Gardening: 2012 Season

[qrn]

I have a question. What could be happening to my apple trees?

Right behind the house are two apple trees, a Mac and a Northern Spy. Last year they had more apples than I have seen in 17 years of living on the farm. Apples up the wazoo and farther even. We ate them, cooked them, made litres and litres of apple juice. Froze apple sauce. Left hundreds on the ground. We are finally running out of last year's apples.

This year? NO APPLES. Well, maybe one or two.

What is going on? (I might add that we had almost no lilacs this year either and the farm is covered with lilac trees. It's usually property line to property line in lilacs.)

Late frost?????Bud

[sparrowgrass]

Sounds like the frost got 'em to me, too.

I have tons and tons of pattypans. I love them--first tasted them just a couple weeks ago, and I am definitely adding them to the roster. I had big tomatoes for dinner--cut in chunks, dressed with garlic, cider vinegar and plenty of salt. I know one variety was Ananas Noir, but I did my usual job of crappy marking, and I don't know what the other two were. Tasty, anyhow.

I am in Missouri, and feel lucky to have anything growing. We are deadly dry--I have never seen weather like this. A forest fire about 40 miles west of me actually crowned--burned the tops of the trees. Summer fires are rare here, and I have never heard of a crown fire in this part of the country.

[Mjx]

I have a question. What could be happening to my apple trees?

Right behind the house are two apple trees, a Mac and a Northern Spy. Last year they had more apples than I have seen in 17 years of living on the farm. Apples up the wazoo and farther even. We ate them, cooked them, made litres and litres of apple juice. Froze apple sauce. Left hundreds on the ground. We are finally running out of last year's apples.

This year? NO APPLES. Well, maybe one or two.

What is going on? (I might add that we had almost no lilacs this year either and the farm is covered with lilac trees. It's usually property line to property line in lilacs.)

How are the bees looking in your area?

[Darienne]

I have a question. What could be happening to my apple trees?

Right behind the house are two apple trees, a Mac and a Northern Spy. Last year they had more apples than I have seen in 17 years of living on the farm. Apples up the wazoo and farther even. We ate them, cooked them, made litres and litres of apple juice. Froze apple sauce. Left hundreds on the ground. We are finally running out of last year's apples.

This year? NO APPLES. Well, maybe one or two.

What is going on? (I might add that we had almost no lilacs this year either and the farm is covered with lilac trees. It's usually property line to property line in lilacs.)

How are the bees looking in your area?

What bees? I guess that's your answer. ...although I don't recall a heavy bee season the year before. And it was not a mast year either.

Our pollinators have gone the way of the Dodo. We used to raise hard-shelled gourds, but the extra chore of being a sexual slave to the lustful gourd flowers became just too onerous.

[SylviaLovegren]

I have a question. What could be happening to my apple trees?

Right behind the house are two apple trees, a Mac and a Northern Spy. Last year they had more apples than I have seen in 17 years of living on the farm. Apples up the wazoo and farther even. We ate them, cooked them, made litres and litres of apple juice. Froze apple sauce. Left hundreds on the ground. We are finally running out of last year's apples.

This year? NO APPLES. Well, maybe one or two.

What is going on? (I might add that we had almost no lilacs this year either and the farm is covered with lilac trees. It's usually property line to property line in lilacs.)

How are the bees looking in your area?

What bees? I guess that's your answer. ...although I don't recall a heavy bee season the year before. And it was not a mast year either.

Our pollinators have gone the way of the Dodo. We used to raise hard-shelled gourds, but the extra chore of being a sexual slave to the lustful gourd flowers became just too onerous.

Did you have blossoms on the apple tree? We have a small tree in our tiny urban backyard here in Toronto. Last year, the tree was afoam with blossom, then bore thousands of apples (every single one of which was sampled and thrown by squirrels. Every. Single. One.). This year, we had no blossom and, of course, now no fruit. I know that sometimes apples and other fruiters will alternate -- heavy set one year, almost nothing the next. Don't know if that's what happened this year or something else. It was a really mild winter and there was a late frost -- but was it severe enough to stop the blossoms?

Toronto lilacs were full of bloom this spring.

Is there an Ontario Agriculture office that might have info on stuff like that? I know the US ag offices always did, but another thing I don't know about how it works here yet.

ETA: My apologies for the construction of that last sentence. Haven't had coffee yet!

Edited July 20, 2012 by SylviaLovegren (log)

[Darienne]

I have a question. What could be happening to my apple trees?

Right behind the house are two apple trees, a Mac and a Northern Spy. Last year they had more apples than I have seen in 17 years of living on the farm. Apples up the wazoo and farther even. We ate them, cooked them, made litres and litres of apple juice. Froze apple sauce. Left hundreds on the ground. We are finally running out of last year's apples.

This year? NO APPLES. Well, maybe one or two.

What is going on? (I might add that we had almost no lilacs this year either and the farm is covered with lilac trees. It's usually property line to property line in lilacs.)

How are the bees looking in your area?

What bees? I guess that's your answer. ...although I don't recall a heavy bee season the year before. And it was not a mast year either.

Our pollinators have gone the way of the Dodo. We used to raise hard-shelled gourds, but the extra chore of being a sexual slave to the lustful gourd flowers became just too onerous.

Did you have blossoms on the apple tree? We have a small tree in our tiny urban backyard here in Toronto. Last year, the tree was afoam with blossom, then bore thousands of apples (every single one of which was sampled and thrown by squirrels. Every. Single. One.). This year, we had no blossom and, of course, now no fruit. I know that sometimes apples and other fruiters will alternate -- heavy set one year, almost nothing the next. Don't know if that's what happened this year or something else. It was a really mild winter and there was a late frost -- but was it severe enough to stop the blossoms?

Toronto lilacs were full of bloom this spring.

Is there an Ontario Agriculture office that might have info on stuff like that? I know the US ag offices always did, but another thing I don't know about how it works here yet.

ETA: My apologies for the construction of that last sentence. Haven't had coffee yet!

OK. Last year, as mentioned, we had a plethora of apples. All good. No problems. And Ed says that there were not many blossoms this year. Our ornamental cherry was full of blossoms...but then we don't eat the fruits.

Other people in our area reported the usual lilac blooms, but then we are higher than the surrounding countryside and the trees are not protected as in a city.

I don't know about the agricultural reportage either. However, there is the wonderful local resource to whom one reports all strange and wonderful natural occurrences, and I can write to him and ask. He'll know.

hmmm...on the other hand, we have more wild grapevine than since 1995. I'm hoping for wild grape jelly makings this year.

And I do know about the coffee in the am situation.

[Shelby]

I'd say you had a late freeze/frost, Darienne.

[Darienne]

Thanks for all the answers about the apples. It's true, we had a very hot early spring and then it got cold again.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Darienne (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

hmmm...on the other hand, we have more wild grapevine than since 1995. I'm hoping for wild grape jelly makings this year.

And I do know about the coffee in the am situation.

Wild grape jelly sounds just about divine.

[Darienne]

hmmm...on the other hand, we have more wild grapevine than since 1995. I'm hoping for wild grape jelly makings this year.

And I do know about the coffee in the am situation.

Wild grape jelly sounds just about divine.

We had a bumper crop seventeen years ago and a friend and I had a wonderful time.

[heidih]

Just picking the last of the little plums. Managed to get a few peaches and nectarines before the squirrels (!!!!) decimated the crop. Apples are early - trying to stay ahead of the critters. Lots of young pears on the trees so I hope the varmints concentrate on something softer like the upcoming figs in the neighboring yards. All the herbs are happy and being well used - thyme, lemon verbena, basil, parsley, mints, oregano and marjoram. I am staying ahead of the zucchini by picking them young. Picked my one and only Japanese eggplant today - it is headed into a coconut curry with lots of the zucchini. My dad's tomatoes are going strong so I have a big bowl on the counter - those get devoured as is. Picked a load of little hot chilis today and popped them into the freezer. Oh and got a fat handful of green beans from the neighbor. Attaching a shot of the tomato that volunteered in a pot at the garden. I rescued it, stuck it in a 5 gallon pot, and it is looking fantastic. No idea of the variety.

[dcarch]

Just picking the last of the little plums. Managed to get a few peaches and nectarines before the squirrels (!!!!) decimated the crop. Apples are early - trying to stay ahead of the critters. Lots of young pears on the trees so I hope the varmints concentrate on something softer like the upcoming figs in the neighboring yards. -------------

Ain't no body is going to mess with my maters!

dcarch

[heidih]

A friend saved a few seeds from my last year's Berkely Tie Dye tomato and I managed to start two healthy looking seedlings. One looks like it has wilt and has never set any fruit. The second grew vigorously, had a good number of flowers but only set one fruit. I am taking the view that this one beauty is better than none. Looking forward to feasting on it later today.

[Toliver]

A friend saved a few seeds from my last year's Berkely Tie Dye tomato and I managed to start two healthy looking seedlings. One looks like it has wilt and has never set any fruit. The second grew vigorously, had a good number of flowers but only set one fruit. I am taking the view that this one beauty is better than none. Looking forward to feasting on it later today.

That is a thing of beauty, Heidi. Enjoy...

My brother comes over and puts in tomatoes for my mom every year. So far she has a fruit on a yellow pear and fruit on an oxymoron-ish yellow cherry. She also disappointedly discovered another plant is growing currant-sized tomatoes with nary a rugrat around to harvest them.

The weather is odd for this time of year...sunny and 72°f which is about 20 degrees cooler than a normal summer. She's not sure how it will impact the tomato plants.

[Peter the eater]

Just picking the last of the little plums. Managed to get a few peaches and nectarines before the squirrels (!!!!) decimated the crop. Apples are early - trying to stay ahead of the critters. Lots of young pears on the trees so I hope the varmints concentrate on something softer like the upcoming figs in the neighboring yards. -------------

Ain't no body is going to mess with my maters!

dcarch

Uh-oh. What was the official cause of death?

My giant pumpkins have teeth marks in them. Possibly raccoons.

[dcarch]

"Uh-oh. What was the official cause of death?"

Not a very good swimmer.

dcarch

[Mjx]

In Denmark, it's starting to feel like autumn, so we're waiting with bated breath to see whether things like tomatoes win the race against the first frost.

Looking out the window this morning, it struck me that my boyfriend's parents' garden was looking photogenic in a moody sort of way, so the camera came out:

I walked about a bit, noticed the apples are almost ripe. These are Filippas, the best-tasting (really excellent, in fact) of the three species in the garden, and native to Denmark:

Victoria plums:

In a couple of places, I've seen this done with small fruit trees in Denmark, although this is a willow:

Grapes (no idea what species; they're a bit like wild grapes, though):

Our tomatoes have developed some sort of... I don't know, blight? They fruit looks sound, though it's still small, and I don't know whether these guys are going to make it before frost strikes:

On the other hand, on the indoor gardening front, the productive chili plant (De Arbol, I think; we used seeds from a chili given to us by a friend) is being REALLY productive; a lot of the peppers are still green, but but they're starting to ripen, and the plant is still setting flowers:

And last, some pea shoots (more indoor garden):

[gfweb]

Just picking the last of the little plums. Managed to get a few peaches and nectarines before the squirrels (!!!!) decimated the crop. Apples are early - trying to stay ahead of the critters. Lots of young pears on the trees so I hope the varmints concentrate on something softer like the upcoming figs in the neighboring yards. -------------

Ain't no body is going to mess with my maters!

dcarch

Nice still life. Tree rat with fruit.

[Mjx]

Anyone have an idea of what might be plagueing these poor tomatoes?

Or, anything much you can do with a bunch of not-yet-full-sized green tomatoes?

[qrn]

Anyone have an idea of what might be plagueing these poor tomatoes?

Or, anything much you can do with a bunch of not-yet-full-sized green tomatoes?

tomatoes look Ok but the leaves on the thing have a problem, ,looks like some sort of a fungus,,,are they getting a water spray on em or something that is letting the fungus multiply?

Bud

[heidih]

Started the grape harvest today. The bowl is a large 12 inch diameter one. I probably have two more bowls full to pick. I will process them as described in this post.

[Mjx]

Anyone have an idea of what might be plagueing these poor tomatoes?

Or, anything much you can do with a bunch of not-yet-full-sized green tomatoes?

tomatoes look Ok but the leaves on the thing have a problem, ,looks like some sort of a fungus,,,are they getting a water spray on em or something that is letting the fungus multiply?

Bud

Well, this is Denmark, so it's pretty rainy, plus the tomatoes are in a self-watering container (nope, not even remotely necessary, but my boyfriend thought it was a good idea), and the position is not great, since the plants (no real alternative, unfortunately) are sitting in a corner where the air flow is not as good as it could be.

My boyfriend has now energetically pruned away nearly all the visibly affected leaves (read 'virtually all the leaves'), which I figured would be the coup de grâce, but they still look bizarrely perky, in a Nightmare Before Christmas sort of way, and one of the two plants has even set a few new flowers.

Based on your experience, would you say there's any chance of getting even one vine ripened tomato off these guys? And, can you pickle tiny, unripened tomatoes?

Started the grape harvest today. . . .

These are gorgeous, and have me looking forward to the grapes we have ripening here (I'm praying for late frosts this year).

[Meanderer]

Anyone have an idea of what might be plagueing these poor tomatoes?

Or, anything much you can do with a bunch of not-yet-full-sized green tomatoes?

It looks like late blight, the same thing that caused the Irish potato famine in the 19th century. It wiped out all of my tomatoes this year and once before, perhaps 5 to 10 years ago.

[judiu]

Mjx, don't see why you could not pickle them, brine time should soften them to edibility

and kill off any nasties. Maybe add rosemary for a resinious zip, like a caper berry? Just a thought...

[sparrowgrass]

Isaac came to visit Sparrowgrass Hill this last weekend, and he was a perfect gentleman. A leetle stingy with the rain, but all 2.5 inches of it came down gently and slowly. I thought my garden was pretty much done for, but the pattypans and tomatoes are back in full production. I am going to try for some late stuff--I have kale, cabbage, lettuce and Chinese cabbage seeds in the seed box, and I will get to work planting them tomorrow.

It is an absolute pleasure to go out and pull weeds right now--they come right out, with no need for dynamite.