How to Plant a Fruit Tree

January 16, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tttq3M739YA It’s bare root fruit tree planting season here in California and this video, from the Dave Wilson Nursery, shows you how to plant your trees once they arrive in the mail. One quibble–it’s been proven to be not a good idea to amend soil when you’re planting a tree. Other than that, this is how we’ve planted our trees and they’ve all grown well. And I wish that I had done the radical pruning you see at the...

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Physalis pruinosa a.k.a. “Ground Cherry”

Mr. Homegrown

April 30, 2007

Gardening

10 Comments

...d to be attractive and delicious. It is surprising that this useful little fruit has received so little attention in the United States in view of its having been reported on with enthusiasm by the late Dr. David Fairchild in his well-loved book, The World Was My Garden. He there tells of its fruiting “enormously” in the garden of his home, “In The Woods”, in Maryland, and of the cook’s putting up over a hundred jars of what he called “Inca Conserv...

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The End of California Citrus?

Mr. Homegrown

September 11, 2009

Food, Gardening, Pests

18 Comments

...ses. Oranges are juicier and easier to peal than the spiny and seed filled fruit of the prickly pear cactus. But the long term odds of having a reliable supply of prickly pear fruit are a lot higher than a steady flow of orange juice. I may get a few spines in my fingers, but it will be the citrus farmers who will be losing sleep. As Seneca says, “If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to people’s opinions...

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Olive Questions

Mr. Homegrown

October 9, 2019

Fermentation, Food, Food Preservation, Fruit Trees, Gardening

14 Comments

...gle olive hosted olive fruit fly maggots. This summer, to reduce the olive fruit fly population I put some torula yeast lures in a McPhail trap in the tree and removed any fruit that had any signs of infestation. I change out the yeast tabs every month. The strategy seems to have greatly reduced the infestation. I lost probably around a third of the olives but had more than enough un-maggoty olives to fill three half-gallon jars. Today I plan on s...

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Non-Toxic Cleaning for the Home

Mrs. Homegrown

May 20, 2019

Cleaning, Domesticus, Miscellaneous, Tidying up

11 Comments

...ctive. Other have used lines of baby powder or even lavender buds. If your fruit bowl went bad and now you are plagued by fruit flies, try squirting them midair with rubbing alcohol (your electronics spray will do just fine) If you have an outbreak of pantry moths, throw away all suspect food or freeze it for several days to kill moth eggs. Wipe down all of your cabinet shelves with vinegar, making sure to get it in the cracks between the walls an...

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