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Post by circumspice on May 17, 2012 15:45:14 GMT -5
Thanks Penny & Wolfcub!  |
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Post by Drahkk on May 19, 2012 4:08:15 GMT -5
Tita, you're having trouble finding straw hay because last year's drought caused a severe shortage; the cattle are eating it as fast as it can be trucked in. I've been watching truckloads of hay headed west on the interstate for months. The shortage is so bad in some places hay prices have more than doubled. Another lawn option you might look into is buffalograss. It is a native turfgrass that is extremely drought resistant, and tends to curl over at about four inches in height, so it can go without mowing. For native trees, I'd start with your state tree: the pecan! There are plenty of varieties to choose from. The larger papershell types like Sumner are easier to shell, and great for just cracking and eating like they are. To me, the smaller, wilder types like Curtis seem to have more oil in them, and taste incredible in cookies and other baked goods. For other suggestions, check out Melody's database: www.centraltexasgardening.net/database.htmWelcome aboard! MB |
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Post by circumspice on May 19, 2012 19:38:07 GMT -5
Tita, you're having trouble finding straw hay because last year's drought caused a severe shortage; the cattle are eating it as fast as it can be trucked in. I've been watching truckloads of hay headed west on the interstate for months. The shortage is so bad in some places hay prices have more than doubled. Another lawn option you might look into is buffalograss. It is a native turfgrass that is extremely drought resistant, and tends to curl over at about four inches in height, so it can go without mowing. For native trees, I'd start with your state tree: the pecan! There are plenty of varieties to choose from. The larger papershell types like Sumner are easier to shell, and great for just cracking and eating like they are. To me, the smaller, wilder types like Curtis seem to have more oil in them, and taste incredible in cookies and other baked goods. For other suggestions, check out Melody's database: www.centraltexasgardening.net/database.htmWelcome aboard! MB Thanks MB! The nice folks in this forum have made me feel very welcome. Thanks for the link, too! I've been researching a LOT of things. It seems that I have so much I need to do!!!  I've got this fatuous idea that I can make my little 6 acres into a sort of refuge or oasis for my family, should the need ever arise. I was wondering if I could transplant some small native pecan seedlings, but I probably wouldn't live long enough to enjoy the pecans... So maybe I'll luck out on a sale that has 15 year old pecans. I want to plant peaches & asian pears too. They do so well in this area. I had previously looked into Buffalo Grass & was surprised to find out that there are 3 or 4 varieties suitable for lawns. Also, I wasn't trying to find straw hay, because it usually has unwanted seed heads included. I was looking for maybe oat or wheat straw. I wanted to try it for straw bale gardening & for mulch. But apparently there is none to be had. And yes, the price of hay is ridiculous! I checked prices last month & they wanted $11 - $14 per bale. (small bales) The large round bales now run about $115 locally. We've been in a 2 year exceptional drought & some folks have taken advantage of the fact that people are having to feed their livestock.  |
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Post by Drahkk on May 19, 2012 22:14:12 GMT -5
I was wondering if I could transplant some small native pecan seedlings, but I probably wouldn't live long enough to enjoy the pecans... So maybe I'll luck out on a sale that has 15 year old pecans. I want to plant peaches & asian pears too. They do so well in this area. I'm speaking only from research on pecans, not growing experience; the pecans I enjoy are growing on my in-laws' property, and my wife tells me they were planted before she was old enough to remember. I'm really just guessing at the varieties; all I know for sure is they have 3 large nut trees and 2 small ones, which Mama Porter calls "wild" pecans. That said... it is my understanding that grafted trees can start bearing at 6-7 years, and even native seedlings usually start in 10-15 years. You'd be planting for your kids, true, but you'd still be around too. I don't know much about Asian pears, but as for peaches, they start bearing a lot sooner than that. The one in my backyard was started from seed, and it bloomed some last year (its third year). This year, its fourth, it rivalled the azaleas with blooms, and though a lot of the fruit aborted, I'm still expecting a pretty decent crop for a young tree. Remind me in a few months and I'll send you a few seeds along with instructions for starting them. MB |
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Post by circumspice on May 20, 2012 16:53:13 GMT -5
I was wondering if I could transplant some small native pecan seedlings, but I probably wouldn't live long enough to enjoy the pecans... So maybe I'll luck out on a sale that has 15 year old pecans. I want to plant peaches & Asian pears too. They do so well in this area. I'm speaking only from research on pecans, not growing experience; the pecans I enjoy are growing on my in-laws' property, and my wife tells me they were planted before she was old enough to remember. I'm really just guessing at the varieties; all I know for sure is they have 3 large nut trees and 2 small ones, which Mama Porter calls "wild" pecans. That said... it is my understanding that grafted trees can start bearing at 6-7 years, and even native seedlings usually start in 10-15 years. You'd be planting for your kids, true, but you'd still be around too. I don't know much about Asian pears, but as for peaches, they start bearing a lot sooner than that. The one in my backyard was started from seed, and it bloomed some last year (its third year). This year, its fourth, it rivalled the azaleas with blooms, and though a lot of the fruit aborted, I'm still expecting a pretty decent crop for a young tree. Remind me in a few months and I'll send you a few seeds along with instructions for starting them. MB I rented a house on 15 acres for 17 years. It had approximately 1/2 acre in peaches, 1/2 acre in Asian pears, a 75 foot nursery row of pecan seedlings that were abandoned & overgrown, 2 apricot trees, 3 named variety pecan trees & about a dozen native pecan trees. The overgrown nursery row was only good for harboring critters & should have been cut down. However! All the other pecans were very productive. My mom even won some local competitions for those pecans, both native & otherwise. The Asian pears did very well & were completely maintenance free until we had a bad drought. They needed drip irrigation during the drought & some judicious pruning to keep them in good shape. The peaches were a surprise... They were the divas of the orchard... Good tasting, high maintenance & they were short lived, too. Over the first 10 years I lived there, they died off slowly, one or two trees at a time, until none were left. (my landlord didn't replant as they died off) The apricots were pretty much trouble free, just needed a little watering in dry months. We also had some blackberries, dewberries & a Jujube tree. The Jujube tree got huge & was knocked down onto the house during a bad windstorm. The sole reason I want to plant Asian pears on my land is because of the good experience I had with the ones on that rental property. Plus, they tasted really good! The fruits weren't very pretty though. Wow, I'd love to try growing peaches from seed! Since you live in the south, I probably won't have any issues with chill hours for that variety, will I? |
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Post by Drahkk on May 20, 2012 18:20:46 GMT -5
Wow, I'd love to try growing peaches from seed! Since you live in the south, I probably won't have any issues with chill hours for that variety, will I? You shouldn't. Since I can count the frosts we got this past winter without running out of fingers I'd say the chill hours are next to nil. We prune 'em in January, but other than that all we do is pick 'em. They're pretty low maintenance. More details later. I'm planning to offer them to everyone here after I've had a chance to collect some more seed. You didn't just happen to save seed from some of those apricots or jujubes, did you? MB |
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Post by circumspice on May 20, 2012 18:34:16 GMT -5
Wow, I'd love to try growing peaches from seed! Since you live in the south, I probably won't have any issues with chill hours for that variety, will I? You shouldn't. Since I can count the frosts we got this past winter without running out of fingers I'd say the chill hours are next to nil. We prune 'em in January, but other than that all we do is pick 'em. They're pretty low maintenance. More details later. I'm planning to offer them to everyone here after I've had a chance to collect some more seed. You didn't just happen to save seed from some of those apricots or jujubes, did you?MB No, I sure didn't. I moved away from that place in 2003 & worked overseas till 2008. The Jujube tree went down in 2000 I think. I'd like to have some pits from the apricot trees myself. They only produced fruit every other year, but they alternated, so we always had apricots every year. My mom used to make the best apricot fried pies... Maybe I can contact my former landlord & see if he'll give me some of the fruit. |
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Post by fulenn on Jul 24, 2012 21:32:07 GMT -5
Hi circumspice! Sorry I'm late to this conversation, but I live here in Central Texas, outside of Austin about 20 miles. I have two huge pecan trees, about 60 years old, and one persimmon tree, maybe 30-40 years old. Both have done well during this drought.
Fulenn
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I've got this fatuous idea that I can make my little 6 acres into a sort of refuge or oasis for my family, should the need ever arise. 
