Sweet mandarins reflecting a whole lot of red showing just how ripe they are. Picked last Saturday to share at work. They were gone shortly after lunch.
Posts in: Orchard
No sight distance through the evergreen toyon. It’s very happy. So is our manzanita — getting ready to flower. 🐝🌳
My attempt at an open vase pruned apricot tree 🌳 📷
Backyard Relaxation
Relaxing can mean accomplishing things. The backyard always offers things to accomplish! Accomplishing things makes me feel good. Today I: braved a ladder and pruned the apricot cut up pieces of bug ridden wood for disposal (remnant of last occupant of the property that used untreated non-cedar wood for planters) weeded to avoid herbicide found a Chorus frog! turned the entire compost pile Here’s the Chorus frog (Pseudacris) I discovered:
Tree Chilling Hours and a Bad Bug
We’re around 770 chilling hours this season — almost 100 more than last year at this time. We hope this means we get a good crop off our ~800 chilll hour apricot (it was our first fruit tree and we had no concept of chill hours; with the usual climate and especially with climate change we’re now focusing on <500 chill hour trees). I put compost around the new nectarine, the new asparagus bed, and on the edible garden in advance of last night's rain; the clay loam soil needs some organic matter.
The beetles really tore up our Lapins cherry tree this last year. It is almost girdled. If we’re lucky maybe one more season of fruit.
Yesterday’s planted nectarine began life here in a rather peculiar way:
Our 2-year old plum died so now we’re trying a “Fantasia” nectarine. 400-500 chill hours is doable here.
We’re trying to propagate lemon grass after dividing canes from our outdoor plant (hope it overwinters). The centers of the canes have popped up — thinking this means positive water pressure and that may mean the canes are taking in water so this may work.
Our Mandarin tree 🌳 is ready for as-needed harvest!
