Jenny Wright

Here's an update to my seedling apple experiments.

It's now been over a decade since I started growing some apple seeds.

#1 The first variety to blossom the kids call Cherry apples. They are loaded every single year and sweet- like miniature pink lady apples.

#2 The second variety grows apples every other year. It grows 1" yellow apples that were astringent and not sweet, not palatable at all... Or so we thought! I ignored it for a few years until I noticed that the apples were staying on the tree even with snow on the ground. They turn an orange-ish color at that point. I thought, maybe I should taste them since the cold might have made them get sweeter. Well they did get much, much sweeter! So this variety is not ready until December or January. It still has a bit of astringency but has a citrus flavor that is yummy and I want to get a tabletop press so I can make juice from them.

#3 My latest development: I have a few trees that have never produced anything. A couple of years I grafted a few chunks of leftover scion wood onto random branches to the most vigorous and healthy seedling. It was already 12' tall so I grafted to lower branches and left the top natural. I figured I'd the grafts did ok, I could gradually cut back the top. I'm glad I didn't cut back the top because this year the grafts AND the natural branches both flowered!!! The natural fruit is already large compared to all my other apples. It's a bit bigger than my Transparent that ripens early August. I tasted one as I was thinning them and they are sweet with a good flavor (though still as hard as a rock). Obviously they are not close to being ripe. It's only mid-June! I'm so excited to see what they develop into.

Spiral Felted Rug in Various Colors | website https://www.tahomavistafibermill.com/product-page/felted-rug

These are not large rugs but they are the coziest, softest rugs I've ever felt and they are made near my home. I got to meet the alpacas too!

I'd been looking for an all natural fiber rug for my kids' bedroom and was finally going to settle on one from an online company. I only found this place because we happened to go to a field trip to see alpacas and their wool processing "factory" (a tiny shed stuffed with equipment run by less than half a dozen people). It's fascinating to see how they made the rugs.

Maybe you can look around for local fiber processing companies and ask if they know anyone who makes rugs local to you. I knew this alpaca farm was there for years but never thought to contact them to ask if they made anything.

I'll have to give it a try. We have plenty of nettles to experiment with.

Thank you so much , M. K., for the clear directions! It feels so much better to have some action to take!

We have this weird wet and cool weather this week. Do you think it best to take care of it right away or should I wait until it dries up this weekend or next week?

I've had this plum tree for at least six years or more. It's always been very happy and has been producing for about five years. About a month ago I noticed some of the leaves dying but it was hot so I thought it was the heat. Then about a week ago I saw quite a lot of branches were dying and noticed a lot of sap dripping from the base of those dying branches.

I cannot see any insect frass with the sap. But I do see fine web-like strands on some of the leaves.

Any advice? I've had bad luck with plums (all the other varieties I've planted die the same year I plant them) but this one was doing so well for so long.

Timothy Norton wrote:Unfortunately my two transplants both failed to thrive. I put them in a semi-shade spot that was more on the clay side and perhaps that wasn't the best choice.

Any suggestion on the best spots for gooseberries?

My newest gooseberry transplants that I rooted last year are doing extremely well in a loose clay soil that I dumped composted cow manure on top. The top is pretty loose due to the 100's of buttercups I pulled up before I planted the gooseberries but it's heavy clay a few inches down. They only get sun until about noon and have a lot of strawberries mulching the ground around them. It's a well draining spot, having the tiniest slope downhill from them.

I think they like dirt that is heavily mulched with organic matter, like a forest floor. My full sun gooseberries are doing much better ever since I mulched them with wood chips and my black currant plant in the same area started sending out underground runners that are popping up all over the place. I'm glad they are doing that because Bambi 😡 has decided she likes to eat the tops of the main bush.

Also, I'm in the PNW so my soil is acidic and the gooseberries enjoy it as much as the blueberries do. We don't have summer rain and I'm watering once a week or less.

Hope some of that helps a little. 🤷

I think this looks so interesting and simple but besides this one video, I can't find anymore information about it. When I look up reel and stick I just keep getting fishing reels.

I don't think that would work. Plants can only "eat" so much fertilizer and then the rest just gets washed out when you water or burns the plants.

To make the best of the situation, grow plants that like shade. You'd be surprised how many shade loving plants there are out there. And if you are in a very hot climate, there are actually a lot of plants that like a break from the sunlight when it gets really hot.

Do you get any sunlight at all? I'm sure we can help you come up with a list of plants that will like your location.

Carla Burke wrote:There's enough shooting going on (not daily - just enough to keep 'em on their 'toes'), that the deer are a bit wary of the crazy two-leggers in the big log box...
I do love me some good Bambi steaks, roasts, burgers, stew, & chili!

I wish I could get our Bambi to be afraid of us but she just laughs in my face. My children are a little more successful at trying to scare her- she moves a little faster when it's a pack of smaller two leggers making crazy noises. When I try to chase her away, she just looks at me and lazily strolls behind a tree to wait me out.

She's eaten all the leaves off my grapes and all the josta berries and every single baby apple off our favorite tree and keeps mowing the strawberries and raspberries. It's amazing the damage one deer can do. It's not like there aren't other things to eat around here. Her mom and the new twins stick to the woods in the backyard and the blackberries that line it. I don't know why she is so much more bold and fearless.

I think I'll give the pepper spray a try before she kills everything in my yard.

I have my own before/after yard pictures.

I think it's hilarious that these pictures are kind of the reverse of the before/after pictures you'd see on a typical lawn and garden website.

Manicured lawns <---> Seemingly wild chaotic wildness