Yeah, but those apples have codling moth and apple maggot. The citrus in CA are probably pristine.
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This subject is like speaking to the choir. Are not we all here because we know how good home grown is? With that being said the commercial market I think is getting better. I just had the best grapes I ever tasted. The blueberries from South America this winter were darn good. It is hit and miss and I grow as much fruit as possible For all the reasons already mentioned.
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100% right about the apples. Plums are pristine here.
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Few nuances - House ownership sees a lot of churn here. Sometimes, if the previous owner is of Asian descent, the next person is likely to get the house with persimmon tree(s). Its also to a fault that these trees don’t need any care and produce 10s (or even 100s) of lbs of fruit. So, many are left to rot. As for citrus, at least in Bay Area only very selected oranges ripen well and are sweet. The common Washington Navel is really good in Safeway in season, let alone farmers markets (I know @fruitfruit will disagree, but his tree is way too old and might be a micro-climate) compared to what you can get at home. Of course, you can compensate to an extent by letting it ripen longer, but by then the typical grower will lose interest.
Having said all that, I still can’t explain why everyone plants a lemon tree here. Most don’t know what to do with the fruits.
i agree. the pomegranite we’ve been getting here the last couple years have been outstanding. citrus has improved as well but at a cost. i love mineolas and had some fresh when visiting my son in Yuma, AZ and the ones we’ve been getting here lately were almost as good. i was so tempted to pull over to these orchards that were on the side of the road and taste the fruit growing there. there were lots of citrus, plums and grape vineyards all along the canals coming from the colorado river. amazing how arid it is once you get away from the irrigated areas. my son just bought a townhouse in Yuma last year and it has a 20ft. navel orange tree in the back yard. the older folks on his street pick the oranges and leave a basket for my daughter in law on the porch. i guess they have been doing this since the previous owner had it and when my son bought it they asked if they could continue . i guess it produces way too much for them alone so he said go ahead. they also prune and fertilize it for him so its a win/ win for everyone. ;).
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In Portland there’s an organization that does that formally, or at least they used to. Looks like they’ve evolved their model so that they charge the homeowners and offer more services. Portland Fruit Tree Project. https://www.portlandfruit.org/
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Yes, and big! I got some from two different sources and one was amazing the other was really good too, just a notch under, well just different. I also produced three fruit last year. They were really small with maybe 30 seeds only. But the flavor was outstanding. Seeds were hard it was a Salavatski cultivar.
So I know I can get fruit off of that one. I have high hopes for Granada the earliest fruiting variety I have found. They both look great this year. My plums and peaches starting blooming April 8th. last year they started April 24th. Over 2 weeks earlier this year. It’s starting out to be a fantastic season here. I have never seen so many flowers on my plums.
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wow!
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More and more “farmers markets” are just people reselling fruits and vegetables they buy from the same distributors as the grocery store. Maybe they get more legitimate in more rural areas, but the 3 out of 4 ones I’ve went to had severely lacking options so I’ve stopped trying.
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In California’s farmers market, you can only sell produce grown by you (or food made by you). I go to a local farmer’s market every Sunday. The fruits are definitely fresh in-season fruits, not from cold storage. The farms are only a few hours away, so usually the fruits are picked ripped on the tree. The Fuji apple from the farmer’s market tastes nothing like the one from supermarket. Also at the farmer’s market, it’s where I discovered more exotic fruits like Flavor King Pluots. Which inspired me to plant fruits trees on my own.
Currently not much fruits variety in the market, just a lot of citrus. The Gold Nugget Mandarin is at its peak. Can’t wait until mid-May at the market, when the summer fruit season starts.
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