Wednesday, April 14, 2021

GARDEN GROWING AND A TREE CASUALTY

The garden is growing nicely...


The "Early Girl" tomato is putting on blossoms, living up to her name, ha.  The "Better Boy" seems to be just about to bloom as well so he's not far behind.  


Both of the "Pickling Cucumbers" are getting larger.  Can't wait for them to take off and go crazy.  Hopefully in a couple of months we'll be asking for pickle canning recipes that taste great and are easy!

The basil is growing well and so are the eggplants.  I also planted the jalapeƱo and Thai basil, we'll see how they do over the coming weeks.


We do have one more casualty of the record breaking Winter storm; the peach tree!?  It was in full bloom just before the freeze so of course the blooms were killed but we thought that would be the extent of it.  Alas, it's mostly dead.  The branches are brown and crispy...


...and here is the base.  It is leafing out but as is often the case, when the new growth is coming from below the graft, it will most likely never produce fruit, and this is all from below the graft.  We can't wait a few years to see if this tiny bush will grow into some sort of tree and then see if it will produce fruit.  We'll leave it as is while we're looking for a replacement but then it will be removed and replaced.  This was a "Tropic Beauty" peach tree.  Odd that it didn't make it because they are supposed to be tolerant to below zero, but hey, we'll keep trying.  Might try a different variety this time, still something for our area of course.

You win some and lose some.  We win more than we lose so we'll take that.

6 comments:

  1. If you take the tree and receipt back where you purchased it, you can get your money back or a replacement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is exactly what I was going to suggest. :}
      I do make a copy of the receipt cause they do fade over time. I just staple the receipt to the copy and place it all in a large brown envelope and mark the envelope on the outside what it is for; trees, plants, etc and write the year of purchase as well on the outside of the envelope.
      Any trees or expensive plants we buy at Calloways Nursery and they are life time guarantee providing that they are not annuals.
      Just sorry to hear that your peach tree has basically died but the rest of your garden sure is growing nicely. Won't be long before you start seeing baby tomatoes setting on.

      Delete
  2. Everything in your vegetable is growing beautifully. I see some blooms on your tomatoes! You’ll soon be having some wonderful veggies for delicious meals.
    So sorry about your peach tree. It was shaped so nicely and was so pretty with all of those pink blossoms. Yep, you’re right, when they leaf out only below the graft, it’s time to buy a new one.

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  3. Sadly not all freezes are equal - timing can make a huge difference. A plant that has days of gradual cooling might not survive going from warm temperatures to below freezing within a day or two. Iowa's apple industry was pretty much done in by Armistice Day 1940 freeze & blizzard.

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  4. Forgot to add - if the root stock is like our native(?) cold hardy peach tree, it will have peaches. But they will be small, and while fairly tasty fresh will turn to mush when canned. At least what I canned did :-( They might work better for dehydrating or making a peach sauce?

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  5. My four sisters and I have never eaten pickles and never will because of the stench in the house when Mother made pickles. I don't know her recipe and don't know why the smell was so bad.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete

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