Andrew, I noticed that some of the apricots in U.S. with best reputations for flavor come from England (e.g., Blenheim & Moorpark). Your Royal Horticultural Society put out a book, Growing Fruit by Harry Baker which covers growing apricots. It says that, "it thrives best fan-trained against a south- or west-facing wall in the cooler regions. It can also be successfully grown in containers." The book also has directions for growing fruit in containers in another section. There are also a couple of pages on growing apricots in the U.K. in Dr. D. G. Hessayon's The Fruit Expert. He suggests growing under glass as a "much more reliable" way to cultivate apricots in the U.K. There might be some little, temporary greenhouse or cold frame which could be assembled to cover the tree during the colder months. I just acquired 2 apricots in large pots but my climate presents different problems than yours. Hopefully, some other members with experience growing apricots in yr. climate will provide some more useful remarks. Good luck! Cecilia

What usually happens with these fragile trees is cambium kill, often in early spring. Sometimes it seems the kill creates a kind of delayed action and trees flower, leaf out and look perfectly healthy until late spring or so. I do not know exactly what conditions create this injury or delayed symptoms but the injury itself certainly has to do with a pretty hard freeze at a point where trees are softening up. Apricots lose their winter hardening earlier than any fruit tree I know. In my nursery I have a plum that apparently suffered the same thing this year although no trees around it, including the same variety, suffered a similar fate. The tree was fully leafed out and healthy looking and then seemed to die overnight with brown leaves still attached. In this case, I can see the problem area along the trunk but with apricots it isn't generally apparent by superficial inspection in my experience. When there are no cankers or root injury or obvious girdling i think cambium injury is the only thing that causes this kind of sudden death, although that is a leap. I'm just a grower and not a pathologist.

len, That you don't understand, comprehend or like the science is fine. I'm not trying to convert you into a believer. But, your notion of using gypsum without established good reason is, in western U.S. soils, just plain reckless. It can, in a number of areas, result in excessive soil Ca levels, with very negative effects for plants. It has been well tried, tested, studied and proven. That's a point you just don't seem to get - the soils in the Western U.S. are not like yours, and the same treatments will not have the same effects. Try this from the Colorado Extension Service: Gypsum is a mineral found in large quantities in most Colorado soils. The belief persists that adding gypsum can "break up" the compact clay soils so typical of the Front Range area. This is not true and here is why. Calcium sulfate or gypsum when added to our clay soils only increases the already high calcium content. Since plants growing in our soils already have all the calcium they need, the added gypsum does nothing to improve plant growth. Spending money and time to add gypsum to a soil that is already high in calcium is a waste of money and effort. As far as relieving soil compaction, gypsum has no effect. Loosening soils is a physical process, not a chemical one. The way to break up tight, clay soils is through adding and mixing in organic amendments. The amendment holds the clay particles apart creating more space for the air so critical to plant root growth. Improve the aeration and drainage of your clay soils with organic amendments such as compost, peat and manure. Add a two inch layer of the organic amendment on the surface of the soil and till or spade in to a four to six inch depth. When purchasing organic soil amendments, buy four cubic yards for every thousand square feet of area. It's easy for gardeners frustrated by hard, clay soils to grasp at anything that sounds like it might work. With gypsum, the expression "If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true" applies. Decades of research has proven gypsum is not the answer for us. The secret to developing a good soil for gardening in our area is one organic gardeners have known for years - organic amendments Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado - What About Gypsum?

Hi Mara(?), When I was researching popup greenhouses, I came across a comment from a gentleman who suggested going to the hardware store and buying better stakes with which to anchor it to the ground. IÂve weighed the skirt down with glass bricks because I canÂt drive stakes through the patio tiles. In addition, IÂve tied it to the latticework supports on the two sides that are not fully enclosed. So far, it has withstood several moderate windstorms. Right now it is 37 degrees outside and 58 degrees inside the greenhouse. The low is forecast to be 31 degrees this A.M., so it looks like my propagation mats raise the temperature approximately 20 degrees over the outside temperature. IÂm not using a fan because here in the desert I have trouble keeping the humidity at a high enough level. Be very thankful you donÂt have a homeownerÂs association. Most of my neighbors have a very basic front landscape (gravel yards with a few junipers or cacti) because they donÂt want to deal with the Aesthetics Police. A few people have nice trees, which they are coming under pressure to top or remove. IÂve also been shown a few secret gardens that arenÂt visible to prying eyes. My goal is to help subvert the system by showing what is possible, encouraging more of my neighbors to defy the many unnecessary planting restrictions. Philip