Green Thumbs ( Gardening ).

[Shyheels]

Yes crabapple jelly is delicious. My mother used to make it many years ago when I was growing up in the US. She really made an excellent crabapple jelly Funny, I was just up on East Hill a couple of days ago. Was too busy with my cameras to notice any apple trees. I'll have to go back up there. I've already sourced my blackberries. The Country Park has a lot of berries and I have tried picking there but because so many people walk their dogs up there, it has a lot of flies as well and they make the berries pretty nasty.

[Shafted]

Apples are crazy strong out-breeders. The thought that the seeds from an apple variety reverting to a crab-apple is incorrect. Many orchards use crab-apples to pollinate their apple trees so it's easy to understand how this misconception came about.

 

The ONLY way to maintain a specific variety is through stem cuttings and grafting.

 

As I grow Macintosh and Honeycrisp apples the seeds are likely to be a mix of these two. As there are some crab-apple trees in the neighborhood there is bound to be some additional genetic material from them.

 

Any variety, take Macintosh for instance, all Macintosh trees are genetically identical because they all came from one original scion. This is why a Macintosh cannot be bred with another Macintosh. It must be bred with another type to produce fruit.

[Shyheels]

Apples are crazy strong out-breeders. The thought that the seeds from an apple variety reverting to a crab-apple is incorrect. Many orchards use crab-apples to pollinate their apple trees so it's easy to understand how this misconception came about.   The ONLY way to maintain a specific variety is through stem cuttings and grafting.   As I grow Macintosh and Honeycrisp apples the seeds are likely to be a mix of these two. As there are some crab-apple trees in the neighborhood there is bound to be some additional genetic material from them.   Any variety, take Macintosh for instance, all Macintosh trees are genetically identical because they all came from one original scion. This is why a Macintosh cannot be bred with another Macintosh. It must be bred with another type to produce fruit.

Interesting! I never knew that about apple varieties. I guess in Maine you would get to be an expert on apples. Some wonderful orchards up your way.

[meganiwish]

Yes crabapple jelly is delicious. My mother used to make it many years ago when I was growing up in the US. She really made an excellent crabapple jelly Funny, I was just up on East Hill a couple of days ago. Was too busy with my cameras to notice any apple trees. I'll have to go back up there. I've already sourced my blackberries. The Country Park has a lot of berries and I have tried picking there but because so many people walk their dogs up there, it has a lot of flies as well and they make the berries pretty nasty.

Just over the fence by the cliff.  The rock fall will make me wary this year.  There's one in the  old church site.

 

Yes, only pick blackberries above a certain height.  There used to be a lot of sites in town, but most of them have been built on now.

 

There are hazels in the Country Park, but you have to be quick to beat the squirrels.

[Shyheels]

Just over the fence by the cliff.  The rock fall will make me wary this year.  There's one in the  old church site.   Yes, only pick blackberries above a certain height.  There used to be a lot of sites in town, but most of them have been built on now.   There are hazels in the Country Park, but you have to be quick to beat the squirrels.

I'll have a look next time I go up there I know about picking blackberries above a certain height in dog-walking areas, but the ones I picked in Country Park all had fly larvae in them. Nasty. Great tip on the hazel nuts. There are still some good blackberry patches around town. Hollington has some, and nice berries too.

[Shafted]

Interesting! I never knew that about apple varieties. I guess in Maine you would get to be an expert on apples. Some wonderful orchards up your way.

You just have to grow them and absorb as much info about the subject as possible. It's a definite advantage.

[ilikekicks]

You just have to grow them and absorb as much info about the subject as possible. It's a definite advantage.

 

Call this thread a success then! Someone took away something they didnt know .

 

Im in the process of doing a flowerbed of Coleus. Picture a forest from the movie ' avatar ' without all the phosphorous  effects. More reds/yellows and greens.

[meganiwish]

Oh yes, definitely a success.  Now I have to beat Shyheels as well as the squirrels

[Shyheels]

Oh yes, definitely a success. Now I have to beat Shyheels as well as the squirrels

Indeed! I love hazelnuts! Church in the Wood for blackberries - it's a swap

[Shafted]

Call this thread a success then! Someone took away something they didnt know .

 

Im in the process of doing a flowerbed of Coleus. Picture a forest from the movie ' avatar ' without all the phosphorous  effects. More reds/yellows and greens.

I always loved coleuses. It's such an unusual, colorful and very easy to grow ornamental. It roots easily in just a glass of water.

 

Petunias are another flower from my childhood. Such fuzzy and sticky little plants.

[meganiwish]

Indeed! I love hazelnuts! Church in the Wood for blackberries - it's a swap

Hollington is a bit of a trek for me.  I go to the Bos where there are also damsons and haws and elder.

[Shyheels]

Hollington is a bit of a trek for me.  I go to the Bos where there are also damsons and haws and elder.

Ah, I am more on the St Leonards side. To be honest your hazels are probably pretty safe because even with the most ambitious of intentions, by the time I got around to mounting a raid you or the squirrels would probably have cleaned them out!

[meganiwish]

Every summer we used to go on a pork pie walk.  I'd make a pork pie and my daughter and I would go in search of a view to eat in in front of, with a bottle of nice cider.  I don't think she'll be back this summer, so it'll be the squirrels that get them.

[Shyheels]

What a lovely tradition. Hopefully you will be able to keep it up, if not this summer then next.

[Shafted]

New update! Gardens are doing well for the most part. A few losses but nothing to cry about.

 

Here's the outdoor garden as it stands now.

 

55 Early Golden Bantam sweet corn plants

51 white half-runner bean plants

44 spaghetti squash plants

9 Red Pontiac potato plants

9 Kennebec (native) potato plants

9 fingerling potato plants

7 Mary Washington asparagus plants

1 Honeydew melon plants

5 native horseradish plants

1 Macintosh apple tree

1 Honeycrisp apple tree

1 gigantic red stemmed variety rhubarb plant

4 Tabasco peppers

6 California Wonder and Chianti Hybrid sweet bell peppers.

1 Roma VF or Sausage Creme Tomato in a 5 gallon pail

Lots of wild raspberries and other wild edibles

 

You may notice the change in counts.

 

[Shyheels]

Fresh horseradish must be nice...

[Shafted]

Fresh horseradish must be nice...

It is. If left unground it stays fresh forever. It's like a piece of living wood. ONLY grind it outside your home with a good cast iron food chopper, add apple cider vinegar and you'll have one great potent horseradish. Mix with ketchup(catsup) and you have a really awesome cocktail sauce.

 

Man, it so sucked losing my Canadian Harmony peach tree, now that's a loss.

[Shyheels]

That sounds really good. I remember years ago, many years ago, getting some brilliant fresh ground horseradish in New England. Best I have ever had. I am going to have to give that recipe of yours a try...

[meganiwish]

As with onions, so with horseradish.  Wear contact lenses and you won't cry.

[Shyheels]

Onions never bother me

[meganiwish]

Try grating horseradish.

[Shyheels]

I will once I grow some! When do you plant it?

[meganiwish]

Oh, any time. It's ludicrously easy to grow

[Shyheels]

Might have to give that a try. I like horseradish but all the stuff you buy in the shops is just too creamy and bland for me.

[Shafted]

Joy! I'm up to 56 bean plants and a couple of asparagus plants look like they are are beginning to kick into high gear. Second seeding was a great idea.

[beepy]

Shelled nearly 2 pounds of blackeyed peas today. Tomatoes are coming along nicely, sliced a couple for lunch today.

 

 

 

 

[Shyheels]

I think the smell of a garden row of tomato plants ripening in the sun must be one of my all time favourite summer smells. Always takes me back to some distant ungraspable but very pleasant childhood memory.

[Shafted]

Well someone has to keep this thread moving, so......

 

New update on my garden. I kept forgetting to post it here

 

 

 

Next update, you will not believe how things have grown, and it's only getting started.

[meganiwish]

I was due for my bed, but I loved your video.  I like the Top Gear potatoes.  Spearmint not just for tea, but try it with lamb or indeed anything fatty.  Mackerel with mint is a wonder.  New potatoes tossed in lemon juice, olive oil and mint.

 

How lovely to hear my New England gentleman's voice!  I never thought.

Megan

[Shyheels]

Thanks for the tour. I am particularly envious if the raspberry brambles. Raspberries always seemed to me to be the most luxurious of berries. As a kid in New England, where I grew up, I picked gallons and gallons of blackberries and blueberries, but raspberries were always scarce and so when we would come upon a patch we'd go nuts. As a result, to this day raspberries enjoy a special cachet with me.