Food gardening

The 3-in-1 apple trees I planted last year have fruit. The only graft that doesn't have fruit is the Fuji. Granny Smith and Gala on both trees, Red Delicious on one tree. No sign of fruit on the "Fruit Cocktail Tree". I'm okay with that, just planted last fall and I think I would rather it get better established. I'll probably remove some or most of the fruit on the apple trees as well.
 
The 3-in-1 apple trees I planted last year have fruit. The only graft that doesn't have fruit is the Fuji. Granny Smith and Gala on both trees, Red Delicious on one tree. No sign of fruit on the "Fruit Cocktail Tree". I'm okay with that, just planted last fall and I think I would rather it get better established. I'll probably remove some or most of the fruit on the apple trees as well.
Wow! Seems like just last week when you planted those. Time is flying!
 
Not food but I just finished planting 11 forsythia across the front and 6 hollys on the side. I buy most of my plants mail order.
They always send me extra. They all arrive in good shape and they all survive. I have been dealing with them for years.
The price is right. I ordered 10, 2 ft. high forsythia, they sent me eleven and included the hollies also. 45 bucks with shipping.
The do not supply fruit trees or veggies but for anything else click the link and check it out. Some stock is sold out and some
stock only ships at certain times a year. If you want to start a tree farm you might want to check them out. I just order 5 black willows
for the wet area out back where the stream runs down. 53 bucks with shipping.
 
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Back in the day, seeds a plenty. Seeds hard to come by these days, yeah? I don't smoke it anymore, but it would be kind of fun and interesting to grow. I have an expert friend who I could tap, just a stick growing out of the dirt, nothing but bud. A shame, after getting popped and spending a little time away even with relaxed laws it's probably not a good idea for him to put in to practice all he knows.
 
I don't know what cladding boards are? Do you mean clapboard? You can barely see it but the long wall is all plastic sheets. I haven't put plastic up yet
on the short end. It is all cut and ready to go. The window is being held up with two nails. I will pull the window out, put the plastic
up and put the window back. The plastic is only 1/8 of an inch or just over 3mm. When I finish the other side I will have to get
the tin off the roof an plastic up there. When I am done it will be all plastic walls and roof. I will have to make sure it is all cross braced and I will put some braces outside to the ground before I get up to the roof. On the short side, if you look at the bottom of the studs you can see how out of kilter the roof truss is with
the sole plate. Where the studs meet the sole plateThe long wall is facing south, the short wall facing east. The whole building is listing NE at probably 2 to 5 degrees!
 
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I don't know what cladding boards are? Do you mean clapboard?
Yes.

The whole building is listing NE at probably 2 to 5 degrees!
When I was looking for my first house, I found a rickety old country cottage, with a dirt floor in the living room.
Upstairs were 2 small rooms. In one of them, one of the floor corners was a whole foot lower than the other three corners.
I took my parents to look at it, and mum said "Let's get out, before it falls down on us."
 
Well, the first gallon is in. These took about 10 to15 minutes to pick. There are lots more to come. However, I'm seeing more dead branches that will need pruning once I finish picking.

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no way..you must be joking

what , was that 8 months? How much did they grow? Mine are about the same height. Few more leaves perhaps..
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Its gonna be a while before I get any produce.

Grafted trees, my friend. They think they are old(er). fastgrowingtrees.com , truth in advertising, "could fruit the first year!" A good company. Planted last early fall. Trees are outgrowing the cages I made. The deer are going to love them!
 
I was tired last night, maybe a little drunk, wasn't my usually verbose self. So as not to disappoint....

If memory serves I think I ordered the 4-5 foot trees. 2 of them. Each around $200, plus insurance. I can't remember how much the insurance was, but it was good that I did purchase insurance given the Stella Cherry tree in the front yard died. It may have been my fault for not watering over the winter. Who knew, I didn't. We did have a few really cold snaps, that may have killed it. They sent me another, insurance is good for replacement one time only, after that you're on your own. It may not have been wise, but I planted it in the same spot, because thats where I want it. We'll see. One 3-in-1 apple tree has Granny Smith, Gala, and Red Delicious. The other GS, Gala, and Fuji. They've each grown about a foot upwards, and I'd say probably a foot outwards. All grafts have apples, some more than others, with the exception being the Fuji which has none. I'm a little disappointed in that graft as it is low and curves downward. I'll either attempt to train it upwards or prune back to an upwards pointing branch. The Red Delicious appears to be the most productive as of this point. Not eyeballing it at this moment, I'd say more than 5 and less than 10 apples.

Problems, I has them. For one, I probably planted one of the apple trees over the septic leach field. Dumbass move. Can't be eating apples grown over a leach field. What the hell do/did I know about such things. Well, I knew where the septic tank was as we had an inspection prior to purchase of the home, pumped out as well. I thought the leach field went a different direction. I later got records from the county which show it was not where I thought. I don't want to do it because I don't know if it will harm the tree, but it has to be moved, transplanted. Bummer.

Second, very important for anyone who wants to plant apple trees(look back in this thread for a mention and pictures), there is something I didn't know was a thing, Cedar Apple Rust. I'm still learning. Red Cedar trees(as well as relatives of the red cedar if I am not mistaken, juniper, etc), in close proximity to apple trees they in the spring rainy season form these orange balls which swell after rain, forming tentacles. Bizarre alien looking things. As they dry spores are blown by the wind...to the apple trees. To prevent this from happening Cedar trees within 10 miles should be axed, cut down. Let me say that again, up to 10 miles. No way possible. I could/should have sprayed them with a fungicide, several times, copper, but should not in the heat of the day or when it is calling for rain. I dropped the ball, combination busy, and didn't not take the appropriate opportunity. A part of me was, whatever, we'll see what happens. The trees are covered in rust, but still look somewhat happy. The rust will harm the fruit, from what I've read/studied. Frankly, I'm a bit disgusted with the situation. I don't know that I see myself spraying fungicide several times in the spring throughout the life of those trees. There are in my estimation less desirable apple trees that are immune or resistant to cedar apple rust. Less flavorful, harder texture maybe, but still useful, cider, maybe baking. I don't know, we'll see.

It's a learning process, for a city boy.

Just took a picture, or two. I need to mow the grass(such that it is) and clover back there. The wife put that netting to cradle the apples, I don't know. The cages are made with 5' wielded wire fencing, and Pex tubing, my own design, it's worked pretty good keeping the deer off of them. They will outgrow the fencing, then I will have to think of something else.

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The "Fruit Cocktail" tree seems to be healthy. It did bloom nicely, but no fruit this year. Planted the same time as the apple trees, mid fall of last year. It's a mystery little grab bag of fun when shipped. Could have up to 4 grafts, mine was only 2. Not sure yet what they are, could be peach, nectarine, plum, apricot, stone fruit. I think I would like to get another of those. Maybe this fall. I need to weed under it, add more mulch. I'm not staying on things like I should. Life gets busy sometimes.

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There are 7 apples on the Red Delicious graft. I think I'm just realizing the birds have eaten most if not all of the apples on other grafts. Bastards. I think I'm seeing bird netting in my future, or perhaps with time the trees will produce enough for everyone to enjoy. Deer are going to be the big challenge. The wife got some really nice video footage of 6 deer around those trees this morning. One was obviously a newborn. Cute little guy/gal, had yet to get legs firmly under it. A love/hate relationship. The only realistic way to possibly keep them out is 8' fencing around that portion of the property. I'm not doing that.
 
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