Ontario Fruit Explorers

["Biz Storms" <biz.storms@sympatico.ca>]

Hey Tom, Bert and Jo,

Talk about how great minds think alike - I was chatting with Margie just a 
little earlier today about some apple stuff. And, yes, I'd be interested in 
a tour or two, as long as I can get spring jobs completed. My list seems 
endless.

Winter restlessness always gets me into trouble. Between large orders from 
Strawberry Tyme for raspberry canes ( hundreds );  nuts, mulberries and 
hickories from Grimo;  120 whips from Siloam for a small commercial venture; 
the regular kitchen garden plantings of fruits and veggies; upgrading a hill 
garden from bad soil to good earth;  and ongoing chip budding, weeding, 
spraying, mulching, and so forth  - well, I'm exhausted before I even start. 
But it's so excitig I can't wait to begin.

This weekend I spray - hopefully the weather forecast for Sunday remains 
sunny - or perhaps into Monday. It's either been too cold, too wet, or we've 
been absent. Once the weather breaks enough for the ground to soften, its 
transplant, transplant, transplant.

We installed a 24 x 40 foot nursey, all nicely fenced in with the cahin link 
fence buried 8" below ground level to keep the rabbits out. The voles just 
scamper through, so the wire mesh tree guards are for them. I've decided to 
renovate and move things around so the rows are more accessible. About half 
the trees are going out into the orchard, so it's the perfect time to shift 
and make tags for the trees and accurate maps for finding things next year. 
We also mistakenly put the rhubard inside the fence, so those babies are 
going elsewhere, since they spread like the dickens.

Speaking of tags and maps, I learned a neat trick from Shelley Paulocik, 
from Woodwinds. She actually writes the name of the variety on the whip with 
a sharpie pen. It lasts for at least the growing season, and usually the 
following as well. We had a bunch of whips that had the tags accidentally 
removed, and after digging down below the mulch, there were all the names, 
nicely written down the side of the whip. I made certain that I did the same 
thing with all the new whips that came in last year, only a little higher 
up, so it's easier to see. This year, I'll attempt to write the name on the 
same side of the whips, so I don't have to adopt a hands and knees approach 
to finding the name if the tag gets dislodged.

And to think this was going to be a quick message.

Cheers, Bizmark.

ps. I forgot to mention, we going to play around with growing figs this 
year - but in container pots. Any suggestions? Size, material, winter 
storage ???



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
To: <labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 12:54 PM
Subject: [OFEX] Harrow


> Hello All,
>
> If I could arrange it with Margie Luffman, would anyone be interested in a 
> tour of the Harrow, Genebank this spring, this fall or both?
>
> In spring you could see flowering habit, in fall you have fruit.
>
> She offered to do it once before, and if there is interest I will ask her 
> again.
>
> Thanks,
> Tom
>
> --
> ============
>
>
> --
> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
> Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 266.8.0 - Release Date: 03/21/2005
>
> _______________________________________________
> LabruscaGrape mailing list
> LabruscaGrape@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/labruscagrape