Welcome. Except for the “…from the Navy” line in your bio, your description sounds like me. I retired from Ithaca College.
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Anyone get a damaging frost? We dipped to perhaps a degree below freezing, but it wasn’t enough to kill or harm anything.
29F here last night, but everything is in tight cluster still. My Aunt and Uncle are both Ithaca College graduates, and Bob was a Pricipal for the Ithaca School system, and Bonnie was a teacher.
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was 26 here last night 24 the night before. supposed to be 31 tonight then above freezing after that only b. currants are leafing. honeyberries starting. hoping this is the last of the frost but still a chance here till june 10. last spring had a frost june 13.
I’ve been holding off on putting out the tender seedlings – tomatoes and peppers. Definitely nippy this morning when I went out at 7:30.
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That’s great! I retired from the Navy and got a job at Cornell. We moved here in Summer 2017.
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Weather is great here in Stamford – Queen of the Catskills 
I took the week off to start off the gardening season right. Planning to do my persimmon grafting in a day or two. I may be pushing it a little. Bud scales are just coming off – however we´re to have weather in the mid to high 70´s this week. That´s summertime weather here. I set out 11 hybrid persimmons that germinated last Spring from seeds purchased from England´s Nursery. Put them out on an old rocky barn ramp – barn has been gone many, many years. Very little topsoil there, have augmented with goat manure. Have plans to visit Kern´s Nursery in Jewett and the Landis Arboretum to round out the week of gardening.
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Stamford is a cute little town. I’m up in the capital district, but my relatives have an old farm down in Harpersfield so I drive through a couple times of year. They’re actually going to receive some overflow from my nursery bed. Landis Arboretum is on my list as well. Actually, the entire Schoharie Valley is a hidden gem. If anyone reading has a chance to drive route 30 from Schoharie down to grand gorge I highly recommend.
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My Mom grew up in Hobart, her father was a general practitioner there, he practiced for 52 years before retiring, Dr. Brown. He ran Maple Bank, a community hospital, before WWII and used it for his private practice and home after returning from Europe. His wife was Fran Foote, from Stamford/Hobart, of the E. L. Foote Livestock business and later on the Foote family ran a farm machinery business. My Dad’s family is also from Hobart, the Barbers. Fond memories of that stretch of Rt 10, but sad to see the decline of those grand old dairy farms.
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And the surrounding towns. It’s like the 3rd world up there. Climate change may revitalize the parts of upstate NY bypassed by major hiways- seasons are getting longer and land further north is becoming more productive while less productive further south.
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Waving to y’all from south shore LI. Still have some apple petals on, i think we had a nice pollination window this year. 
Too bad, my beautiful golden russet tree crapped out on me. Dead as a doornail. Maybe for the best i love the apples but the yellow jacks and rot were a daily chore to combat.
The lame Burbank plum i was going to topwork exploded in blooms this year (its 5th year). Seems to be setting like mad.
I may be ripping out the youngberries. They are pretty good - think of blackberry with white grape tones - but the plants are utter BEASTS. Too much of a very thorny vine jungle for not very heavy yield.
Hope everyone is well. 
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Part of the decline is due to constraints on economic development in that region that are imposed by New York City. I got an earful once from some locals in Stamford when I stopped there to check out a craft fair on the green. It seems that Stamford and a huge part of the surrounding area sit on the watershed for New York City’s water supply.
Even where it’s not so constrained, farming upstate in New York is a tough way to make a living. I met a dairy farmer who gave it up because he lost so much money at it. We were at an ice cream stand south of Syracuse where he brought his kids to celebrate successfully harvesting his hayfield before the rains and getting it delivered to a dude ranch on Long Island. If it had rained a single day earlier he would have been wiped out.
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Of course small farming is extremely difficult, but I’m talking about corporate farming and increased land values as land further south becomes less productive and further north more so. Experts are now predicting that by the next century Canada will produce more grain than the U.S. I have a hunch, the agricultural advantage further north is already clicking in based on how my growing seasons seem to be getting longer.
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maybe if they can get enough rain. they have been battling drought up there for years now.
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Maybe land by the coast will be more valuable, Interior heat brings in wet ocean air and perhaps more reliable precip. Seems that way here- we haven’t had drought for years now.
If you want to capitalize on climate change try predicting where the beachfront will be when the 40 cubic miles of water locked up in polar ice caps melt into the sea.
Maybe land by the coast will be more valuable
The limiting factor for agriculture is money which equates to energy. Enough of it buys lakes of fresh water in the Sahara. Desalination is blooming Chinese deserts as well.
My personal crystal ball says that nuclear fusion technology will be the disruptor enabling us to weather climate change in either direction, hot or cold.
In any case it is corporations - and governments - who are positioned to capitalize on it. I know it’s not quite your point, but you do get to the same place when you extrapolate relentless small-holder consolidations to the limit and combine it with temperate zone migration.
I’m talking about corporate farming
Termites? Ants? Like most of the US we have a storm (60 mph gust) arriving. Storm alerts are exciting to me. But this tree has me worried. I wonder if it is going to fall over. It is a Norway Maple that is 60+ years old. The town owns it. I love it and need it for shade. Two summers ago, I noticed sawdust at the base and tunneling. We treated it. This summer the same, more sawdust. We treated. Today, I noticed that almost all of the bark at the base, (covering the roots) cracking and popping off. Out town is basically all on top of rock (Marblehead). Roots do not go deep here, the go wide. All our roads and sidewalks buckle up from the roots. Any arborist out there who can guide me as to what I should do? I really don’t want the town to take the tree down.
Tradesmen are often not ethical. Before you pay for their service you should send photos to your cooperative extension horticultural agent (look up county cooperative extension). It sounds like the termites are there to eat rotting, dying wood and if they don’t eat it fungus will.
I’m sorry that I don’t know if the town is liable if the tree falls and causes damage, but I’m guessing it is a very hazardous tree based on what you said about the bark. If it is girdled down there it is going to die, although the photo makes it look like it is not completely girdled yet. I would have expected high branches to be dying and some water sprouts shooting out from the trunk if it was nearly girdled.
Hi Everett. Downeast Maine here. Whatcha growing?
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