North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

So far, the season is very promising.  The 3 year old Crandall currants 
are covered with fruit.  I haven't noticed chipmunk damage yet - maybe 
because I tied them up to a trellis this year, or maybe because there's 
so much fruit I haven't noticed the decrease, or maybe the critters got 
tummy aches last year from too many underripe currants - whatever, I'm 
grateful.  The redstart currant (2 or 3 years old) has a nice crop, and 
the better of my feral red currants is looking good, too.  The Consort 
black currant that I exiled to the woods is growing vigorously, and even 
has a small crop!  It is in dappled shape, with no full sun.

The everbearing fall red raspberry, now in its fourth season, has come 
into its own.  It is taller than I, and so bushy I wonder if I should 
have thinned it last fall.  I have just been removing the spent canes.  
Last year caneborers had destroyed the summer crop by now.  This year, 
I've only had to cut out a couple of canes.

I netted the currants and raspberries today, as the first fruits are 
showing color.

After a bit of nibbling, the tomatoes are doing well.  The early one is 
in bloom.  (Jet something).  Sweet 100s and Brandywine look happy.

The blueberries set more fruit than leaves this year.  I was 
disappointed, but a little relieved when a lot of it dropped.  The crop 
is still looking promising.  I continue to be pleased with St. Cloud.  
The new Rubel is growing nicely despite close proximity to plants that 
like sweeter soil.  (It is in the same bed as the raspberries, tomatoes, 
etc., but I amended its corner with lots of peat and oak leaves.)

I planted a bunch of evergreen huckleberries this spring in the shade 
around the edges of my property.  I experimented a bit, planting some 
with soil amendments, and just dropping some in the ground, planting 
some where they would be easy to water, and others in difficult spots, 
putting some in dense shade and others in light shade.   I thought I had 
lost them all to transplant shock, but it's now clear that a few have 
survived.  I think I killed the others by adding peatmoss to the soil 
and not waiting long enough for it to be fully hydrated.  The two that I 
just threw in a hole, and the one that got planted two weeks later are 
all looking good.  (One of these was in a spot I forgot about, and 
didn't get watered at all during our April drought.)  I'm very excited 
by this fruit exploration:  A blueberry-like plant that grows in the 
shade and is attractive to boot - I do hope it works out.    I'm 
thinking of covering one or two of these with cloches over the winter - 
such little plants, and I am one climate zone further north (zone 6) 
than they are usually rated.

I also put in some cornus mas this year.  So far, so good.

The three year old canadice grape is now safely above convenient deer 
browsing, and is well on its way to covering my trellis.  Alas, the one 
fruiting tendril was eaten by something, but I remain hopeful for next 
year.

The chipmunks have had a bountiful harvest of strawberries.  I give up.  
I think I will dig them out and replace them with flagstones, as they 
are too close to the raspberries anyway.  I wonder if it's easier to 
exclude critters from one of those "strawberry jars" I see advertised.  
I know that if I don't pin down my nets, the chippies just walk 
underneath, and it I do pin them down, I snare a lot of chipmunks and 
junkos, but the strawberries disappear just as fast.  Hope springs 
eternal, and I'm thinking of expanding the garden and putting some in a 
more convenient spot.

I put my Myers lemon out in the garden this summer.  It looks a bit 
yellow - maybe too much rain?  It has good drainage, but there's only so 
much soil can drain if it rains every three days.  The net has kept the 
squirrels off the fruits, though.  My baby apple is holding its own 
after assault by caterpillars earlier this season.  Some of my grafts 
took, and some died.  Many of my late grafts seem to have done neither.  
These were whip and tongue grafts done a bit too late.  Do you suppose 
they might grow next year - like dormant buds?  Do you suppose the buds 
are dead but the wood's still alive?

All in all, a good spring, and a garden full of hope.

Hoping for more great growing weather,

Ginda
eastern Mass., zone 6


 

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