What did you do in the garden today?

[rebrascora]

Thanks..... I hadn't done anything like that before, so I'm learning as I go along. You Tube is a wonderful resource! Getting such fabulous fruit from it, so early in it's life, really motivated me to train and manage it and it makes a nice feature of that wall, even in the winter. There is a public footpath that runs perpendicular to that wall and people often stop and point at the tree and fruits in the summer and ask what it is.
Have you got any tips on cherries? I had a cherry on the site of this apricot but it did not do well and was plagued by pests and stunted growth. I dug it out and moved it to a more open site and it is doing better, but no fruit yet. It is probably now about 7-8 years old. Unfortunately I have problems with deer on it's new site and whilst I have protective plastic sheaths on the trunks of the saplings there, the deer did get to some of them, which obviously hasn't helped. I'm not really sure what I am supposed to be doing as regards pruning it.... I know what I am trying to achieve with the apricot, apples and plum trees, but the cherry is such a different shape to those, so I really have just left it alone for now.
What are Juneberries and hazelbert?

 

[lazy gardener]

June berry is kind of like a blueberry but it has a larger seed. The seed is edible, a bit chewy. The plant can grow 6' to 20' tall, depending on the cultivar. They are native to US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier_canadensis
Hazelbert is a cross between hazel nut and filbert. Grows like a tall shrub.
I also have Elderberry, but they have not yet produced.

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks for that. I'll have to look up Filbert now.
Elderberries grow wild here so I doubt anyone would think to plant them. There are always lots of berries on them and when my chickens free ranged, they loved to forage underneath them in the autumn. Now that they are penned, I have to pick them and throw them in the run and watch the fun as they grab and run.

 

[rebrascora]

I see that another name for the juneberry is chuckleberry.... I love that!

Isn't it interesting to learn about what plants people have in other parts of the world.... things that grow wild locally that you mostly take for granted and yet people in other countries cultivate and other things that you have never heard of that grow wild in other places..... and sometimes having different common names for the same plant, so that you don't realise you are talking about the same thing!

 

[lazy gardener]

I bet you have Lingonberry! I planted some of those also, right before the first snow storm. Don't know if they will survive. It's always good to use the latin name for any plant b/c the common names can be very confusing. We have Elderberries here also, growing wild. I have yet to see any fruit set. The deer love them, and nibble the growing tips off them before any fruit can ever set or ripen.

 

[rebrascora]

No, I hadn't come across Lingonberries.... I looked it up.... but they are very similar to bilberries both the foliage, flower and berry, but red instead of blue. There are bilberries growing wild in woodland nearby..... bilberry pie is one of my all time favourites, but collecting enough for a pie takes forever!

 

[CapricornFarm]

Does anyone know if you can leave sweet potatoes in the ground and if they will sprout in spring?

 

[lazy gardener]

They can't take freezing.

 

[CapricornFarm]

They can't take freezing.

Oh rats! I need to go dig them if i want them. Sigh. Idk if my knees are up for it. Maybe if i put straw bales on top they might survive?

 

[lazy gardener]

Possibly. It would depend on whether the ground would freeze under the straw bales. Do you think there's a decent harvest to be had?