I could have sworn I commented on this a long time ago but apparently not. So here's a short, but long overdue update. On April 3rd I began keeping the indoor started seedlings outside in a mini-greenhouse. I was bringing them back inside when the nighttime temp was forecast to be below 40*F. The winter sown seeds that I planted on March 10th, sprouted on April 9th. These remained outside at all times. On April 20th, these nearly died because I accidentally left the cover on the container during a sunny day and forgot to water them but they eventually recovered. I planted both the indoor started and winter sown plants on May 9th. The winter sown plants were about half as big as those started indoors. Both sets of plants should have been sufficiently vernalized. The artichokes were growing well but they stalled out about a month ago. I've given them fertilizer but they're still the same size. The two winter sown cardoons I've got planted in the same bed are growing larger and the two rows of beets I planted down the middle of the bed in early June are growing well and nearing harvest. So at least I'll get something from that bed this year. To be honest, I'm tempted to rip the artichokes out and replant something for Fall. But I also want to see if I can overwinter them successfully. So I'm not sure what to do. One thing I do know for certain is that this is the first and only time I'm planting artichokes. Major waste of space in a small garden like mine. Rodney P.S. Congrats to those of you who were successful!

I purchased a three-in-one plum tree from Raintree last year. It has grown nicely and was well labelled. I weighted down the branches with rope and a stone to make the tree more open centered. Looks like it may be budded for fruit next year. I transferred some chip buds ( my first attempt at chip budding) to other plums that I have, so we'll see next spring if that was successful. I have been grafting scions onto existing apple and pear trees for a few years now. My first reaction when these grafts fruited was that flavor must be affected and in decline when a graft. (Mollie's Delicious on Jonathan had no taste; Vista Bella on same tree was o.k.) However, this year has changed that --Honeycrisp is one of four grafts on Hawkeye Delicious and is wonderful. The Grimes Golden on that tree is also great, and expecting great things from Florina in a few weeks. One thing I think I've learned is to not let the tree overbear.

Hi Marc- Welcome to the Fruit and Orchard forum. I like the idea of Asian Pears enough that Im planting one myself this year. If you do decide to go with apples, I really would recommend going with a "Disease Resistant" variety. If you want to make fruit growing one of your main hobbies, then yes, you can grow well known varieties, but be prepared that you will spend a lot of time spraying serious fungicides which are very difficult for the homeowner to obtain legally. I think I may preach this a bit louder than the others, but, in my mind, DR apples are 50% easier to grow. IÂm just south of you in RI, and around here, youÂll need to deal with Apple Scab and Cedar Apple Rust as well as quite a few other diseases. If you just go to your local nursery, and pick up a Red Delicious, or some other well known apple, you will need to spray it almost constantly (with homeowner-available fungicides) around here to avoid the those diseases. For me, in RI, that meant 7-10 days... and even that, only solved the scab, while the rust reeked havoc with my trees. HereÂs what I recommended to a friend of mine last year: He wanted 2 apple trees. I recommended Liberty and a Williams Pride which are both disease resistant. I have both, though the WP has not fruited yet. When I went to a local orchard last week, I tried 9 varieties of apples. The Liberty tasted really great to me. For both my father and I, it was in 1st place until the end of the tour when we tried an Empire. I took me 4 apples (2 Liberty, 2 Empire) to determine that I liked the Empire just slightly more, but only slightly. But, the big thing here is Liberty is DR and Empire isnÂt. So, IÂm still glad I have the Liberty. Liberty is still at harvest time now for another 2 days (possible a little longer since youÂre north of me). If you act fast, you might be able to try one at your local orchard. I still havenÂt tried my Williams Pride, but it has a couple of nice qualities: 1.) ItÂs extremely DR (I havenÂt sprayed my tree at all zero, zilch, nada, and it probably looks better than any of my other trees). 2.) It is a very early variety (ripening in mid July around here I believe), so you will spread your harvest out which I like to do. 3.) Some might argue that early apples in general donÂt taste as good, but if you search this forum, youÂll find many accounts of it tasting better than many of the fall apples. Then thereÂs the issue of insects. You will need to deal with Plum Curculio and Apple Maggot fly. Unfortunately, DR canÂt really help with that. But, with just two trees, you can "bag" your apples. Do a search on this forum about bagging your apples, and youÂll find a lot of great info. If you were to decided to go with just 1 apple tree, make sure you have something to pollinate it nearby, or you wonÂt get any fruit. Either a neighbor with another apple tree, or a crab apple nearby. Finally, If your looking for a source, Google "Adams County Nursery" and "Cummins Nursery". The tree will come as "bare root", and it will probably take you 3 years or so to get your first couple apples. Or, if you decide that you would like a mature espaliered Liberty, then there is a place down here in RI that has one. Good luck! -Glenn

Will - I think I could squeeze a few of your plants in, just joking! I'm getting nervous that I'm running out of room. I suppose the upside is that I'll get to sit back and watch it all grow. There aren't that many more spots for trees. Maybe another 50 full-sized trees, and then the process of actually gardening the land will become, available... the planting of dwarfs and miniatures in defined settings. Everything now had absolutely no plan, except, I created my backyard first planting Picea omorika 'Gotelli Weeping' and my first tree on the front side of my house was a Pinus contorta var. lat. 'Chief Joseph'. I then just kept building around these. The seedlings I planted all in about 250 have absolutely no rhyme or reason. It's been fun. Dax