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Fruit
May 3, 2015 16:31:59 GMT
Post by Mari on May 3, 2015 16:31:59 GMT
We've got a thread on herbs, veggies, several flowers... who's growing fruit? I've got 5 different kinds of fruit and am on the lookout for a peach tree. They're easy to grow. The only thing they need is lots of sun and a good pruning once (or twice depending on what kind of yield and the sort of plant) a year.
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Fruit
May 3, 2015 17:45:12 GMT
Post by ceptimus on May 3, 2015 17:45:12 GMT
I have three fruit trees in my garden: one each of apple, pear and plum.
Most years they all give a good crop - much of which I give away to friends and neighbours, but still a lot of fruit ends up rotting on the garden lawn.
Two or three times over the last twenty years, there have been severe late frosts that occurred while the blossom was still out, and in those years there was no fruit on some or all of the trees (the apple blossom is usually a couple of weeks behind the other two). In those barren years I had less work and a tidier garden in the autumn - I wouldn't really mind if there was no fruit most years as it's cheap enough to buy at the supermarket anyway!
Other than picking the fruit and giving it away, there isn't much work - just a once-a-year pruning to stop the trees getting too overgrown. I normally do to the pruning in spring when the shoots begin to appear; I don't know if that is the best recommended time, but the trees seem to thrive on it whatever.
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Fruit
May 4, 2015 0:03:20 GMT
Post by whollygoats on May 4, 2015 0:03:20 GMT
So, this is where tomatoes go? 8^D}
My desire is to plant some cane berries. Good raspberries - several different varieties. I'd like to try blueberries, too.
I don't have the room at this point. Several years back, I thought I'd try growing them on my balcony, in pots. Nightmarish. I put canes in back next to the back fence. It was too dark and they did not flourish. They were also abuses by the hens. Out at the farm...when I retire.
Out at the farm we have a gravel road from the upper portion down to the fields next to the creek and the extension from the bottom of the hill to the picnic area next to the creek just begs to be lined with fruit trees. I'm look forward to some Gravensteins, and some real live cider apple trees, along with some apricots and peaches, and some pie cherries and some snackin' cherries.
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Fruit
May 4, 2015 0:23:08 GMT
Post by whollygoats on May 4, 2015 0:23:08 GMT
Oh...I plugged four more strawberry starts in the ground. They were flashing them off, complete with little red berries, when I went to get herbs. And...they were Hoods. So I snatched up four to add to my attempt to create a 'strawberry lawn' alongside the front steps.
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Fruit
May 4, 2015 7:07:56 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on May 4, 2015 7:07:56 GMT
I grow raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. The redcurrants did smash amazingly last year, and this year looks to be the same.
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Fruit
May 5, 2015 7:10:02 GMT
Post by Mari on May 5, 2015 7:10:02 GMT
Yes, once they get going they do quite well, don't they? I grow all my things in pots as I don't have a garden, only a balcony, so that limits how big they can become, but they're doing fantastically. I have 2 different kinds of raspberry: a normal one and a yellow one. The yellow ones are really very sweet and juicy.
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Fruit
May 5, 2015 7:11:46 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on May 5, 2015 7:11:46 GMT
I grow raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. The redcurrants did smash amazingly last year, and this year looks to be the same. My phone inserted the word 'smash' in there, quite randomly. It does that sometimes. :/
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Fruit
May 5, 2015 10:43:49 GMT
Post by Mari on May 5, 2015 10:43:49 GMT
I thought it was some Britishism I didn't know
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Fruit
May 5, 2015 12:51:59 GMT
Post by JoeP on May 5, 2015 12:51:59 GMT
I thought it was some Britishism I didn't know me too
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Fruit
May 5, 2015 12:56:09 GMT
juju likes this
Post by JoeP on May 5, 2015 12:56:09 GMT
But I think we should use it. It's a smash awesome bit of talk.
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Fruit
May 5, 2015 13:49:21 GMT
Post by Moose on May 5, 2015 13:49:21 GMT
Smashing is a perfectly valid adjective.
I've planted strawberries but thus far they are doing sweet fa
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Fruit
May 6, 2015 16:39:47 GMT
Post by Alvamiga on May 6, 2015 16:39:47 GMT
As long as you're not a Sky Sports reporter...
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Fruit
May 9, 2015 8:36:40 GMT
Post by Mari on May 9, 2015 8:36:40 GMT
I've never grown apples before, so if you have perhaps you can help me out: mmy appletree was blossoming happily, until we got a storm and sudden frost. All the flower petals have been blown away and some leaves look brownish. Is my beloved little tree a goner? Or will it be fine next year and should I just forget about apples this year, or is nothing wrong with it at all?
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Fruit
May 9, 2015 12:47:19 GMT
Post by ceptimus on May 9, 2015 12:47:19 GMT
My apple tree has been sometimes affected by frost. The tree has survived okay, but there was no fruit in those years with bad frosts when the blossom was out.
I suppose a really really severe frost might kill the tree - but apple trees all seem to survive fine in England where it hardly ever gets more than about ten degrees below freezing.
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Fruit
May 9, 2015 14:03:23 GMT
Post by JoeP on May 9, 2015 14:03:23 GMT
Apples are pretty much the identity of southern Finland, at least the region Miisa lives in. Almost every house seems to have apple trees, and there are lots of orchards.
So I can safely say that at least some varieties of apple can stand sustained -10°C, occasional -30°C frosts every winter. But they probably get their blossom later than in the UK, and maybe such that they miss frosts.
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Fruit
May 10, 2015 4:47:19 GMT
JoeP likes this
Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2015 4:47:19 GMT
It is my understanding that for good apple growing (and I live near Washington and Hood River apple growing regions) it pretty much requires a 'hard winter' with a distinct extended below freezing cold period each year to do well. The years when there are hard frosts when the tree are blooming are a risk. It interferes with the pollinators getting to the blooms in a timely manner. Good apple growing requires a coldish winter, but frost at bloom hurts.
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Fruit
May 10, 2015 7:42:29 GMT
Post by Mari on May 10, 2015 7:42:29 GMT
So I conclude that my tree will probably be fine, but whether I'll get apples or not is anyone's guess. Thanks
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Fruit
May 10, 2015 8:03:01 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 10, 2015 8:03:01 GMT
Yes, once they get going they do quite well, don't they? I grow all my things in pots as I don't have a garden, only a balcony, so that limits how big they can become, but they're doing fantastically. I have 2 different kinds of raspberry: a normal one and a yellow one. The yellow ones are really very sweet and juicy. Mari, do you think that would work on the window sill as well? We don't have a garden either, but I would love to grow a few things. But we don't even have a balcony.
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Fruit
May 10, 2015 8:47:08 GMT
Post by Mari on May 10, 2015 8:47:08 GMT
Herbs will work fine on a window sill, the fruit bushes (except for the strawberry) are probably too large. Some smaller vegetables may also work on a window sill. Flowers like a geranium used to thrive on my window sills. Strawberries work pretty much everywhere though, so I'd recommend you try that. By the way, the pots on my balcony are the very large kind.
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Fruit
May 10, 2015 21:55:53 GMT
Post by Moose on May 10, 2015 21:55:53 GMT
My strawberries are doing nothing at all, and neither are the chilis and tomatoes I planted from seed. I bought two tomatoes plants that are still alvie but they are not growing
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Fruit
May 10, 2015 23:48:39 GMT
Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2015 23:48:39 GMT
Wait...You don't expect them to do things, now, do you? Like fetch the paper? Or, sit up and beg?
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Fruit
May 11, 2015 15:17:19 GMT
Post by Moose on May 11, 2015 15:17:19 GMT
well I thought they would sprout at least
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Fruit
May 11, 2015 16:07:36 GMT
Post by Mari on May 11, 2015 16:07:36 GMT
Might just take some time.
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Fruit
May 12, 2015 2:12:37 GMT
Post by whollygoats on May 12, 2015 2:12:37 GMT
Yes...time. Most plant sets go through an initial 'plant shock' stage where the start adjusts to its new surroundings after transplantation. Patience.
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Fruit
May 12, 2015 17:28:27 GMT
Post by Moose on May 12, 2015 17:28:27 GMT
The nice flowers whose name begins with G are coming along really well
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Fruit
May 12, 2015 19:00:07 GMT
Post by JoeP on May 12, 2015 19:00:07 GMT
How are the nastygums?
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Fruit
May 17, 2015 17:15:04 GMT
via mobile
Post by madmadeline on May 17, 2015 17:15:04 GMT
I bought two blueberry bushes last year and got maybe 10 berries on each. They are just now budding a tiny bit, but gee I hope they grow a little.
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Fruit
May 17, 2015 22:07:41 GMT
Post by Fr. Gruesome on May 17, 2015 22:07:41 GMT
I am developing a fruit cage in the new (home) garden; there is a row of Autumn raspberries and three each of red and back currents. I also found a gooseberry bush in an unkept part of the garden that I have moved into the cage area. There are wild and cultivated blackberries as well, partly in the debatable boundary with one neighbour and one on a trellis in an open part of the garden. The Rectory garden is strictly a grass and shrubs affair, even if I was there all the time it is too big a garden to do anything with except keep it as a big meadow with herbaceous border.
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Fruit
May 18, 2015 13:15:21 GMT
via mobile
Post by madmadeline on May 18, 2015 13:15:21 GMT
Mmmm that sounds delicious Fr.G!
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Fruit
May 18, 2015 15:04:24 GMT
Post by Moose on May 18, 2015 15:04:24 GMT
My strawberries are doing nothing whatsoever. I do not know why not.
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