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Post by blueadzuki on Nov 7, 2017 22:59:44 GMT -5
Even that many not be enough. Every year I plant tens of thousands of some seeds only to have every one eaten before they even poke their heads above ground. Depending on how attractive the critters find your plants, there can be NO number great enough to ensure survival (or at least, no number within the range of feasible planting)
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Post by steev on Nov 8, 2017 2:18:21 GMT -5
That's the primary problem with seeds: so full of concentrated nutrients that they're exactly what critters are looking for: hence the value of potting/protecting them until they're well past that predation.
William: really? You're up for planting thousands of seedlings and then loppering off the excess? Damn! I applaud your vigor. I've had nothing such for decades. The thing is that well-grown seedlings, planted out in early Winter, well-mulched with acid needles/oak leaves around(2-3 feet , one foot thick, will have little to fear from vermin; so no need for baskets; you see the saving of effort?)
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Post by steev on Nov 8, 2017 5:43:02 GMT -5
Well, there you go; I truly agree that one ought to plant food-producing trees, hence my planting of Italian Stone pines; further, a multi-year process is exactly what I'm following, due to the availability of mark-down seedlings (have I mentioned that I'm a tight-wad? That's partly why I'm careful of my trees).
Titanium wrist: awesome; I've only got crappy aged bone; might be easier to get on an airplane, were I so inclined, which I haven't been for thirty years.
As for foraged applesauce versus commercial: you get what you pay for; pesticides do prevent buggy apples, so commercial applesauce can be cheaper (how much attention do we think was put into bug-rejection in that commercial plant? Not to say that it isn't all protein, unless the bugs are gone and it's just crap and rot left). Personally, I don't buy applesauce, period.
Anyhoo, yes, I think one should plant things that will come to fruition even if beyond one's profit; we were not born into a barren world, and it's just the right thing to do.
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Post by jocelyn on Nov 8, 2017 5:48:44 GMT -5
I remember planting a whole bunch of acorns one fall...and not ONE came up in the spring. Late that fall though, leaves still on when other species had dropped theirs, there they were. The squirrels had dug them all up and restashed them...meaning I was looking in the wrong places for them. As they got big enough I put mouse guards on them, and this fall, I will need to go back and remove them, as they are getting too tight.
As for fruit and nuts, yup, great idea, grin. I'm on PEI, and most stuff grows well here.
So, chestnuts, pine nuts, Carpathian walnuts, butternuts, heartnuts, hazelnuts etc. Then apples, pears, rosehips, plums,cheries, brambles of several kind, haws, ect. All of these, in my location are plant and mow around them types, not much fussing needed. I hate winter driving, and the grocery store is in Town....mason jars and freezers are down cellar, no driving needed.
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Post by steev on Nov 8, 2017 6:30:21 GMT -5
Well, you are blessed, to be so self-contained.
Those oaks will have major taproots, but good luck.
Haws? What have you that are of note, and for what? The only ones I know are useless street-trees and a Chinese one that didn't make it.
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Post by jocelyn on Nov 8, 2017 6:58:49 GMT -5
Tap roots are not an issue. They are about a kilometer from anything man made, so won't get themselves in trouble. They'll go down till they hit consolidated bedrock, and then travel along that, no harm.
Haws are all local sourced seed, so thorny shrubs for jam, thankfully, not too tall.
I'm short, grin.
Some stuff I planted over the years has croaked, so I'm left with the stuff suited to here.
Apricots got bacterial wilts and died, so I gave up after a bit. Peaches are Ok though.
European plums get the black knot, asian ones and hybrids don't....that's what I'm left with.
I started some grocery store pits from pluots, 3 have made a winter, so we'll
see how they do...........
Then, there is a pot of strawberry seedlings, need to seperate them now, getting crowded. They are from grocery store berries, variety of seed parent not known. I love to watch seedlings grow, huge grin.
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Post by prairiegardens on Nov 8, 2017 21:08:24 GMT -5
Hawthorn is a well established heart tonic, used extensively in Europe, or so I've read. Other than that it makes decent jelly or pancake syrup and a fairly intimidating informal hedge, which could be useful in future times....  |
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Post by jocelyn on Nov 9, 2017 7:31:34 GMT -5
Isolating squashes is pretty easy. I just tie a couple males and a female shut with yarn the night before they are to open. Pollinate with several males, retie the yarn..........
Chestnuts and walnuts are harder, I use pollination bags on those...but a long skinny bag made of tyvek house wrap works too. (I have a sewing machine)
haws, for jam, yummy. Boil till soft, squish through a seive with the back of a wooden spoon, sugar to taste and boil up till it sets. Doesn't take long, haws have a lot of pectin.
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Post by philagardener on Nov 9, 2017 19:07:36 GMT -5
Isolating squashes is pretty easy. I just tie a couple males and a female shut with yarn the night before they are to open. Pollinate with several males, retie the yarn.......... Chestnuts and walnuts are harder, I use pollination bags on those...but a long skinny bag made of tyvek house wrap works too. (I have a sewing machine) haws, for jam, yummy. Boil till soft, squish through a seive with the back of a wooden spoon, sugar to taste and boil up till it sets. Doesn't take long, haws have a lot of pectin. I have used clothespins to hold squash blossoms closed - can't remember where I saw that first. |
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Post by blueadzuki on Nov 9, 2017 23:26:13 GMT -5
I'm not sure if it counts for much, but over this fall I also have made a point of marking off those wild/feral fruit trees in my area I know of, testing their fruit and making a note of where ones that might be useful are. It didn't work well (the best I did was a pair of crabapples, one of which is tastes OK, the other of which is extremely bitter but has comparatively large fruit for a crab-apple (about lady apple sized) so might still be of use in a time of emergency (I understand that bittersweet apples tend to make very good hard cider).
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Post by steev on Nov 10, 2017 0:48:20 GMT -5
Well, they are valuable in a blend; you don't want cider that's too bland; it wants a bit of spark, so it's not cloying.
Actually, I'm pretty sure we're living in the pre-apocalypse, if we don't get our shit together.
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Post by jocelyn on Nov 10, 2017 3:59:14 GMT -5
Yes, anything at all for squash; clothes pins, tape, feedbag string, yarn...it's all good As for crab apples and others local fruits, yup, useful to know where they are. Besides, some of the tasty apples in commerce are found seedlings from a hedgerow. (MacIntosh, TangoWine etc). Can't wait to see if the tiny pear seedlings make another winter. Their first winter was mild, so have to wait a bit to see what they do. The seed parent was Abate Fetel, so kind of tender. They are seedlings from grocery store fruits, so the pollen parent is unknown. I had a Bosc seedling produce its first 4 pears this year, grin, look a lot like a Patten, so likely that was the poppa. Planted right next to the Bosc too, so close enough to be in bee distance. I'ne never made cider, but yes, I have heard that too, tannic apples ferment nicely and make tasty cider. |
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Post by steev on Nov 10, 2017 8:49:07 GMT -5
I planted elderberry, but like so many things, it needed better care than my schedule afforded; just another thing of which I have hope when I'm more on-site; years ago I gathered elderberries in the East Bay hills to make wine, which was tasty, unless you were going to Panama ("Arsenic and Old Lace" reference).
You don't want tannic apples alone, just some to spark the relative blandness of otherwise tasty apples.
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Post by reed on Nov 10, 2017 13:27:38 GMT -5
There used to be, maybe still is a wild crab apple down by the river near a spot where I often went to hunt for Indian relics. Fruits about the size of a ping pong ball or a little less with an intense combination of sweet and sour. I'm gonna try to remember next spring to go see if I can find it again. Never occurred to me back then to keep and plant seeds, but I sure gobbled up the fruits when ever I happened on ripe ones.
I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of fruit I get from all the seedlings I'v planted last couple three seasons. Some might be blah I suppose but I bet lots of em will be yummy.
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Post by prairiegardens on Nov 10, 2017 16:24:54 GMT -5
Wasn't the general idea that most apples could be used for cider if they were too -whatever- for eating? Our palates have been trained to sweetness, many people hardly recognize any other flavours than sweet or salt anymore. So anything else is considered only sort of fit to eat....
We had an apple at home that my brothers thought was a Northern Spy, which identification seemed a bit questionable judging from the NS photos I'd seen. The expert who came out to arrange to take scions (and who was never seen or heard from again) was reluctant to commit to an identification. In any case whatever they were they made absolutely fantastic apple pie ( or apple sauce if you preferred it not puréed as they got tender but kept shape when cooked). They were usable as a fresh eating apple...we all grew up eating them fresh and cooked, but most people today who grew up thinking the soggy McIntosh the be-all of apples would find them a bit too crisp and tart for eating out of hand,
As a matter of curiosity (and it had nothing to do with me) is it usual for people to charge to start scions AND take several for themselves? I can see taking several in case some don't take, but when they specify they want a bunch for themselves, then charge $30 per successful tree it seems a little questionable to me. I know commercial people pay about $2 per host seedling trees so it seemed a bit high when he was getting a bunch of scion material for himself. That's what you pay for established trees you haven't provided the scion material. Anyway, as far as I know my brothers were expecting him to return so they must have agreed, but the guy never came back. The trees are very old now, probably pushing 100 years or so, so perhaps he thought it was too late for them. I'm planning to be in the area this spring and if any of the trees are still standing I may take a shot at it myself. Otherwise they will likely just get cut down, the apples are only a shadow of their former glory now, and my brother was an idiot not to have done something to save them .
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