What is everyone eating from their orchard today?

This is my first year to have celeste, which I am not sure it is or not. Someone sent me a stick said it is celeste fig and I got it rooted. But I am glad to have it regardless what it is, I think it tasted better than Hardy Chicago.

IL847,

Do you house your fig tree indoor in winter? I have a few at the pencil eraser size which only available for “peeking” only! I’m interested in how you keep yours alive and bear fruits that are pick-able, not just peek-able! :weary:

Tom

Tom

I have one Hardy Chicago that is in ground, and the rest , about 8-9 are in pots. I move them into garage during the winter . in the spring, they grow very nice breba crop. I think yours are main crop, my main crop is about same size as yours

I have regular Elberta and their size is exceedingly large. They are all still green. Cannot wait until they look like yours! I’d say in two weeks. I didn’t know about July Elberta.

Boy does that bring back memories. I was just in elementary or junior high school, but I remember that intro theme so well.

mrsg47, I got this from Starkbro. I read somewhere, July Elberta is not really a Elberta, I could be wrong though. It always ripens in late Aug. here. I like the tree ripe peaches’ texture, juiciness and the full flavor, but, this one has more acid taste in it. I wish it could be a little sweeter. But in zone 5, there aren’t many choices in varieties.

IL847,

I don’t know what mine is but I got it as a cutting from a co-worker who lives in Chicago and has had his in the ground for 20 plus years. He always covered it up in winter but he never had any fruit due to his traveling job. His neighborhood rats probably had all his figs if there were any. If it survived many Chicago winters, I think it could be Hardy Chicago?

Will this main crop mature next year? Or not worth keeping?

Tom

Lizzy- Beautiful! and no doubt utterly delicious.

" … if anyone knows a better way, tell me, my back hurts!"

Do you use a food mill? I use mine on those rare occasions when I don’t want the skin on jam, or some such. But they apparently can be quite a bit more versatile than that. Here’s a fancy one (mine is simpler). (This link is intended as an example, not an endorsement.)

: -)

I’m sampling Ginger Gold and my little foundling (seedling?). No solid opinion on either yet.

Didn’t raise but managed to glean a gallon of apricots and made a batch of jam. Eating tons of truly beautiful, deep red, very juicy and flavorful tomatoes. May never touch kale again … a few peppers, some herbs. Pears are getting close.

I picked these from my neighbors tree this evening. It is loaded with almonds

Lots of apples. My unsprayed 10 year old McIntosh and Cortland have a lot of fruit…some very large apples. The squirrels haven’t been too bad…the bees are a bigger annoyance at this point. So is the 90F heat with the 70F+ dew points.

Amen to that, late summer heat is really unwelcome with all the rain in the midwest, haven’t seen many hornets yet, but mosquitoes are rising in hordes.

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Tom, could be but not really. Back few years, I was chatting with my mailman. He told me that his dad grow figs in ground for as long as he could remember .His dad’s fig was brought over from his hometown back in Italy. But he does bury the fig during the winter time. I also read in GW years ago that someone in canada grows desert king, celeste, etc. whole bunch of figs in zone 4-5. and manage to get fruits.
I don’t think there are enough heat left for main crop to ripen. They will drop when temp drops. I usually got reliable fruits from breba and in pot fig, only handful from in ground fig. However, this year, my in ground Hardy Chicago did not grow a single fruit, neither breba or main crop!! I pinched this spring, still not fruits, all leaves, very strange!

I picked a Dapple Dandy today to see what they are like… delicious. I guess after eating 20 Flavor King pluots and a dozen Emerald Drops the last few days i needed a change…

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/franktank232/media/0902151157.jpg.html

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Rob, I see that you are in zone 4. Do you grow all of those in containers or in the ground? Are they hardy enough for your zone?

Containers. These pluots are in the half whiskey barrels (maybe 25-30 gallons). On wheels. Spend winters in the garage…roughly sometime in November until mid/late March.

Tom and IL847,
Here Is my 4 year old Chicago Hardy in pot. Last year it had fruit but none ripened in time.

This yera I pinched it in May. Since then, it has many fruit but all of them stayed at the same small size for two months, very weird. Then, last week, I noticed some started sizing up and started to turn colored.

Tom- you can compare the leaves of my CH to yours to see if yours is also CH.

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I’m in zone 7 and my Dapple Dandy haven’t ripened. Perhaps yours growing in containers speeds ripening. Very nice looking fruit.

Mamuang,

I think it is. Please take a look and opinionate? I guess an added evidence is comparing the fruits at harvest but mine is nowhere near what you’ve got and time is running out for my grow zone! Maybe next year?