David Good

Just got pics of the leaves. Totally looks like pear. Got to be Rosaceae family.

Tyler Ludens wrote:Some kind of hawthorn?

Yes, quite possible.

I asked, and sent him this thread. The blooms are what I really want to see but it's a little late in the season, I'm sure.

One of my readers just sent me some pictures of a fruit I've never seen before. Looks like a cross between a feijoa and a loquat, except with cucurbit-style seeds. He says the birds have been eating them from a fencerow. My guess is myrtle family, but I dunno. It's a bit out of my normal growing range.

Anyone know this puppy?

Climate is definitely more complicated than most people think. I had key limes, black pepper and coffee growing outside along the south-facing wall of my house at the edge of zone 8, which was almost a two-zone push, but I also had cattley guavas (which are much cold-hardier) freeze to the ground forty feet away out in my side yard, due to some sort of frost pocket effect I didn't realize was there until the plants went through a winter.

The best way to learn which plants will grow is to kill a lot of plants. Nature throws seeds around with great profusion. Some survive. I try to approach my gardening the same way. Plant things all over and see if you start to see patterns in what lives where.

It's a lot of fun.

If I wanted to just breed aerobic bacteria and use them to treat fungal diseases on plants or colonize the soil, I might make some aerobic compost tea. What I really want, though, is to feed my plants and stretch fertility as far as possible. With that in mind, I throw leaves, weeds, manure, urine, compost, seaweed or whatever else I can find in a big barrel, then let it ferment.

Somebody once asked me about my recipe so I posted a video on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZquKZ6EVEY

It's like bin composting. There's always someone that will say YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!!! Nature is a marvelous composter, though, and ignores the rules.

No, I would totally use it. I use anaerobic exclusively now. It's good for fertilizing.

You are amazing, R Ranson - thank you. The novel is due out in hardcover in a few weeks.

Kim Arnold wrote:Welcome to the forum! Glad you could visit. I'm just starting to read through your books, but I love the way you share a TON of information with a great sense of humor. It's fun to giggle through gardening books.

Thank you very much.

Anthony DiDonato wrote:Not sure what happened here was posting to a site on reseeding to a grassy area and got posted to you page. Do like the thoughts on pushing the zone have done it every pace I have lived pretty much from Alaska to Alabama. It is amazing what you can grow where with a little creative thinking and strategic planting.

That is funny. I was wondering if you knew something about aeration being linked to zone pushing.