New England, August 2015

I'm an organic grower, so I don't use any sprays on my fruit trees nor crops.  When the Japanese beetles are out and attacking my cherry tree, I'm out there 2 or 3 times a day with a soapy water jar to knock them off the leaves into the jar. 
And when the tent caterpillars attacked my apple trees this spring, I just removed the webbing and c'pillars and tossed them in the trash inside a plastic bag.  I had to remove 3 of the webbing structures this spring but then no more came back.
When the trees were very young, I didn't do any pruning except to remove any branches that were damaged.  I let them grow a bit and gain strength before cutting them.

Sounds like a great system, QB.

CC, did you just plant that apple tree? Because you can always dig it up and replant it somewhere else.

There is some wonderful information in this tread regarding apple trees that will probably get buried with time. You apple tree folks should post to an apple tree site.
"Does anyone have any fruit trees?"

NHG, there's no where on my property that is more than 50 ft from that hedge that won't cause lake view blockage.  Maybe the cedar apple rust won't happen, but if it does I'll have to use sulfur, copper or whatever it takes:
http://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/plant-disease/cedar-apple-rust/

Sanderson, there's already a Fruit Tree Planting thread that this could be added to if you want to move it over there.

CC

Eight pears left on the trees that didn't twist off yet.  Oh, the large tom is a Brandywine, the rest are Super Beefsteak & Sungold.  

OK, so I started 6 Dunja zuke seeds, planted 5 in different places around my house (1 in the SFG) and gave the remaining one to my neighbor.  I have no zukes yet but I got this from my neighbor 2 days ago:  
Yup, it's zucchini bread made from the plant I gave her.

Dang thing was the best I've ever put in my mouth, too.

Those pears are beautiful!

How the heck do you get fruit so early? Mine aren't anywhere near the fruiting stage yet.

The late light is starting to rear it's ugly head.

camprn wrote:The late  light is starting to rear it's  ugly head.

We were just talking about that this weekend. Bleh.

Oh. Maybe you mean blight?

Either way.

NHGardener wrote:Those pears are beautiful!

How the heck do you get fruit so early? Mine aren't anywhere near the fruiting stage yet.

Yeah, but I bet you have zukes, or some kinda squash, already.  My pears are Anjou & Bartlett.  The 3 that came off when I tested them are still a bit hard but supposedly you let them ripen on the counter and not on the tree.  The peaches ripen on the tree & are ready to eat at picking.

My neighbor is giving zucchini bread to a bunch of our other neighbors now, made from the 1 plant I gave her.    And my other neighbor gave me a bag of ground cherries this morning from the 2 seedlings I gave her.  Sooooo...the secret is to give seedlings that don't grow well for me to my all neighbors.

I think I see blight on the Brandywines but it could be water spots...not sure yet. I'd just as soon pull those plants but the yellow Brandywine has 5 fruits coloring up now so I'll wait. The red one gave me one fruit and seems to be all done. That's the one that had the yellow leaves that I thought might be tomato pith necrosis.

What a gorgeous day!!!

NHGardener wrote:

camprn wrote:The late  light is starting to rear it's  ugly head.

We were just talking about that this weekend. Bleh.

Oh. Maybe you mean blight?

Either way.

LOL, yes blight, BUT yes to both!!! 

CapeCoddess wrote: Sooooo...the secret is to give seedlings that don't grow well for me to my all neighbors.

Clever!

CC - Neighborhood co-op! Why not? What a concept!

I just pulled off the spotted Brandywine leaves - blight, right? Late or early? Or leaf spot?
Actually, after a little research, it looks to me like it's all of the above.

I've picked most of my tomatoes and today when it was cooler and the humidity was lower, I put on the oven and roasted tomatoes to freeze.  I might get a few more quarts in the next days, but not many more.  I've been giving tomatoes away like crazy.
The next harvest will be apples.  My Honey Crisp and Fuji trees are sitting with nice fruits but still mostly green right now.


I love my apples.

CC, I usually just call those "dying".

And QB, those apple trees are beautiful. I so can't wait for mine.

My tomatoes are just ripening now pretty much. I see 2 eggplants out there too, and even a few cherry peppers and one green one. They didn't have enough light/space in the bed I think. Next year I may space things out more. The thing with intermixing the plantings is that some things overshadow others, so you have to plan that out.

Dying? hmm...works for me.

Beautiful apples, QB!  Can't wait!  I found out that the hedge out back is an arborvitae, not cedar, so no worries about disease exchange. *whew*

Here's 3 of my zuke plants - the other 2 not pictured are sizes in between:


Sneaks shown for scale.  My neighbor's is twice the size of my biggest one.  All 6 were started at the same time and from the same pkg of seeds.

The best squash plants I've ever seen were grown straight in the compost heap. They really love compost.

CC, is your neighbor organic?

Ugh. We're definitely headed the other way...forecast in the low 50's tonight which probably means high forties in the cold microclimate surrounding my house & garden. 
Waaaaaaa!!!

P.S.: CC, I think there's some weird mojo with gardens or gardeners...there's usually some plant that eludes our best efforts.  For me, it appears to be cucumbers.  Go figure.

We had another cool nite in the 50s and this morning after refilling the two hummer feeders, I called and called to them but haven't seen them yet and its afternoon.  I hope they haven't flown south already.  Usually that doesn't happen til mid Sept around here.

I've loved watching my hummer family.  I've seen 2 females, 1 male and 1 juvie that was too young to tell its sex.  I'm going to miss these little sweeties.

I still have lots of greenies on my plants, the big ones.  I hope they start to ripen soon so I can pick them and bring them indoors to ripen if need be.
Warmer trend this week, in the 80s afternoons with higher humidity on the way in my area.  Right now the door and windows are open to the breezes and its lovely with low humidity.
I haven't put in as many crops as usual this year and I'm missing the zucchini and squash and even the small watermelons.  But my back and body are thanking me.  I've had a more energetic summer with less garden work to do this year.
I hope to see lots of pix with all the harvests that are coming along now.  Enjoy.

Love my hummers, also! I was rudely buzzed this morning. The feeder was empty! I'm glad you found your gardening season was easier this summer.

I was wrong.  My hummers must have been next door because they were back and feeding in the afternoon.  Hooray!  They haven't left yet.

quiltbea wrote:
I hope to see lots of pix with all the harvests that are coming along now.  Enjoy.

Give us this day our daily....um....everything. 


I seem to have mosaic leaves on any plant that can get mosaic. Cucumbers, ground cherries, squash, beans. That and the leaf miners are new for me this year.

Heat and humidity on the way, better get back out there and finish bucket watering.

I found the caterpillar of a swallowtail butterfly yesterday!


...but I'm thinking it needs a new home so it can overwinter safely once it makes its pupa... It won't like my compost pile and there's some Queen Anne's lace nearby that will do nicely...