When we bought our house there was no backyard landscaping. Given that both of us are classic fruit-nuts we decided to plant a number of fruit trees in the backyard. I was advised that I shouldn't plant too many fruit trees, because we wouldn't be able to eat all the fruit. So, we started off with 9 trees. After a couple of years, however, we added another, and then another, until now we're trying to figure out where we can possibly fit any more fruit trees. Yes, they take lots of work, but we get a great deal of enjoyment out of them. We love to eat fresh fruit. And we have become handy at baking peach and apple pies. And canning peaches. And drying figs and cherries. And baking fig cakes. And making fig preserves (with a dash of lime juice).
These pages are a journal of my efforts to maintain my orchard. As such, most of you will find it very boring, except for the contents and links on the left side of this page. If you find anything of interest in the journal, you are indeed a special person.
2008: 3/13/08: I have always used a copper sulfate spray to prevent peach leaf curl, but I have learned from several sources that lime-sulfur spray is more effective. That will have to wait until Thanksgiving, as all of the spraying for this year's crops is finished. I will generally delay a dormant horticultural oil spray until December or January. This year I tried a Neem oil mixture that's supposed to prevent both fungus and pests. 3/29/08: Last weekend we opened a package that came in the mail, and it was a bare-root bush cherry. I certainly didn't order it, but my dear wife was delighted to see it. Yes, she's the very same wife who told me 8 years ago that I was too ambitious with my plans to plant so many fruit trees. And now she wants to plant some more fruit trees in our backyard lawn. By the way, the bush cherry went into a pot, so we'll decide where to put it later.
2011: 4/3/11: We recently bought a Calamondin tree (trai tac, in Vietnamese). After looking at and tasting the fruit I determined that it must be a cross between a kumquat and a tangerine, or some similar hybrid. Indeed, this is correct. My wife is excited to have the tree, but we already have two kumquat trees (neither of which has been fruiting during the last couple of years), so I rather wonder what the future holds for this poor tree. Ah, why do I call it poor? It arrived with both ripe and very immature fruit on it, as well as plenty of blossoms, so it appears healthy by all measures. 5/16/11: We had a frost on April 9, and heavy rains as recently as 5/14. We need summer to begin soon, or the fruit will spoil like it did last year.
2012: 3/13/12: On March 7 we had a deep freeze, with temperatures dropping to 26 degrees. I hope that the open blossoms don't have any frost damage. We've had a dry year so far, but are expecting some rain later this week. 3/17/12: It rained heavily last night and much of today. The donut peach tree left a carpet of petals beneath it. I am concerned that the plum and Scarlet Robe peach will experience crop loss due to the rain.
I. Current trees
B. Bearss Lime
H. Lapin Cherry
N. Kumquat
O. Bush Cherry
II. Other trees
B. Hass Avocado