I wish I could be so optimistic. I have driven and ridden scores of thousands of miles in SC's countryside for nearly a third-century and all the while with more than a casual interest in fruiting plants. This was all over the state with only a few exceptions. Added to the rural through-roads and side roads, of the past two years I have driven an intensive few thousand miles on small country roads and dirt roads. I also deal with rural people not rarely (regarding unrelated problems) and I talk to county agents or staff in several counties or regions. I see some muscadines and figs, some scattered pears, occasional blueberries and plums, and the rare apple (probably far more common in the mountains and higher piedmont). Pecans are pretty plentiful though, and very occasionally a chestnut is seen. I probably wouldn't notice scattered blackberries, but would see a row. I might miss a small plot of strawberries. Big rural yards often have their fruit bushes and trees in the wide front or side expanses where it is possible for me to see them. City people are more backyard oriented. Commercially I see peaches, pecans, muscadines, apples (upstate only),strawberries, blueberries, pecans, and even one chestnut grove and one kiwi vineyard. The evidence that these can be grown here is there for all to see. A few people make jelly from the ornamental jelly plam (Butia), many banana plants are grown for ornamentals but few for fruit, loquat fruit from the common ornamentals are eaten by some, as are ginkgo nuts. I could hardly miss Japanese persimmons when fruiting in the fall but these are so rarely seen I off hand can't remember a one but my own. And what could be easier and more trouble-free to grow? I have seen fruiting cold hardy citrus, but very few. They may however be far more common near the coast. I just don't see the interest directly. The only counter-argument that is starkly obvious is that thousands of fruit plants are sold each year by the various nurseries and some of them actually are appropriate and have a reasonable chance to live (muscadines, rabbiteye blueberries, figs, a few of the pear selections, a few plums, pecans including rarely a good selection, and blackberries). Most others are doomed. Doomed peaches probably kill a lot of potential later interest.

John of Lamb Abbey, When the bark is not slipping on the hawthorn stock, here is what to do when you want to graft low and the sizes are hugely different. Make a regular whip&tongue cut on your medlar whose caliber is way too small, then carefully make a matching wound in the large rootstock. Then actually make a tongue on the stock by back-cutting, then slide the scion home, matching as well as possible. I frequently use this technique. Maybe I should call it the modified rind/bark-whip&tongue graft! Anyway, it works good and saves the day. Of course, if you can wait till the hawthorn bark is slipping nicely, you can just do a regular bark graft, which work a treat too. Cover the whole scion with grafting glue after completing the graft (prevents the scion from drying out). Make certain that all air holes are plugged so the union cannot dry out. Don't let any glue get into the union either. Dethride, Apple trees are easy to work over from a 12 inch stump from ground level. Unless you want to work each individual branch over, which allows you to put many kinds on one tree. Wait till the tree has put on a leaf or two, then wack it cleanly with a chain saw (if working over individual limbs, a sharp hacksaw makes nice clean cuts!). Score the bark with a sharp knife every 2 inches around the circumference, insert shaved scions into each slit, then bind the whole thing with electrical tape. Plug all holes (combination of small strips of tape and/or modeling clay or plumbers putty), then cover grafted scions with glue. They will all grow over the summer. I have seen them go 6 and 8 feet each! Next winter, save the best upright, cutting all the others back to one or two buds. This keeps the bark alive all around the tree, not letting it die. The huge wound will disappear in 10 years or so, but needs a little maintainance every winter to keep the main upright, the main upright. I coat the ugly wound in the fall (big wound is nice and dry at this point), before rains start with roofing compound, some use copper fungicide. This keeps the wood from rotting before the gap closes. You should be getting apples around 3 or 4 seasons from when you initially graft. I think it is worth it when you don't have to do 1000 trees this way. Great for the homeowner who wants to make use of a wonderful root system already in the ground! For the link below, I recommend the single-cut bark graft. It is less messing around than the double cut kind, and works just as good. Also, the scion (two or three nice buds) need not have any shoulder like they portray. Just a simple long wedge will work fine. And I have never used nails. Some of my scionwood just would not handle a nail as sometimes the scion is too small. Here is a link that might be useful: Bark Graft

Bob, I have many zig-zag plantings, you and I are thinking alike! In fact the majority of my trees are in this form. The idea has also been around for some time, I found some Italian researchers exploring this idea in the 1970's, they called it a "double row". My double rows I did more narrowly than yours; I have apples with only 1.5' diagonal, and my pears and Euro plums have a ~2.75' diagonal. These double row spacings have not been a big success, and its one reason why I was above complaining about problems with Euro plums and pears (the apples actually worked out OK, they fruited well, but they are still too much hassle to prune). I didn't mention the fact that they were double rows above, but I think that made the close spacing problem even worse for my problematic Euro plums and pears. Your double-rows are a lot wider than I made mine, with 4' between the zig and the zag. That may make things work for you, not sure. The one case where I feel a double row has so far worked well is in a peach/plum planting I did a few years ago, I did them at about 5' horizontal spacing and about 4' vertical. So, given how peaches are a bit more vigorous than a dwarf apple I could see 4' working for you. Your pears are only two and have more space on all the other sides so 4' would not be as big a deal for those two; if you had a long row of pears I would make the zig/zag width be 5' or 6' minimum. Overall I'm not sure how much help if any the zig/zag is over just putting the trees in a straight line at the same net spacing (i.e. putting your apples in a line at 3'), but its worth experimenting with. Scott

Well, here is a revised version of my grow list. The entire thing is 9 pages long, so I think I'll leave off the flowers for now : ) HERBS: Basils - Red Rubin, Genovese, Lime, Mrs. Burn's Lemon, Sweet Black Cumin Chamomile, German Cilantro, Slow Bolt Dill Feverfew Lemon Balm Marjoram Oregano, Wild Zaatar Parsley, Big Italy Perilla, Moonlit Seas Stevia Summer Savory Tagetes lucida (aka. Mexican Tarragon, also called Sweet Mace) - I've read it can be used for pesto Thai Red Roselle - 2nd attempt, not much luck last year LEAFY SALD STUFF: Amaranth, Red Leaf Arugula Lettuces - Freckles, Nevada, New Red Fire, Mascara, Simpson Elite, and Tom Thumb Orach, Rose BEANS: Haven't got these figured out yet. Probably have over 40 kinds to choose from. CARROTS: Jaune de Doubs, St. Valery, Touchon Long, Lunar White, Tendersnax, Nutri-Red CUCUMBERS: Homemade Pickles, County Fair, North Carolina Heirloom, either Mexican Sour Gherkin or West Indian Gherkin (any recommendations on those?), and still trying to decide on a long slicer, maybe Armenian? GROUND CHERRIES: Aunt Molly's, Giant Cape Gooseberry, and Pineapple MELONS: this is another work in progress, but I'm leaning towards Honey Rock, Sierra Gold, Noir de Carmes, Collective Farm Woman, Rocky Ford Green Flesh, Cream of Sascatchewan, Blacktail Mountain, and maybe Sweet Siberian PEAS: Sugar Ann, Sugar Snap, Super Sugar Snap, Lincoln PEPPERS: I have spent WAY too much time on this list, and I'm still unsure, but here is where I'm at now. (The more I work on narrowing the list, the more things get added!!!) Alma Paprika - this is a definite, love it! Anaheim Beaver Dam Boldog Hungarian Spice (paprika) Botinecka Zuta Cascabella Chervena Chushka Chinese Giant Keystone Giant Feherozon (paprika) Giant Szegedi Gourmet (orange bell) Healthy Lipstick Mariachi Poblano Patio Red Marconi Red Cheese Senorita - one of my favorites last year Soroksari TAM Jalapeno Sweet Pickle and maybe Tollie's Sweet Italian RADISHES: Cherry Belle, Early Scarlet Globe, Easter Egg, French Breakfast SQUASH: Bush Zuchini, Bush Buttercup or maybe Delicata, Gold Nugget, some type of acorn squash, and a pie-type pumpkin ... so now we are down to the really troublesome list ... the tomatoes. Honestly, I only have room in the garden for 8 plants, and can fit a couple in an earthbox, but I may be able to squeeze a couple more in at the community garden. TOMATOES: Reds: Neves Azorean Red Pinks: Giant Belgium Caspian Pink Earl's Faux Lancaster Pink (maybe) Soldacki Rainy's Maltese (trying again) Blacks: Amazon Chocolate Black from Tula Cherokee Chocolate Indian Stripe Orange/Yellows/Bicolors: Hillbilly (maybe) Gold Medal Striped German Cherry: either Chocolate Cherry, Brown Berry, or Black Cherry ... can't seem to decide Paste: Amish Paste Okay, folks, there you have it. The almost complete growlist for 2010! Whew! I need another cup of coffee Bonnie