Flatwoods Plum and Fennel

I was given this bushy little tree, and told that it was a Chickasaw plum... but I've long suspected that it was misidentified, mostly because its growth habit is so low and weedy. I'm pretty sure now that it's Prunus umbellata, the Flatwoods Plum. After blooming in February, these trees produce small, fairly bitter little fruits. A couple of years ago the trees in this area produced a prolific harvest, and I picked a bunch with my son from neighbors' trees. We filled a few buckets, and made a tart and jelly from them. I think the trees are highly variable, and some trees have fairly sweet fruit while others' fruit is sour or bitter. Anyway, the best use for them is jelly, which you can sweeten until the bitterness and sourness is no longer perceptible.

Florence Fennel. This bunch is over a year old. It suffers a bit in the heat and humidity, but produces bulbs pretty readily during the cool season. I like the fronds (in salads) almost as much as the bulbs.

A garden update in pictures

Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis) from saved seeds. What a happy, trouble-free flower.

A perennial or hardy geranium (G. oxonianum 'Claridge Druce', I think). It's been living quite happily in this pot for years. Blooms nicely all spring.
'Prosperity" on fortuniana rootstock.

Peas from my intensive circular bed. Working GREAT! the carrots are planted in a trench, and for whatever reason seem to grow better there. Maybe they get more water?

I'm letting some of my favorite lettuces go to seed for next planting season.

My mum had a huge old dead cedar cut out of her yard. I got the shredded limbs and branches (the tree company kept the wood, of course...). Beautiful, fragrant, and strangely melodic -- as I tossed it onto my paths and beds, the larger pieces produced that distinctive sound I associate with cedar, like two pencils hitting one another.
Smells like a giant hamster cage in my yard!

The garden in February

I've been growing a geraniums from seeds the past few seasons. They seem to be far hardier than the ones I buy at the bigboxstores -- many of them survived the summer and are blooming again for a second year. The key, aside from growing them from seed, is to keep them in full shade and very dry throughout the hot/wet season. These are Summer Showers Ivy Geranium (the one on the left) and Ringo Deep Scarlet Geranium, both from Swallowtail. I would rate them generally very easy to grow from seed. It surprises me how rarely people grow them from seed.

My Flordaprince peach started to bloom a bit this weekend. Too early, really, but the cool weather over the past few days should slow things down. I love the geometric patterns on the bark, which are brought into relief by the dormant oil I use to keep scale and other pests at bay.

My collards have finally started growing.

Time to install that drip irrigation...

Considering it's a La Nina winter, we've had quite a lot of rain. But it looks like our luck's run out.

My espalier system

I built this espalier frame during December, using three-quarter inch electrical conduit and fittings from chainlink fences. I've planted two kinds of tropical apples (Dorsett and two Annas) and one pear tree (Hood). The length of the trellis is about thirty-five feet.

On either end, I have grapes (Black Spanish and Nesbitt). Along the privacy fence behind the trellis, I have planted Bababerry raspberries and a Fry Scuppernong grapes.

That's four trees and two grape vines in a space that's about one-hundred square feet, or the space that's typically recommended for one tree in a commercial orchard.

You can't see it in this picture, but I've started to run heavy wire every couple of feet to trellis the limbs of the fruit trees, starting at one foot from ground level (for the micro-sprinkler irrigation line) and then about two feet, four feet, and six feet. (I've only run the first two wires so far.) The trellis is seven feet high, which is more or less the exact height of my comfortable reach. (I didn't use a tape measurer when building it, instead relying on my body to tell me how high the trellis should be built and how low the first wire should be strung. The first wire for the tree limbs is exactly as high as I can comfortably reach down, about two feet.)

The whole idea is a system of "human-sized" plants: I won't get on my knees nor will I climb a ladder. It's a rejection of the commercial orchard ethos -- I don't want to maximize production: Instead, I want to minimize inputs and maximize long and varied harvest -- the "backyard orchard culture" promoted by Dave Wilson. What's more, all my reading about tropical apples and pears indicates that horizontal growth and aggressive pruning is the way to maximize production.


Here is my inspiration...

Various seedlings...

This method is my current favorite for starting seeds -- three ounce plastic cups and shredded coir. It doesn't solve the problem of damping off, but the coir is very loose and doesn't decay or compact, so the roots grow quickly and since there's little microbial action, the seedlings seem more vigorous to me. The downside is that I need to use chemical fertilizers, since the coir is basically inert and therefore even fish emulsion doesn't do much. I use a watered-down Miraclegro solution once every other week or so, when I'm feeding my orchids.

'Prosperity' rose

I love the drama of these roses -- all gold and satin. They are pinkish when in bid, and white when blown. This bush is about four years old, on 'Fortuniana' rootstock. It blooms most of the year, but most dramatically in spring.

Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler - New York Times

A very thoughtful and economical article on why we need to eat less meat, by Mark Bittman, the Times' food writer.

I'm not a doctrinaire vegetarian (I willingly eat meat at restaurants or when no other alternative is available), but I have to say the idea that the average American consumers eight ounces of meat per day is, well, frankly disgusting. I assume that is uncooked, but it would still equal two large hamburgers per day, or half a chicken. How in the world did we get to the point where that is the average?

That level of consumption makes no sense: It's expensive, it's categorically unnecessary and even harmful for good health, has horrific consequences for the environment... and, gosh darn it, the real kicker here, most meat that I see sold in restaurants and grocery stores is of low quality and is usually poorly prepared... So, it does not even TASTE good. I remember vaguely the last hamburger I had at McDonalds. It was salty, warm, greasy, and it tasted fine, but not particularly beefy, and it surely did not excite me to eat more...

Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler - New York Times:

"Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. At about 5 percent of the world’s population, we “process” (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world’s total.

Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.

To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan — a Camry, say — to the ultra-efficient Prius. Similarly, a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days."

A quick garden update in pictures

Broccoli di Rapa, strawberries

My herbs and lettuce garden.

Garden happenings...

A warm day today, though that's predicted to change early this week, with temperatures dipping back into the upper thirties. I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the garden, trying to get things back into shape after the path and patio work. I noticed that my carambola and limão 'Cravo' had finally sprouted, and brought them outside to soak up the rays.

My friend Bill picked up me up an 'Owari' satsuma grafted onto Flying Dragon rootstock. I have a couple of other trees on Dragon: A 'Hamlin' orange (our 'native' DeLand orange) and a 'Honeybell' tangerine. The Dragon rootstock is dwarfing, keeping trees to below ten feet -- though from what I've read, the final verdict isn't in on their ultimate size. Bill has a grapefruit that's already at least nine feet in three years. In any case, the rootstock inarguable brings the trees into production earlier -- Bill's trees produced abundantly this year. My two trees went in the ground only last year, so I haven't had any fruits.

At Lowes, I picked up a Sanbokan Lemon (Citrus sulcata) in a gallon pot for ten bucks... I think I'll grow it in a container, at least for this season. I swear, that's the last citrus I buy.

Let's see... In the veg beds: I'm really frustrated with my collards this season. I bought some plants at Lowes and I guess they must have been bum: Planted right next to Rappini, and while the Rappini has grown well, the collards are still tiny. The first salad greens of the season (planted the third week of September, so four months ago) are about to go to seed (which I'll collect). I have a bunch of 'Red Sails' just now coming into harvest size. To ensure salad until mid-May, I planted more 'Summer Glory' lettuce mix (Parks) last week, so when the Sails come down, there will be more rabbit food to replace it. Strawberries have finally started to produce well -- both patches yield a big handful a day. 'Purple Cherokee' tomatoes are just about ripe. 'Little Fingers' eggplant is recovering well from the freeze. Carrots need to be pulled, and 'Sea Foam' chard is ready to pick again.

Finally, I got in the mail earlier this week two figs that were recommended to me on the Fig Forum at GardenWeb: 'LSU Purple' and 'Celeste.' I got them at Johnson Nursery. They were smallish, maybe thirty inches (pruned) and the trunks were chopstick thick. No complaints, since they were only ten bucks each. Right now, they're sharing a large (thirty-gallon) pot. That brings to five my fig varieties: 'Alma,' 'Brown Turkey' and 'Kadota.' Because of their susceptibility to nematodes, the only fig in the ground is 'Alma.' If it grows without much problem, I'll transfer the others into the ground, too.

More Willis, seeds

Notes to self...

Got my Kadota Fig and Sunred Nectarine from Willis last night. Very impressed -- both much larger than advertised and they appeared in good shape. I put the Mission grape, the Hood Pear, the Pomegranate and Nectarine in the ground, and the Kadota in a big pot.

I also planted all the seeds from Swallowtail, except the Blackberry Lily, which needs to spend some time in the fridge. A lot of seeds!

Need to remember to prick the poppies. Candytuft is up, but Strawflowers are still not germinating. Need to plant more Nasturtiums -- between the Brazilians and the cold, only a couple survived.

Damage from the freeze.

My roses fared all right. The same cannot be said of my bananas, brugs, and daturas. And there was a bit of damage to my tomatoes, but nothing serious.

Our patio remodel.

Between the freeze and the Brazilians, my garden's a mess. But I love the new patio and paths that wind through the flower part of my garden.

"Behind the Seeds Tour" at Epcot

With in-laws in town, we spent the a warm day at Epcot. I took the "Behind the Seeds" tour, a tour of the "Living with the Land Boat Ride."

It's Disney's little "how green are we" show ride; I'm not sure I bought the line that Disney is in any way a green enterprise, or that its research will help feed the world. (On $5 a day, African villagers are supposed to buy hydroponic equipment? My support goes to ECHO, which tries to encourage global sustainability and feed the masses through ultra-low-tech methods.)

Let's face it, most of Florida is an environmental wasteland, and at the center of it sits the tens of thousands of acres around the theme parks south of Orlando. (OK, OK, the center is Big Sugar and the sweet corn industry... The parks are just the inner ring.) What's more, I sat through a thirty minute show on global energy sources (hosted by Ellen Degeneres!) that was revolting for its carefully calibrated discussion of global warming and alternative sources of energy. It was like a kindergarten teacher's graduation day address, only instead of five-year-olds, it was gas and oil conglomerates who each had "something special to contribute." Oh, and global warming is a "hot topic"... hah. But at least it didn't hedge on whether dinosaurs are God's way of testing my faith...

I try hard to ignore the waste and gluttonous consumption that Disney represents, because the kids really enjoy it. It's hard for me not to sound like an old man (I'm not!) or a grouch when I talk about Disney and the parks.

Anyway, about the "Behind the Seeds" tour. More for the hoi polloi than the dedicated gardener. Fair enough. The discussion of Integrated Pest Management was mostly about how cute ladybugs are. And I'm not convinced that hydroponic growing is an improvement over old-fashioned dirt and compost. It certainly is cooler. But the demonstration garden had some really impressive vertical gardening involved, and the tropical gardens were very interesting.

Here's a short slide show of what caught my eye. Better yet, watch it on my Picasa account.

Tomato Growers Supply Order...

I'm going to grow a few more tomatoes this spring than last...

#5859 - SunSugar FT Hybrid - 30 seeds.

#5532 - Southern Night - 30 seeds.

#5186 - Florida Pink - 30 seeds.

#3460 - Tomande VFFNT Hybrid - 30 seeds.

Record daily maximum snowfall set at Daytona Beach

Record Report

Statement as of 4:55 PM EST on January 03, 2008

... Believe it or not...
... Record daily maximum snowfall set at Daytona Beach...

A few snow flurries were reported along the Volusia County coast
from around 7 am to 930 am this morning. A brief flurry occurred at
the offical climate site... the Daytona Beach international Airport.
The result of this flurry is a record snowfall of a trace. This of
course piled higher than the old record for this date of none.
2001.

Stay warm, plants!

The coming freeze...

Thirty degrees tonight, twenty-four tomorrow night... At least my fruit trees will get the chill they need.

Shed becomes refugee camps for zonal misfits...

My beloved chard. I harvested a ton today. I have no idea how tender the stuff is, so I decided to pick the large leaves, and heavily mulch the remaining small leaves.

Almost peaceful. Another advantage to growing on trellises and strings -- making these tents was a breeze. I strung Christmas lights up the tomatoes, and added a shop light to keep them warm.

My haunted garden. Bromeliads, gingers, begonias and philodendrons. All of them fairly tender.

Summer flower seed order

From Swallowtail Garden, which has a terrific selection of flowers at prices significantly lower than Thompson-Morgan. I ordered my Torenia seeds from them and was impressed with the quality of the seeds, packaging, and speed of delivery.

Mostly my strategy this year was to order cultivars of natives (like Monarda, Tradescantia and Asclepias) or plants like Penstemon and Agastache that I've seen growing in others' gardens.

BEE BALM, PANORAMA MIX

AGASTACHE, APRICOT SPRITE

AGASTACHE, PINK POP

BEE BALM, PANORAMA RED SHADES

GAURA, THE BRIDE

BUTTERFLY WEED, SOULMATE

OBEDIENCE PLANT, CROWN OF SNOW

PENSTEMON, SCARLET QUEEN

PENSTEMON, TUBULAR BELLS ROSE

BLACKBERRY LILY, FRECKLE FACE

SPIDERWORT, SHIMMER MIXED

MELONS, FASTBREAK CANTALOUPE

ANGEL'S TRUMPET, BALLERINA WHITE

Patio remodel

Old Chicago pavers to match our driveway. Considerably enlarging our existing patio. The workers have been very conscientious -- hardly a plant harmed so far.

Garden Booty...

A midsummer's feast, midwinter. 'Little Fingers' eggplants, some plum tomatoes, a 'Better Boy' (center), 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes (delish!), and 'Rattlesnake' pole beans. Not bad for late December.

Tomato fruitworm damage

(photo from barbcoleus)

Collectively over at GardenWeb Florida Forum, we identified the little worm that's been damaging my tomatoes and eggplants: the Tomato Fruitworm Moth larva (Heliothis zea). The damage isn't severe, particularly this time of year, when the rains and humidity are low. But that damage would be a more serious issue in July. Organic control is good old reliable BT or Spinosad ( Monterey Garden Insect Spray). The Gardener's Guide to Common-Sense Pest Control indicates that Neem should work, too, presumably as an antifeedant.

The damage on my 'Little Fingers' eggplants seems less severe, presumably due to its thicker skin. The damage seems to have been inflicted over a fairly short duration, since new fruits are unaffected.

Panhandle olive grove produces first commercial harvest

My next purchase... I think I'll try large tree pots, buried halfway. That way, I can keep them on the drier side. Willis has three of the recommended olive trees.

Panhandle olive grove produces first commercial harvest

Don Mueller has spent eight years raising an olive grove from a sandy, secluded piece of ground in the Panhandle’s Jackson County.

That’s 220 trees planted, irrigated and nursed through summer grasshopper invasions and winter cold spells, with only what help he could cajole from friends and in spite of doubts that he would succeed. The work has been arduous, the details that needed minding seemingly infinite.

As hobbies go, it is not the easiest choice for a septuagenarian retiree, even one as robust as Mueller. But ask, and he will tell you he has done it happily, just for the joy he gets out of tending that tiny Mediterranean fruit.

Now, the labor is beginning to pay off in other ways, too. Green Gate Groves is wrapping up its first commercial harvest, ending the season with a modest 200 pounds of olives sold to local buyers.

Olive trees in Florida

Rumor is our recently-deceased Greek neighbor up the street raised olives in her citrus grove...

Olive trees in Florida? You bet
Text/photos by Kathy Edenhofer (Master gardener),

If you are looking for a unique item for your landscape, here is something that might peak your interest. Tucked away in Citra is a little jewel of a tree farm owned and operated by Tony and Shirley Valenza. At the Olive Branch Tree Farm they grow and sell olive trees, olives and olive oil. The Farm currently has more than 3,000 trees in stock.

The Valenza family has been growing olive trees in California for more than 80 years and decided to see if any of the varieties would survive and produce olives in the Central Florida area. They have test grown many varieties in the last five years and found at least three that do well in our area. They are Arbequina, Mission and Manzanillo. All three are self-pollinating, cold hardy to at least 12 degrees, and are pest and disease resistant.

*Arbequina - a smaller Spanish olive introduced to the United States in the mid 1990’s. This variety is the earliest of the three to produce fruit, some within three years. The olives grow in heavy clusters and have a high oil content. The trees can reach 25 to 35 feet at maturity, but can be trained and kept lower for easier harvesting.

*Mission - a variety introduced to the United States by way of Mexico in 1769 is the most cold resistant. It has been known to survive temperatures as low as 8 degrees. Its fruit is larger than the Arbequina and is born singly or in clusters and also has a high oil content. Trees can reach 40 to 50 feet at maturity.

*Manzanilla - another Spanish variety introduced to the United States in 1875 with fruit larger than the Arbequina which are born singly. The trees have a low-spreading growth habit reaching 15 to 30 feet at maturity.

Purple Cherokee

The first tomato of the cool/dry season. A 'Purple Cherokee' that I got as a seedling from a local sustainable grower (after Stoopid Kitty ate my seedlings and vomited them everywhere on the furniture).
I like my tomatoes a mite bit greener than perhaps most. I'll eat this one tomorrow, lightly dressed, on a plate of greens, with some chervil and parsley.
Mmmmmmmm.

Low-chill apples for the tropics and subtropics

An interesting overview (click for full-sized version) of the lineage and history of various low-chill apples from this excellent book.

Apples in the subtropics

I read most of Biology of Apples and Pears, and though much of it went way over my head, I learned a lot about apples and pears in the subtropics. The passage (click on it for a full-sized version) above sums up the techniques: 1) Horizontal training of branches to release lateral buds from apical dominance; 2) Leaf stripping to prevent return to deep dormancy; 3) Depriving the trees of water. All these mechanical treatments cause the trees to enter dormancy, undergoing essentially the same physiological changes that cold weather causes up north.

Dormancy, according to this book, is a very poorly understood phenomenon, a result of multiple causes that include, but are not limited to, cold weather.

Worms in Florida

I wasn't quite ready today to plant my fruit trees, so I heeled them into a shady part of my side lot, where the compost bin used to live. Every spadeful of dirt was full of worms -- red wrigglers that danced and writhed when exposed. I grabbed a few handfuls and sprinkled them like fertilizer throughout my garden. Work, work, comrades!

My Willis Orchard order has arrived!

My order from Willis arrived yesterday, waiting for me on the front porch when I got back from New York City last night. The plants were well-packed, and as advertised, if not a bit bigger. Those are the Anna apples on the left, mulberry and pomegranate center left and right. Mixed in there are the FlordaPrince peach, Dorsett apples, Hood pear (still need to get another pear for cross-fertilization), and Bababerry raspberries. Let's see... a Fry Scuppernong and a Black Spanish grape.
I'll have to whack a full foot off the pears and apples to put them on my trellis (pictures forthcoming!).
They all look like sticks now, but give them a nine-month growing season (March through mid-November), lots of water, judicious fertilizer... they'll be huge next October.

Double-cropping of apples and peaches in the tropics

This is the stuff I'm thinking of...

DOUBLE CROPPING OF TEMPERATE FRUITS IN THE TROPICS Apples and peaches are also grown in several locations in the tropics where no chilling is received. The culture depends on defoliation to induce the next growth cycle after flower initiation has occurred but before cold-requiring dormancy arises. Extensive commercial apple production occurs in East Java, Indonesia, 8°S latitude and bi-annual cropping of peaches occurs in Venezuela, 10°N. No winter chilling occurs under those conditions. Two crops are harvested each year and cropping is staggered so that fruit may be harvested every day of the year. Success is dependent on relatively uniform temperatures, favourable for tree growth and
fruit development all year round. Successive growth cycles are induced by artificial defoliation after flower initiation occurs but before cold-requiring dormancy develops. There are some important requirements for successful apple culture in the tropics (Notodimedjo et al., 1981). These include: (1) a moderate temperature regime conducive to episodic growth; (2) many growing points on each tree; (3) cessation of shoot growth by terminal bud formation; (4) adequate time for flower initiation to occur; and (5) synchronous bud burst after flower initiation. In Java, the basic system to produce double cropping of apple involves leaf stripping to stimu- late flowering (Janick, 1974). There are regularly two crops per year, typically one in April and the second in October. Notodimedjo et al. (1981) demonstrated that bud burst and flower emergence could be induced at any time of the year by hand defoliation. At the time of defoliation there are high levels of gibberellins and cytokinins in the apices and ABA and other inhibitors in the subtending leaves. Cessation of shoot growth by terminal bud formation depends on competition between a large number of growing points. Flower initiation follows terminal bud for- mation but subsequent flower development is slow until after harvest and defoliation. Physiological dormancy of terminal buds is avoided by defoliation within a month of harvest. No chilling requirement is apparent and no chilling temperatures
occur. Dormancy of most lateral buds is not broken by defoliation. Burst of lateral buds is increased dramatically by bud slicing, partially by branch bending and, under some conditions, by ethephon treatment. There is no evidence for growth control mechanisms that differ from those known in the temperate zone. The requirements for flowering are not met naturally in the tropics but are achieved by manipu- lative treatments notably branch bending and hand defoliation. Although the growth cycle of apples in the tropics is visually quite different from that in the temperate zone, the endogenous mechanisms of growth regulation do not differ appreciably. This has consequences for research. Whereas in the temperate zone each stage of growth occurs only once a year, in the tropics growth control mechanisms may be studied throughout the year as each stage of growth may be found at any time on different trees and bi-annually on any one tree.

A birdseye view

Google Maps has posted some more-detailed images. This picture, with our house in dead center, must have been taken last year, before I put in my vegetable garden and greatly expanded my flower beds. (My backyard is due east--north is up--of the semi-circle brick drive.) With all the trees, you cannot see what our house looks like, but it gives an idea of the urban area where I live (one of the first subdivisions in Central Florida--built during "the Big Boom" in the very early 1920s).

My garden space is pretty small: In the back, roughly forty-five feet by ninety. But the back yard gets tons of sun, and has a bit more clay in it than is usual for our part of Florida. It's also on a ridge, probably one of the highest points in DeLand. It was also the center of DeLand's famous groves...

ECHO -- Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization

ECHO is, for me, the ultimate authority on all things gardening in FLA -- check the chill-unit requirement here that they list for Anna, Tropic Sweet and Dorsett: "50-150." That's anywhere from half to one-quarter the chill-hour requirement I've seen elsewhere. Very interesting...

ECHO -- Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization: "The low chill varieties listed below require 50 - 150 chill hours for strong flowering and vigorous growth. Chill units are the number of hours the temperature stays between 32-55º F. Most effective chilling occurs with continuing temperatures below 45 º F. 'Anna' has red skin and is the most widely planted apple cultivar in Florida. The fruit of 'Anna' resembles that of 'Red Delicious' more than other low-chill apple cultivars. Originally from Israel, this large apple can be eaten green similar to 'Granny Smith,' or can be allowed to ripen to desired sweetness. 'Dorsett Golden' looks like 'Golden Delicious' with golden skin and sometimes a red blush. This cultivar was discovered in the Bahamas and is crisp and juicy with excellent flavor. ++ 'Tropic Sweet' is a newly patented variety from the University of Florida. This low acid, very sweet apple has green skin with a red blush, and flavor similar to the 'Gala' apple."

Manual Defoliation of Apples in Sub-Tropical Climates

Apple: "The main technique employed in tropical climates that don't meet chilling requirements is manual defoliation of the leaves. By seasonally pruning off all of the leaves on a tree, the apple is fooled into believing that natural defoliation has occurred due to winter, which causes chemical hormone changes in the plant that lead to the onset of flowering. The method is simple, but effective, and if done properly can yield 2-3 crops per year. In rarer cases, less-tropical apple varieties that have higher chilling requirements can be grafted onto the 'tropical' apples and through defoliation, can be coaxed into fruiting."

SRSFC - Georgia Muscadine Production Guide - Table of Contents

Absolutely everything you'd ever want to know about Muscadine Grape production... For big growers, but enough good information to entertain the hobbyist, too.
SRSFC - Georgia Muscadine Production Guide - Table of Contents: "Georgia Muscadine Production Guide"

SRSFC - Muscadine Production Guide - ../sec. 14

SRSFC - Muscadine Production Guide - ../sec. 14: "Muscadine single wire trellises normally have the wire 5 feet about the ground.The 5 foot trellis has been the most popular with Georgia growers since it allows for better air circulation that shorter trellises. Trellis construction is the most expensive step in establishing a muscadine grape vineyard. Since the trellis is relatively permanent, it should be strong enough to support a heavy crop and made of durable materials that will last for many years. All wood products used in the vineyard should be pressure treated with wood preservatives (or of a specially durable wood type you know will last in your area)."

The Orange Diaries

This site is modestly funny, though it smells mildly of a big corporation's sweaty attempt to be cute and folksy.

Still, I sympathize with their cause -- it ENRAGES me that, in my local Publix, it's hard to find frozen OJ concentrate from Florida, or that I have to go out of my way to get local juicing oranges, or that my blueberries in April come from Chile. I realize that it's a complex, economic system: Publix needs to compete with WalMart, so it searches for the least inexpensive possible necessities, like OJ concentrate from Brazil. And because of wage differentials and inexpensive (relatively) energy, Brazil can produce juice more cheaply than Florida, where groves are being turned into subdivisions. But it is enraging that we here, in Florida, do not, on principle, drink orange juice raised here, by farmers whom we know who buy their equipment from workers whom we know. In theory, I believe in free trade and international commerce; but when it comes down to my own personal preferences and instinctive beliefs, it almost always turns out that I prefer to buy local, even when it's not in my own economic best interests.

Pine-Bark Mulch Beds for Blueberries

The Fruit Growers News - May 2000: "Sears grows two basic varieties – the rabbiteye and the southern highbush. The rabbiteye, the easier and more profitable variety to grow, doesn’t begin producing until Memorial Day, at the end of May. The southern highbush begins producing as early as April 15. The problem for Sears and other growers was that even with the addition of the pine bark mulch the southern highbush wasn’t producing high yields. University of Georgia Extension agents worked with Sears and other growers to lay out beds of pine bark six to eight inches deep before they planted the bushes directly into the mulch. The southern highbush plants in the pine bark beds are doing quite well, Sears said. But, creation and upkeep on the mulch beds isn’t easy or inexpensive. That’s why Sears has 35 acres of blueberries, but currently less than an acre of producing berries in the mulch beds. Sears has several more beds in their first year of planting and he is preparing several more to plant. He plans to have about five acres of the southern highbush growing in beds of pine bark mulch in the next couple of years."

Gordon's Grove

The boy-child and I went here today, to pick some fruit for my brother in New York. Nice, well-tended grove. Nothing really interesting, but they only charge $8 for a big five-gallon bucket of citrus (two paper grocery bags). What fun! Highly recommended.

"Gordon’s Grove, 1624 Hazen Road, DeLand, FL 32720 Telephone: (386) 734-0620 Products: Navel oranges, grapefruits, red navels, amber sweet, Orlando tangelos, white tangelos, Hamlin oranges Late-October through March."

Bunch grapes in the semi-tropics...

More on grapes... I ended up getting Black Spanish Bunch Grape and Bronze Fry Scuppernong from Willis Orchard. The Black Spanish is resistant to Pierce's and to mildews.

I might get another bunch grape vine from "Grapes of Kath," but I'm running out of easy arbor space.

Grapes No. 4, Issue 5: "After harvest, water and nutrients are withheld from the vine to slow it's growth, and the vine is manually defoliated. Leaves may be stripped by hand, or sprayed with a chemical such as urea to burn them and make them drop. In the tropics, this is usually done at a time when a dry period is underway. The vine is left in this condition until time for it to start growing again. Then it is pruned much the same way as a truly dormant vine would be, and it is fertilized and watered. This will force the vine to resume growth, bloom, and set fruit. Properly timed, it is possible to get two crops a year from a vine this way."

Persimmon and Purple Sugar Cane

At Ernie's, I got a new kind of persimmon, a Sharon. Tasty. Reminds me of a cross between a cantaloupe and a fresh date. With a little bit of complexity, like a citrus cinnamon. Nice. I also bought a cool purple sugarcane. Stuck it in the ground. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, I finished cleaning up the limbs from having our canopy raised in the back yard. Water oaks. Blech. But they'd be very expensive to remove, and they are pretty trees. I had the trimmer leave the limbs behind, so his crew wouldn't rip up my garden. It was a pile about seven feet tall by twenty feet. Argh. Spent all day yesterday and a good part of today sawing it into manageable pieces, packing it tight in the truck, and driving it to the dump. Made it in two trips (extended bed pickups are nice!), along with a big pile at the street.

Now I can move along with my latest backyard plans. I started work on my composting areas: Three piles. One for smallish limbs &c. that will take a year to decay, another for smaller landscape junk and leaves, and a third bin for household refuse. That last stuff turns into humus gold in just a couple months here, so long as you turn it and keep adding brown materials.

Papelon con Limon

My Brazilian friend grows limão 'Cravo,' selling them at an amazing price of $2 a dozen. They produce copious amounts of mildly-acidic, vaguely lime-y juice. The flavor is somewhere on the tart end of a lemon-lime-orange. While I have trouble getting more than a tablespoon of juice from a lemon, the slightly larger limão 'Cravo' will easily yield a third to a quarter cup. VERY juicy.

I ran across a mention of this popular Venezuelan drink, and found this recipe. (Papelon is, I gather, the same as piloncillo, available everywhere Mexican food is sold.) Since I have no idea how much a panela weighs, I'm going to work by logic here: I use a cup of sugar to make a bit more than a quart of lemonade, let's work on the assumption that eight ounces of piloncillo will sweeten this drink.

Papelon con Limon: "Papelon con Limon"
Ingredientes;
1 panela de papelón
1 litro de leche
2 limones

Preparacion: Se rompe el papelón a martillazos. Se pone a remojar toda una noche en 1 litro de leche. Al dia siguiente, que ya se ha disuelto, se le agrega el jugo de limón. se sirve frío.

Ingredients:
8 oz of piloncillo
1 quart of milk
Juice of 2 limão 'Cravo,'

Crush the piloncillo, and let it dissolve into a quart of milk overnight. (I'd help the process along the way with a whirl in the blender.) The next day, once the piloncillo has dissolved, add to the mix the lemon juice. Serve cold.

Going to try it tonight!

Tonight: Hmmmm. Hm. Um. Hmmm... Here's what I have to say about it. It is unlike anything I've ever had. Molasses, citrus, and milk. It's not bad. Refreshing in its own way. Very South American. Smooth.

I would add far more lemon juice than advertised in the recipe above: I used two tablespoons in my smallish glass, and felt that citrus could have played an even stronger role. Maybe I'd try it with Sugar in the Raw rather than piloncillo. I like molasses, but the bitter punch of it does not fare well with the acid from the lemons.

I need to try this with rum...