North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> During our phone conversation, he happened to mention that he was talking 
> about columnar apple trees, a fact that he hadn't mentioned in his book.  Oh 
> joy!


Heh, heh. He just left out that minor detail? :-)

My situation is different from that of many - perhaps most? - of you, 
since I'm just trying to fit as much fruit as possible into my very 
limited backyard. And with my first row of trees, at least, I need to 
keep them below the electric service coming into my house.

Well, and the fact is that I don't want too much of any fruit all at 
once, either. I really want a variety, for as long a season as possible 
(and then good storage all winter, which has been the most important 
aspect of my apple varieties). That seems to mean small trees and lots 
of them (or grafting different varieties, but I'm such a newbie that 
just scares the heck out of me).

But I can already tell that I've been crowding things a bit much. It's 
not just hard to work around my apple and plum trees without stepping on 
strawberries and tangling in gooseberries, it's very difficult to spray 
without drifting to other plants - plants that might be blooming just 
when I need to spray.

Well, live and learn. And now that I've got *some* fruit set on, it's 
easier to accept mistakes as just a learning experience. I must say, 
though, that I've got nothing but respect for those of you who make a 
living at this! I know you can't afford to be so nonchalant about 
problems. And considering the time and money I'm spending, I really 
don't know how you do it.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall 
deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him to do so 
whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, 
and you allow him to make war at pleasure. - President Abraham Lincoln