North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

For what it's worth:

When I first moved here, there were some naturalized daffodils growing in a 
wet spot where I was about to have some tile line put through. I dug some of 
them up, and, under the impression that if they were in a wet spot that must 
be what they liked, moved them to another wet spot on the property (neither 
spot is wet all year, but both are sodden for significant parts of every 
year, and shallow soil over rock outcrops). They naturalized on the new spot, 
and survived in the old one, and I now have daffodils coming up wild in both 
areas every spring (they've never gotten any further care.)

Years later, I read that daffodils must have well drained soil.

For that matter, I've grown a whole lot of quality vegetables on what's not 
supposed to be good vegetable ground; and some very nice-flavored peaches and 
plums on what's not supposed to be good stone fruit ground. The trees were 
short lived, but that probably is due partly to climate and partly to my not 
having taken very good care of them.

-- I suspect that some of these things are cultivar/root stock dependent; and 
also that at least some cultivars of most plants will do reasonably well in 
conditions that are less than theoretically ideal for them.

The Extension and similar recommendations also tend to be for highest crop 
production, which is not necessarily the same as for best flavor, best insect 
resistance, etc. Are you intending to grow commercially? If so, are your 
markets likely to be willing to pay extra for flavor, or are they likely to 
only be interested in tonnage?

(I seem to have moved from trying to talk you out of this place into trying 
to talk you into it. But on your further description it's neither as acidic 
nor as wet as I first thought you were describing.)


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale