'Bare' with me.
Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
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This isn't a typical blog with words and a story-line. It's more an accumulation of (mostly plant/tree-related) pictures, thoughts, and experiences (experiments?) from me. I dig for fun, not for trouble.
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^ I wrote this blog post on a berry you may not know much about. You have probably heard of it, or eaten its parents: Blackberry & Raspberry. You’ve probably tasted or at least misinterpreted the name of its relative: Boysenberry (not Poisonberry). Now meet the Loganberry:
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In early January (2012) we had some freakishly warm weather - for a midwest winter. I’m talking days in the mid-50s, sometimes even reaching 70ºF. I’m not sure if it was because of this or if it was just coincidence, but my little lemon plant decided to take off growing!
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It’s been a while!
On Monday, we had an uninvited guest in our 3rd floor office. Not sure why he was awake or how he got in, but I managed to capture (cup-over-wasp/paper-under-cup method) and release this confused insect.
No people or wasps were injured in this rescue. -
This past July I visited Florida and afterward created this post. This morning I was reading a news article about uncommon fruit trees you can grow in Florida and, on a whim, I Wiki’d one fruit that was listed. I was hoping to find out what that mysterious tree I had taken a picture of was.
Lo and Behold! Longan Fruit:
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What is that - what is that?
If you’ve spotted this knobby bump on your (fruit) trees, specifically apples (not so much peaches & pears) don’t fret! It’s not a gall or some sort of disease. Your tree is actually trying to take root. That’s right, it’s trying to root - way up in the air. Grafted trees are on a root stock that determines how dwarfed a tree will be (usually 50-60% or 70-80%) and you are instructed at planting to keep that graft about 2-3 inches above the ground. The reason for this is, if you plant the graft too low or below the soil line, you can actually have a tree that bypasses its dwarfing* root stock and it will self-root and grow into a standard size tree.
*Full dwarf is small; semi-dwarf is a bit bigger and for most growers, more ideal.
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In addition to my previous post about what a ‘berm’ is, here is a handy little video on how to plant and create a berm for your new (fruit) tree!
