new one from Down Under........NZ

[walnuttr]

 OK, that's thawing the toes after inner-tubing for half an hour or so down the Mangatu River to our walnut patch. of  J.nigra  .
Walnuts are on river silt, 200mm to 600mm, over layers of sandy rhyolitic volcanic ash (Taupo pumice?) over all sorts of semi-hardened gravels.
Planted 1994 as nuts, and now a total mix of knock-kneed adolescents, some pruned to a six metre log, others justsurviving the overgrown wind shelter trees we planted amongst them.
There remains about  a tenth hectare (quarter acre ) of lower river terrace which gets occasionally flooded,  of raw silt, to grow other stuff.
Now, 'cos these trees are about 3/4 hour drive from home, the place is great for picnics, family  camping and stress relief......but I need to load it up with easy-care plantings.  Or else open the gates and let the neighbours' stock do a mixed job of trimming out the tasty stuff. 
So far have tried willows and poplars as a nursery,  one harvest so far, which helps pay the way.
Back in The home garden, well, jungle extends to here as well.,  with a standby of broccoli, leeks  and scarlet runner beans to keep the zone of "garden" separate from "junkpile" ..
Tried a bunch of things over the years, some worked,  and still interested in new stuff,  so found the way to this site.
Cheers. W

[flowerweaver]

Welcome to the forum. Wish I could answer your olive questions. Olives are just now starting up as a new crop in Texas. Tubing is also very popular where I live.

[copse]

I've got a walnut tree and an apricot tree at the back corner of my backyard. Both had fruit on them up there in the branches. But where all that fruit went, I don't know. I blame the possums. It's not like we've got squirrels here in NZ.

[raymondo]

Welcome to the forum walnuttr. Where are you?

[walnuttr]

Yeh,
this is occasional visiting.
Raymondo: we be on the East Coast , North Island of NZ, where the hills are of soft rock and either give wonderful soils or just keep falling off & down the rivers to the sea. Previous existence as a "soil conservator" trying to encourage land managers in ways to keep the hills and sea separated.

Copse: My guess on the vanishing fruit: look for stashes of shells by the garden rats. anywhere dark, dry, undisturbed. I find them stacked anywhere in the piles of recycling timber amongst the walnut woodlot. Also especially in a couple of old cars parked down there to die. (whoops; for the kids to learn to drive with, eventually; if the locals don't totally strip them first. copper from radiators is marketable.......)

Flowerweaver: thanx, First batch of olives now bottled up in jam jars in heavy brine with dry herb mixes & 20% vinegar. Just waiting a month or so to let some flavour sort itself out B4 popping some lids. The freshly processed ones were kind of mushy and tasted of nothing much.

Cheers.

[steev]

J nigra, eh? Hard to grow much around them and they're not too productive, but they make the best ice cream, cookies, and beautiful wood for furniture.

Tubing! If you ever saw any of the old Johnny Weissmuller "Tarzan" movies, they were shot in Caswell State Park, California (the obligatory alligator shots were from elsewhere), wild grapevines for swinging, trees full of roosting vultures, so cool. We used to go tube there. It was a natural stretch of the San Joaquin River, not more than 1/2 mile wide (the park, not the river), surrounded by Ag fields as far as the horizon (that's why the vultures roosted there; only quiet trees in the county); in season, we'd climb out to steal watermelons to eat as we tubed down the river.