Hardy Carefree Fruits and Nuts For Z4
may8
15 years ago
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ginkgonut
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agodirtbert
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Help me Create A Fruit Park.
Comments (19)Hi RusticBohemian- First let me say, I applaud your spirit and enthusiasm. I think its a great idea, but I think you really want to listen to the posts above. That isnÂt to say you shouldnÂt do it. I just think you need to modify you plan just a bit with more emphasis on low maintenance fruits and a long term maintenance care plan. Like others have said, for the most part, most of these plants are not simply "Plant and pick". ItÂs more of an augment soil, plant, nurture, water, fertilize, spray, water, prune, thin, more TLC, spray, spray, pick. That said, there are certainly plants that are easy to care for than others. As HarvestMan said, certainly raspberries would be a good choice. I think mine are mostly care-free, except for the mowing down (the easiest thing to do) in the winter, and adding of compost in the spring. (maybe you could even do that all at once?) If you set them up with good containment in the beginning (so they donÂt spread to where you donÂt want them to be I think this could be about as close to plant and pick as you could get. Though I may have to disagree (gasp) with HarvestMan on one point There are better varieties out there than Heritage these days, and you can search this forum for more info on those. Thornless blackberries would be another candidate. Like my raspberries, mine have been pretty much disease free, and for the most part, the birds stay away. The issue here is that normally youÂd want a really solid trellis here. But, in your case, you might want to go with the less productive free standing varieties. Again, youÂre going to want to prune out the old canes in the spring, and give them some compost. Possibly some blueberries? The issue here is you have to do netting to keep the birds away. HereÂs a case where you would probably want to amend the soil first to get your PH down. Mullberries would be another good candidate. Apples eh? Like the others have said, these guys are going to be a LOT more work here. At the very least, you should consider only disease resistant varieties. And, in your case, IÂd recommend only the most DR ones. Even with that, youÂre still going to need a solid spraying plan. I doubt bagging the apples would be an option here as they would attract a lot of attention and perhaps people would see them as litter? Apples may be a bit beyond your plan. Another concern I have is water. You are going to need to water these plants pretty often. Do you have a plan get water to these sites? IÂm picturing a level-site, which wonÂt have much shade, and these many plants could suck up a lot of water. I really hope your project succeeds. Just make sure you put in all the logistics before hand to make sure it does. If you havenÂt done any home orcharding before, IÂd be prepared to spend the next many months and years determining the right (low maintenance, hearty, disease resistant) varieties for your idea. Like others have said definitely start small if at all possible. YouÂll learn so much, and it will change the way proceed. Good luck! This is a very big undertaking. -Glenn...See MoreHardy Carefree Fruits and Nuts for Z4
Comments (11)Thank you all! I know that some of them are actually Z5. We like fresh sweet fruits. Sour cherry, etc. are good for cooking and I don't like to cook them. We have lots of raspberries and strawberries. I love to grow sweet blackberries, like the ones in Seattle. But they may not grow too well here. The store bought ones here are VERY sour. We do have 2 small apple trees and 1 peach tree. They are all wild, came up by themselves. We love blueberries. I have tried growing thme several times, but not successful. The peach tree came up where I planted a blueberry. It bloomed the last 4 years or so, but it has not yet done so this year. There are lots of buds, but I am afraid they are all winter killed. One of the apple tree must be Golden Delicious. They are actully sweeter than the store bought ones. Plastic bags may not work for me. In the past, they disappeared before fully ripen. I put small plastic water bottles around the apples last year and the animal(s) could not get them. The year before, I put paper bags one them, but they were all ripped off. Any other thoughts? Thanks....See MoreApricots in Z 4 or 5
Comments (5)IF you are going to grow apricots from seed there are two ways 1 - Clean the pits and very carefully crack it with a nut cracker or a vice. You just want to split it to help water get into the kernal inside the pit. Soak in water for two days then place in slightly moist seed starter or vermiculite about an inch deep in a baggie. Toss it in the fridge for two or three months. They should start to germinate in the bag. If they dont put the baggie outside in shade when the temps dont go below 4C (roughly40F) 2 - clean the seed and plant it outside a week or two before the ground freezes. Squirrels etc are good at finding them I hear so you might want to cover the are in mesh....See MoreYour late season pics, please ...and benefits of roses
Comments (52)Gorgeous roses all, with my favorite being Liv Tyler, Baptiste Lafay and Sonia Rykiel. My garden is one of the great passions in my life and I can't imagine a life without roses, especially old roses. The care I've given them has been repaid many times over with the happiness they've given me over the years. The planning, the planting, the growing - it's all been so exciting and pleasurable. Even the setbacks and challenges have added spice to my life, especially after I've overcome them! The garden will never be perfect, but striving to make it so is making me perfectly happy....See Moremay8
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agodandy_line (Z3b N Cent Mn)
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoginkgonut
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agomay8
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoleftwood
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agodirtbert
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agomay8
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoalmosttime
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoginkgonut
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agowcap
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoginkgonut
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoBeeone
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agonick_b79
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovogt0047
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agolakefarm
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agomay8
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14 years agolast modified: 9 years agojr1318
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agodianeg_mn
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoginkgonut
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agodirtbert
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoalthea_gw
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agonick_b79
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoleftwood
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agonick_b79
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoHope Wehunt
8 years ago
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