricot and apple tree, 1 pear, 1 peach, Nadia cherry plum, 2 pawpaws and an English walnut. Oh, and I grow blueberries, hardy kiwis, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and currants. All of my plants are still quite young and do not produce a lot. In the future I am planning to return to grafting practice and to have more varieties on the same trees.
I have to say, it is so good to read your posts. Thank you, for starting this tread. Masha.
Mashaā¦welcome to the forum. I enjoyed your story very much. I could listen to your stories from Russia all day long. Iāve always enjoyed learning how other folks live and the way things were and are.
No doubt your knowledge of biology will be a useful asset here. While reading your story I played it all out in a mental picture in my mind. You are a very good descriptive writer, I know this even from this small paragraph.
There is nothing odd about your English, I can assure you. No way would anyone know from reading the above that you were Russian born. No need to be excused, I bet everyone on here would satisfied to be even able to speak a second language much more have total command of it.
Iām very glad you joined.
Masha, I had to second appleseed70ās comments. Not only in welcoming you but in saying how much I enjoyed your well written post. It also serves as a reminder how lucky many of us are. The next time I am complaining about having to drag a long hose across my property, I will try to think of you and your family having to carry water 1/4 a mile and walk 45 minutes just to get to your garden. I would also imagine that whatever you and your family were able to grow was quite an asset to your family and itās food supply. In such difficult situation, I hope others did not steal from your garden but I suspect they did. If so that must have been heart breaking. Anyway, it sounds like you have a nice life here today and Iām very glad to hear you have been able to succeed here. Most of all, welcome to this forum and I look forward to learning along with you (Iām fairly new to fruit trees myself). Glad you are here.
ŠæŃŠøŠ²ŠµŃ, ŠŠ°ŃŠ°!
Welcome Masha.
I have two woman customers who were raised in Russia, one, who is a radiologist was dirt poor and fresh fruit was a holiday luxury. The other is younger and came from relative money and power- she came here well after the fall of the wall.
They are both nuts for their fruit and have a great fondness for Russian apple varieties and various types of tart, cold hardy fruit. They were both raised in relatively cold regions where peaches had to be imported.
Iām not sure if thatās really of interest, but Iām wondering if Russians arenāt particularly fanatical about fruit. Every Russian Iāve met, including outside of my work, has been.
Marsha,
I enjoyed your story very much. I should never complain about gardening ever again. Welcome to the forum.
Thank you for your kind words, everyone. Yes, our family was poor, because my farther was handicapped and could not bring money in the family. But my parents still worked hard in the garden to provide the additional food. In the time when I grew up even green apples were appreciated. Now Russian people have better life and fresh fruits in the winter. Still the tradition of having a small piece of land and growing vegetables and fruits is very popular. I do not know many young people who like gardening, they have the other problems to deal with, but for older people the gardening makes the life happier. By the way my mom and my sister still have this garden. And the community garden looks more like a village now with the mature trees and summer houses. But they still have no running water. My mom is 73 years old now and she is looking forward every spring to plant veggies. The only thing she complains about is that it is hard for her to walk all that distance.
I never grew peaches, sweet cherries, apricots and watermelons before, they were not hardy enough or just did not ripe due to the shot season. It is always fun to try something new.
Thecityman, the thieves are the worst pests ever for community gardens. Here you have birds and squirrels instead of them. But at least you can kill a squirrel 
When you live during a hard time you often do not realize that. Only later, looking back you can understand that. Now I live in zone 5 and I have summers which are about two month longer. And I have a garden just steps away from the house, and I can eat a ripe tomato right from the vine. Life is good here for the gardener!
Masha.
Great stuff, Masha. Loved the squirrel joke.
Hi everyone, hereās my background. 61, EE from Purdue, sold my distribution/light manufacturing business & retired 2 years ago, Iām currently trying to decide if Iām cut out for retirement. When my wife (Mary, Korean) & I arenāt tending fruit trees or vegetables we play badminton; sheās quite good, badminton got her a college scholarship; Iām quite bad; a back injury may force my wife to retire from playing; you can play badminton 7 days a week in Dallas.
We got started with fruit trees about 12 years ago when we bought an office building for our company that came with a Keiffer pear tree. Everyone in the company loved those pears. So I planted more trees at the office, then at my house, then at a new office that replaced the old office, & now were building a new home which will get the fruit trees that have worked for me.
Turns out Iām a minimalist input grower; I would just rather not spray much. So other than some peaches/apricots Iām trying in pots, Iām concentrating on jujubes, persimmons, figs, pears, & a few apples which I bag.