um...no. I'm going to send up a flag to Seedmama this evening that my wild Chickasaw are ready!! Just as one harvest ends, another begins! DH just carried in a bucket full!!!

Dawn - bless your heart. This is another one of those times I wish we lived in that perfect world neighborhood you've mentioned. We could all get together and help lessen the load. (sigh) It's a nice thought, huh? =)

Well, off to fry up some bacon for BLT's!!!

Paula

Dawn-what kind of plum trees do you have?
We got a chance to have some fresh plums this week, but the grower couldn't remember the variety. I'd love to plant some next year!

Paula,

Our wild ones are ripe too, but I left them for the birds. At this point, you couldn't pay me to pick a plum...any plum. I hope you and Seedmama have fun harvesting yours....and I assume y'all will be making jelly! Hope the BLTs were yum, yum, yummy. I could live on BLTs, jalapeno poppers, blackeyed peas and okra in the summertime. Oh, and peach cobbler and homemade ice cream and iced tea.

I was thinking about the perfect gardening world when I was picking plums...thinking that if we all lived in one neighborhood together, it would be easy to share the plums. I would have called everyone and said 'come pick all you want' and would have helped everyone make their own jelly if they didn't know how and wanted to learn how.

We did that when I was a kid....if someone was cutting down a tree, everyone went over and helped them or if they had a massive fruit tree harvest or too many blackeyed peas to snap, everyone just helped everyone else. Then we all ate ice cream together sitting on the porch steps, and the adults talked while the kids played tag or chased fireflies. It was such a great way to grow up! (Nostalgia! Ain't it grand!)

Megan,

We have Bruce and I thought we had Ozark Premier, but it doesn't ripen until August, so now I'm not sure what the second one is. Maybe Methley or Santa Rosa. I'll have to do some research and try to figure it out. When we planted them in about 2000, I thought I'd always remember what they were, but now clearly I don't. I like Bruce's flavor better, but both are fine, fine plums and, in the years they produce for us, they produce very, very well. Unfortunately, they seem to bloom too early 2 years out of 3 and we lose the blooms/fruits to a late freeze, but in the years the late freeze doesn't hit, we have a really great crop. This year's crop is the best we've ever had and I think we just had 'the perfect storm' in terms of all the conditions being just so: a cold, hard winter to ensure the tree's chilling hour requirements were met, enough moisture but not too much, absolutely no disease problems or pests, and then hot, hot weather which seems to make them extra sweet (esp. true for the peaches).

I'll find and link the OSU publication that lists recommended varieties. If you plant more than one (and I would), try to choose varieties that do not ripen simultaneously. Our plums ripen back to back with the plums on the second tree starting to ripen about 2 or 3 weeks after the first. If they'd all been ripe at once this year, I would have had a nervous breakdown. Best of all, the peach tree doesn't start ripening its fruit until the second plum tree is almost done. There's a lot to be said for careful planning in order to get a sequential harvest.

I want to add a couple more plum trees next near, or maybe a pluot and an apricot.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Fruit Tree Planting Guide

Next year you should consider selling at a farmer's market. If you sold half and preserved half, you'd reduce your workload and make HUNDREDS of dollars to pay for all those jars! ;)

Jo

Jo,

Is the heat making you insane? Selling at the Farmer's Market is the absolute last thing I'd ever do. I love shopping at a high-quality Farmer's Market, but I will never sell at one....and I have very good reasons for feeling that way. Marietta has tried to have a Farmer's Market for several years, but people here are not willing to pay a fair price so there are almost no potential sellers. The local folks seem to think you should just give the produce to them for almost nothing because they think it is "free" since everyone knows you just scatter seeds on the ground and automatically have a rich and bountiful harvest with no time or money put into producing it. In the last year that we had a local Farmer's Market, only one family regularly sold at it and I was told they gave it up and the woman found a full-time job in another town where she could earn a decent wage.

I grow for us, not for a Farmer's Market. I'm not interested in spending my time explaining to people why they should pay the price I'm asking. Most people here who shop at the Farmer's Market want to bargain and get plums for less than the Wal-Mart price, which I think shows a total lack of understanding for all the labor and costs involved in producing local, sustainably-raised, organic produce. I'd give plums away before I'd sell them....and in a year like this, EVERYONE has plums. We have miles and miles of wild plums alongside most rural roads and all over pastures, so the supply is huge which means there is little demand for purchased plums.

I don't mind spending money for the jars. Most of the excess plum jelly (above and beyond what our family will eat) will be gifts for family and friends, so when I buy the jars, I'm just shifting some of my Christmas spending to the summer months.

We're still getting requests from Tim's coworkers for produce and I told him yesterday that the answer is no, no, no and no. I reminded him that any we give away lessens the amount I have available to can and freeze. Our garden is a family garden and I plant what I think I need to provide food for DH and I, and for our DS, DDIL and DGD...I did not plant enough plants to give produce to his closest 100 coworkers. I'm starting to get irritated with all of them. I am the Little Red Hen.

Finally, in our climate, plums freeze out 2 years out of 3, so I have to make the frozen and canned fruit last until about the summer of 2013, which is when we are due, statistically speaking, to have another big crop.

Dawn

Hmm...a thought - we're a couple of weeks behind you, Dawn, right? I just haven't had the time yet (and will be gone over the weekend), but I wonder if there's anywhere around here (in the country) where I could just drive up and down and still find wild plums? I love those things - any kind of plums, really - but have no room for canning or freezing, etc....may have to go look when I return... :) Anybody know of a good place around here to wander, LOL??

Dawn, I agree with what you said. I have the same problem with sewing. I can make just about anything I want, and over the years I have had to tell so many people that I had no desire to sew for them. I sew for my family and my humanitarian project and I don't have any desire to 'fix this dress', or 'just alter my husbands waistband', or 'make this quick and easy pattern'. I will gladly teach anyone to sew that has a desire to learn, but I don't want to sew for other people. I can't tell you how many people I have suggested an alterations shop to.

How can I make this post about gardening? They must be 'blooming idiots' if they think I have time for their sewing projects. LOL

Sharon,

I think the odds are good you'd find some within 50 miles of OKC, but they're through producing down here so I'm not sure how much further north you'd have to be to find them still producing in early July. Here in southcentral OK, the wild plums that grow along fencelines were ripening around the third week in May through about the first week or ten days in June. Those are the Chickasaw plums or hog plums or sand plums that were in full sun. (Those in semi-shade ripen a bit later.) The Mexican plums, which are on larger trees and which ripen later, have been ripening since around June 10th or so, so they're near the end of their harvest period if they haven't already reached it. Our particular Mexican plum tree where I left fruit for the birds is in morning shade/afternoon sun and even it is through ripening, although it still had a few ripe ones about Sunday or so. Here, plums are strictly a June crop for the most part although I know there are some cultivated varieties that produce throughout the summer. My experience is the later they produce, the more the bees, birds, and butterflies/moths get into them, so earlier producers give a less blemished crop.

You might try asking on an OKC or Norman or maybe even Purcell Freecycle or Craigslist site if anyone has native wild plums and will let people come pick. Here in our area, most people don't care if someone harvests from their fenceline trees, but I think it is always a good idea to have permission first since, technically, the trees are on somebody's property and you might encounter someone who'd rather not have strangers picking plums from their fenceline trees. When you live in the area, you know who to ask....or they've told you in previous years "pick whatever you want". (I'm sure some people do it without asking permission though.) A lot of folks here harvest wild blackberries in area like railroad right-of-ways and do the same with persimmons, if the persimmons are high enough in the trees that the coyotes don't get them all before they're ripe.

If you go picking wild plums from fence lines, watch for snakes and spray with a DEET type repellent for fleas and ticks....I'm told they are fierce this year, though we haven't had a problem with them at our house. A lot of the folks here (I know this sounds redneck, but hey, we're a very rural area) pull big ol' four-wheel-drive vehicles off the road and up as close to the fencelines as they can get (think wild jungle, not neatly mowed to within a couple of feet of the trees) and pick while standing on the bed of the truck to stay above the snakes, poison ivy, trash, deadfall from trees, greenbrier, etc. Harvesting wild plums is not for the faint of heart because most people who have them along the fence lines don't mow anywhere close to them. I've never wanted wild plums badly enough that I'd go into that tall stuff to pick them.

Dawn

Dawn,

I was born insane. However, in my defense, the heat IS making it worse!

You have very compelling reasons for not selling the fruit of your hard work. Honestly, I think I'd be hard pressed to sell too (if I ever grow enough that we don't eat it all on the spot).

Jo

Jo - We like the 'on the spot eating' also. In fact, I was picking cherry tomatoes this morning and giving them to DH to hold. He was eating them as fast as I could pick so I finally had to hold onto a few so I would have some for myself. With the fresh tomatoes, we are in sandwich mode. We had bacon sandwiches a couple of nights ago, and for lunch we had homemade pimento cheese spread with a big slice of vadalia onion and a Black Krim tom from the garden.

The Black Krim was beautiful, and all of the Cluster Goliath have been nice, but some of the early tomatoes from other vines have really been cat-faced and ugly. I got a huge tomato from a Sioux that looked like three tomatoes, fused together, but growing on one stem. It was so tight around the stem that it was hard to get it to release.

Not only do we snack from the garden, but I have a bowl of large tomatoes and a bowl of cheeries sitting on the cabinet and we eat from the cheeries all day. Our favorites are still Black Cherry and Sungold, but most of the others are also good. The Tess's Land Race has a very intense tomato flavor that I think would be great in a salad, but so far they haven't made it to the salad bowl. LOL

Jo,

I've had the 'you ought to sell at Farmer's Markets' discussion with many people over the years. I've figured out from going to Farmer's Markets that many people don't care if the market grower makes a fair living....they just want the cheapest produce possible. I'd suggest those people grow their own produce for three years and see if it changes their mind.

When we lived in Fort Worth and I was in my late 20s or early 30s with a small child, a full-time career and very little sunny space for a garden, I shopped at Farmer's Markets often....often driving over an hour east to the Dallas Farmer's Market or an hour west to the Parker County (Weatherford, TX) Farmer's Market, esp. for melons and Parker County peaches. At that time, I felt like many farmers charged too much for their produce, but I paid their price and didn't try to bargain them down. As I 'matured' as a person and as a gardener, I learned exactly how hard it is to get a good crop of anything in any given year, and my viewpoint changed completely---I realized that when you consider the costs of raising produce and the amount of work that goes into it, the average market grower doesn't charge enough! I still feel that way.

When I raised food more for fun and gave away lots of the 'extra' instead of freezing more of it or dehydrating it or caning it, I always enjoyed giving it to people. However, once I became focused on raising as much of our produce as possible, I stopped giving away the extra because my goal is different...I'm not growing for fun or pleasure (although, to me, gardening is fun and it is a pleasure)....I'm growing to provide us with the freshest produce raised in the most healthy manner. If other people that we know want produce like that, I urge them to raise their own, find a CSA or frequent a local farmer's market and build a relationship with growers/sellers they trust. I tell them, as nicely as possible, that I'm not their farmer's market. I've gotten that point across to people who live near us, but my DH has not been as successful in getting that point across to his coworkers, some of whom have enjoyed produce from our garden, on and off, for almost a quarter-century.

Carol, I know what you're saying about the sewing. Most people don't want to learn though, do they ?....most just want someone else to do it for them.

My favorite tomatoes of all shapes, sizes, and colors are those eaten fresh in the garden with the juice dripping down your chin. (Obviously that's not possible for folks who spray chemicals on their plants...they ought to wash the fruit first!) Sometimes I think it is a wonder that any tomatoes make it to the house.

Guess what, y'all....it is really clouding over now. We've had clouds for a couple of days, but the air is cooling and I'm hoping the Gulf moisture sent north by the journey of Alex through the Gulf coast and inland will bring us rain. Real rain. The kind that falls so hard that it drives you inside. Lately all we've had is wimpy, misty stuff that doesn't even wet the ground.

I have two big stockpots of plums cooking down on the stove, cutting my 'stockpile' in half. I'm almost home free and clear. Two more days and I'll be plum-free, in terms of having piles waiting for processing.

One of the best 'gardening tools' I bought the first year we moved here was a set of four huge stainless steel stockpots with lids. They're in graduated sizes and nest within one another for easy storage. During veggie and fruit harvest season I use the heck out of them.

Dawn

Soonergrandmom,

My two year old daughter follows behind me in the garden yelling "Tomato! Tomato"! I have to stop her from picking the green ones.

She loves them so much that the other night I went outside and picked a big colander full of huge sweet blackberries, a few strawberries, and a bunch of cherry tomatoes. Guess what? She went RIGHT for the tomatoes and ate at least 10.

That's my girl!

My son (4), on the other hand, won't touch anything I grow except for sweet fruit (apples, peaches, berries). He won't touch a vegetable or a vegetable-like fruit and loathes tomatoes. He must be a changeling.

I picked a bunch of tomatoes today, mostly cherries but a few larger ones. I am going to make tomatoes and basil drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. YUM!

Jo

Dawn, I know you say you never every spray the trees; I am amazed that you have any usable fruit at all.

I am still picking a few plums but the beetles have descended on the few still ripening peaches and the rest of the blackberries.

Hearing about all that produce makes me really, really tired.

the Beetles have now taken the rest of the unripened peaches and blackberries.

Jo,

That's the way to do it....teach them to eat healthy AND to love gardening while they're small. I grew up toddling around following my dad and other gardening relatives around their yards and gardens. I was probably in junior high school before I realized that not everyone had fruit trees and a veggie garden....and when I learned that, I felt sorry for those who were deprived of fresh fruits and veggies.

Glenda,

Sometimes it amazes me too. I grew fruit without spraying in Texas and I've always done it here. If someone wants to know what to spray on their fruit trees and when to spray it, I can tell them because I learned the whole routine as a child....but that doesn't mean I do it myself now. I think growing fruit organically is the hardest thing in the world to do, and when you're able to do it, it is a sign your 'personal' ecosystem at your place is in balance. I focus on having healthy soil, mulching under the trees with compost and chopped leaves, etc.--feeding the soil and letting the soil feed the plants. I don't spray pesticides, so we have beneficials that deal with any pests that show up. Still, every year I brace myself for the arrrival of plum curculio or something but it never happens.

If we had JBs, I don't know what I'd do. We'd probably have to build a screenhouse around the fruit trees (I picture a hoophouse, but with window screening instead of plastic) to exclude the pests, and I doubt it would be 100% successful, but it probably would help a lot. Would that be a major expense? Yes. But, just look at what the trees produced this year. When we were at Central Market on Sunday, and Tim saw that organic peaches were going for $4.49 per pound (earlier I incorrectly said $4.99 on another thread), he was grinning ear to ear and I knew what he was thinking....he was thinking of the money we didn't spend to buy our 85 lbs. of peaches that we've harvested. So, I think I could convince him to build a screened hoophouse over the fruit trees if I thought it were necessary because he understands the dollar value of the harvest.

If JBs ever move here, it could ruin my little organic garden paradise because I don't know of a really good, dependable organic solution. I don't think there is one.

Dawn