All the dedicated gardeners have been too busy this week to take any pics (or at least to send them to me), so here’s a good read as a placeholder. From the NYTimes, “Hunting Down the Lost Apples of the Pacific Northwest”:
STEPTOE, Wash. — David Benscoter honed his craft as an investigator for the F.B.I. and the United States Treasury, cornering corrupt politicians and tax evaders. The lost apple trees that he hunts down now are really not so different. People and things, he said, tend to hide in plain sight if you know how and where to look.
“It’s like a crime scene,” Mr. Benscoter, 62, said as he hiked down a slope toward a long-abandoned apple orchard planted in the late 1800s. “You have to establish that the trees existed, and hope that there’s a paper trail to follow.”
About two-thirds of the $4 billion apple industry is now concentrated in Washington State — and 15 varieties, led by the Red Delicious, account for about 90 percent of the market. But the past looked, and tasted, much different: An estimated 17,000 varieties were grown in North America over the centuries, and about 13,000 are lost.
From New England through the Midwest and the South to Colorado and Washington, where small family farms were long anchored by an orchard, most apple trees died along with the farms around them as industrial-scale agriculture conquered American life a century ago.
But some trees persisted. They faded into woods, or were absorbed by parks or other public lands. And the hundreds of varieties that have been found in recent years are stunning in their diversity and the window they open into the tastes and habits of the past…
Apples are where food meets history, hunters say, and a community has risen up around the pursuit of them. Mr. Benscoter fell into it after retirement here in eastern Washington when a friend with a disability asked him to pick apples from an old orchard behind her house, and no one could identify what they were. John Bunker, an apple hunter in Maine, became entranced by the old trees he found growing in the woods. Lee Calhoun, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, started hunting in North Carolina and began to see old apples as a remnant of faded Southern life.
Now, some old varieties have become available again, through small specialty nurseries like the co-op that Mr. Bunker helped start in Maine and through university agricultural programs…
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All my mail-order tomato plants have been transferred into new red rootpouches filled with fresh potting mix, and the bags lined up (on the driveway extension) where they’ll get as much sunlight as possible. Today, weather permitting, I’ll get the tomato ladders installed. Twenty-two 15gal planters’ worth of potting mix is a lot of lifting for an old fat lady with creaky joints…
The Spousal Unit has a half-dozen plants of his own to tend this year — he’s convinced there’s plenty of light in the east-facing side yard for tomatoes, which was (barely) true when we first bought this place, but not since the cherry-tree sapling we planted that year has grown into a flourishing tree that shades the one bare wall where the tomato pots used to go. Of course, even if “his” plants set fruit, he’ll still have to share them with two of our three little dogs, who are shameless tomato thieves when given the opportunity.
Long range weather predictions for this part of New England say it’ll be another coolish, rainy summer (dammit). Serenade is an amazing product, but reapplying it twice a week on all my tomatoes, lilacs, and rose bushes is more exertion than I can reliably keep up. Neither my hand strength nor my back muscles are up to coping with the multi-gallon hand or backpack-style sprayers I’ve tried, so I’ve been contemplating investing in a wheeled battery-powered model. Any of you experts got an opinion about utility, brands, etc?
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
satby
I found the ninebark that failed to successfully root in my cloner at my local Home Depot for less than half of what the online plant nurseries were asking, so I bought it. I think I’m going to pull out one of the roses that look like it died after I planted it and put the ninebark in it’s place, but I’m not positive. And I’m out of room in the raised beds for the last of the tomatoes I bought, so I’m using boxes as seasonal raised beds/root pouches in the sunny area next to my drive. They will have the side benefit of acting as weed smothering mulch for a growing season, and the soil after they disintegrate will help replenish the dirt underneath.
satby
Also, I wish the apple hunters much success in rediscovering older varieties of apples! Trying to find old fashioned crab apples that I can use to make jelly has become difficult without spending a fortune; most crab apples sold now have tiny, useless fruit that even wildlife shuns until the deadest part of winter.
Mark
Interesting little story.
satby
Or the rediscovery of old plant species may not matter much if the mass extinction event already happened and no one told me.
Lapassionara
@satby: this box idea sounds interesting. Is there a particular size that you plan to use? I assume corrugated cardboard would work best, but what size?
WereBear
Sounds good, @satby: I have a bit of land now but I must tell the other tenant to stop using it as a junk pile before I can do anything with it.
What is incredible about heirloom produce is how incredibly tasty it all is. There was once a corn variety known as Howling Mob because that is what happened when it appeared in the market.
I think we aren’t just losing taste… we are losing nutrition. The sooner industrial farms end, the better all life will be.
satby
@Lapassionara: I have a bunch of brown shipping boxes that my soaping supplies get shipped to me in, I save them for shipping out baskets but I have accumulated way too many. When I lived in MI, I used newspaper covered by flattened cardboard boxes to smother growth of grass and weeds in the 15’x30′ area I turned into a garden after I tilled the soil and added yards of compost. To plant, you just dug right through it. It decomposes after a season or two unless you add more, but it’s still adding organic matter back into the soil. It’s a great weed barrier. So I’m going to line up four or five of the boxes not flattened, full them with a combo of peat and garden soil, and grow the remaining tomato plants along the side of the driveway that’s been neglected. The grass is weedy with dead spots, but it’s got full sun, so when I’m done and the boxes have probably rotted out at the bottom, I can just turn the whole mess into the soil and put in a more permanent bed.
satby
@WereBear: One of the reasons I grow heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, and fruit is because I do find them more flavorful. And though it’s possible to get them now at the farmers markets here because heirlooms are surging in popularity, it’s still cheaper to grow your own.
Lapassionara
@satby: thanks. I am using flattened boxes to smother weeds, but love the idea of planting in a box or two. I have weeds galore, so no problem finding places to put boxes.
satby
@Lapassionara: In the big garden, if I had excess grass clippings I would put them on top as more mulch. That wasn’t often because I use mulching mowers, unless the grass got too high between mows when it was rainy. All because I REALLY hate to weed and prevention is easier.
satby
The rest of the morning regulars must be sleeping in today. The threads are so quiet!
satby
@Lapassionara: shoot, you asked about box size. Most of them are 18″ square, so that’s what size I will use. One tomato plant per box. 6-7 boxes.
Immanentize
Today I plan on transplanting volunteers. I already moved a nice 12″ Kousa Dogwood Volunteer to a bed in the front corner of our yard. Today I am going to move a volunteer yew from that bed and a rooted (pegged) double white azalea from in front of the house to the back yard fence line. I think I will take a couple of Advil before I start that project.
satby
@Immanentize: wow, lots of work! Do you live in a warmer part of the country? I struggle to keep azeala alive, much less get volunteer sprigs from them!
Continuing best wishes to Mrs. Imm, BTW.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Gardening Folks ???
Immanentize
@satby: we live north of Boston and azaleas ?certain varieties do quite well here. They are everywhere! Probably the acidic soil?
Immanentize
@rikyrah: good morning to you — complete with smiling faces today, I see!
tobie
I’m feeling mighty pissed that rabbits and deer ate all of my green beans and peas. Damn. I also broadcast too much good grass seed with my meadow flower mix in an effort to rout out crabgrass and now the wildflowers seem too sparsely distributed. On a happy note: all my roses are blooming in full glory thanks to the rain. A girl can’t have everything, I guess.
WereBear
@rikyrah: Good morning, rikyrah!
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
satby
@tobie: you’re best off if you can put a chickenwire fence around veggie gardens to keep our critters. Admittedly not attractive, but effective.
Oldgold
Yesterday, I ambled up to my still flourishing green nightmare to check if the big bowls of Trix I had placed next to my vibrant veggies had attracted any silly rabbits. No luck.
Then, the sun dimmed and the birds went silent. My neighbor from hell, DeeDee Plorable, was bearing down on me at warp speed.
“Ogee, those are some killer Kale,” she cruelly sneered. “I will have to share my recipes with your Mrs.”
Ouch!
“Ogee, Purr and Fect (her cats) are missing as well as several others in the neighborhood. What’s going on?”
Hmmm!?!
Immanentize
@satby: Someone here wrote: “I’m putting a fence around my garden and I’m gonna make the rabbits pay for it.”. I am still chuckling over that one. Thank you Balloon Juicers.
tobie
@satby: Thanks for the suggestion. The problem is the deer are able to reach over the fencing and eat from the bed. I may have to reconcile myself to the fact that the veggie patch is their salad bar. The principal reason I grow vegetables is for freshness and taste. But it’s also nice to be able to cover some basic food needs. I live 35 minutes from the nearest supermarket and really don’t like to have to drive there more than once a week.
tobie
@satby: @Immanentize: The garden thread has proved once again: Walls and fences do not keep immigrants out.
Oldgold
Actually, what I said was that I was tearing out the fence and I was not going to make the rabbits pay for it!
satby
@tobie: well, you need higher fencing. And some aluminum pie pans (empty) tied at random to the top to blow around and scare the deer with noise and flashing reflections. Move the pans around the perimeter occasionally so the deer don’t learn to ignore them. Low effort, and should discourage them enough for you to get some of your crop.
MomSense
My garden is really behind this year because it has been so cold and rainy. Not sure that’s true. It feels like it’s really behind this year. Going to go out and weed a couple of the beds if the rain holds off.
FlyingToaster (Tablet)
It’s still too cold (49 at 5am today) to put the tomatoes and peppers in the ground, So I’ll wait until school’s out next week to rent the rototiller and put in the delicates. I can fill the front flower pots this afternoon or tomorrow, so that’s the plan.
Also it’s the last week of school and as class parent I have to send out e-mail reminders for every damn thing, but then I will have dropped half of my volunteer activities for next year. Yay!
Laura
@rikyrah: Good morning and thank you for the sunny smiles!
Sebastopol, in west Sonoma County, still has gravenstein apples, though the orchards are well beyond their expected lives. Late July to early August, the apples are a bright green with red stripes and while they have a short shelf life, they are so achingly fragrant and juicy. The scent will perfume a brown bag, or kitchen. It’s a good apple for eating, baking and sauce. Highway 12 is littered with road side stands (Two Sisters is my “go to”) and farm markets. They grow gravensteins in the Sierra foothills, (and Two Rivers micro-cidery makes an awesome grav cider), but they simply are not the same as the Sebastopol apples due to the many tiny valleys and ocean influence that creates a micro-climate of hot days and cool, foggy nights. Zinfandel “old vine” wines from Sonoma County have the same terrior and are very nice.
If ever you get a chance to try a Sebastopol gravenstein, you’ll never forget it. Proustian, I tells ya!
scav
Alas, I’m facing down an abandoned rogue fennel root excavated from the heart of abandoned rose jungle, but Hurray! further down there ate two surviving red current bushes (with berries even) that, while odd-looking now (long sticky things), should be capable of being pruned back over a few years to a tidy state.
Gelfling 545
It looks like the redbud tree I got for mother’s day is showing new growth so hurray for that. Siberian irises are about ready to open and, unfortunately, the peony buds are opening just as we are scheduled to get 5 days of rain. Planted 48 tall zinnia seedlings and scattered more seed among them. I rely on zinnias for color in the height of summer when everything else just gives up and they have never dissapointed me. Planted dinosaur kale for looks rather than nutrition. I love the look of those blue green leaves mixed in with my annuals. I’m planning to move the elephant ears back into the pond today. The weather has been too unpredictable previously. I managed to keep them alive all winter with their pot half submerged in a bowl of water. If I just pull the bulbs to overwinter they don’t have time to get those nice, large “ears”. Looks like I’ve got a couple of offshoots to share with my daughters as well. Since I bought the plant for $3 in the scratch and dent plant section of Lowe’s it looks like I’ve had value for money.
dr. luba
Kilcherman’s Christmas Cove Farm in the Leelanau, near Northport, MI, is an apples lover’s dream. I stop there if I’m in the area in the autumn. The owner has more than 200 varieties of heirloom apples, and sells them. I buy a bag or two of varieties I like (Golden russets), and then sampler packs. The variety is amazing–sweet, sour, red, gold, russet, pink flesh, what have you.
I’ve also had luck at local markets where the Amish sell their produce. They’ll often have interesting heirloom apples.
Bess
There are a number of wonderful apple varieties that are available as “mini-dwarfs”. Trees that will naturally never get so high that you need to climb a ladder to pick or prune. And since they stay small you can grow one in a place where you’d never consider a semi-dwarf or full size tree.
Being small means that it may be possible to plant a larger variety of apples in a smaller space that might otherwise have room for only one or two semi-dwarf trees. An early bearer, a pie apple, a couple of apples that store well and develop more flavor while stored…
Let me copy over a couple of examples from the nursery where I buy fruit trees…
Karmijn De Sonnaville
This intensely flavored red-russetted apple from Holland measures the highest in both sugars and acids. A triploid cross of Cox’s Orange and Jonathan, it is the favorite of many; however, it is so highly flavored and aromatic, that it overwhelms some tastes when just off the tree.
Put this excellent winter keeper in a box when it ripens in mid-October and wait about a month for the complex mellow flavors to start shining through.
Striped Gravenstein Apple
The old-fashioned Gravenstein is the ideal sauce, pie and cider apple. It ripens in early September. It is known for its wonderful, tangy flavor.
Honeycrisp apple
A superior quality red apple with an outstanding crisp texture and a juicy combination of sweet and tart flavors. You can pick it in September, but it develops its full aromatic flavor if left on the tree until mid October. It is among the most winter hardy, showing little damage at minus 40 degrees F.
opiejeanne
@Laura: In 2007 the Los Angeles Times wrote about a couple of farmers in the coastal canyons of Ventura County bringing heirloom apples to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, and the reaction of an older woman to tasting the first Belle of Boskoop since childhood.
Heirloom apples
opiejeanne
@Bess: We have given up on our HoneyCrisp. It doesn’t perform well here in our part of Western Washington, but we have a variety called William’s Pride that is gloriously fragrant and delicious and despite being a rangy mess of a tree, it performs pretty well. It’s an early apple, ready in the end of August. the other variety that we like is Melrose; produces lots of tasty fruit .
I can not stress enough that it’s a good idea to buy more mature trees if you can find them, rather than the twigs that many places carry, especially if you’re a little older like we are. We don’t feel we have time to fool around waiting for a twig to turn into a tree. Looking at you, Stella cherry tree.
Original Lee
One of my college professors became an heirloom apple hunter and preserver upon retirement. I’ll have to contact him and find out how his orchard is doing.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Speaking of apples, Michael Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire, has a chapter on apples that traces the history of apples and their spread to our country. Interestingly, in early America, apples were more valued for their ability to be made into alcoholic cider rather than for eating – at least until ‘a national campaign against alcohol threatened Americans’ relationship with the apple.’
Bess
@opiejeanne: Are you familiar with Raintree Nursery? They are my source for apple trees in the PNW. (I’m at the southern border.)
I had a William’s Pride at my previous house and the apples were great. I’ve got a young one here but it’s not bearing in numbers yet.
What’s worked really well for me is a Queen Anne’s Cox. The tree sets tons of apples every year, unlike other apples that bear heavily only every other year. And it’s self-pollinating which makes it a good choice for someone who has room for only one tree.
I really recommend growing at least one tree of “keepers”. The apples that mature late, store well, and develop flavor while stored. It’s not hard to put away enough apples to carry you all the way through winter.
opiejeanne
@Bess: Yes. Their large list of varieties drew us in and we shouted ROAD TRIP!!!
Ahem. That’s where the Stella cherry tree (stick) came from. We drove down, asked about it, and instead of letting us pick our own tree they presented us with a large twig. We figured it was only a year or so behind the more mature trees we’d planted the year before, but now it is 7 years and it’s a slightly larger twig with a couple of branches. It does produce nice fruit and we wanted it primarily as a pollenizer, but in its current state of growth it’s incapable of producing more than a quart of cherries. Meanwhile we just planted a Montmorency that at purchase was larger than the Stella is now. The two trees we planted 8 years ago are a Royal Ann and a Montmorency.
We buy our fruit trees from Flower World in Maltby mainly because they stock things that the Bible (Sunset Western Garden) says will grow well in our zone, and Honey Crisp was not on that list. The tree was fine the first two years but it didn’t even bother to bloom this year. It’s a decent sized tree and last year the few fruits it did set were gorgeous, but they had an affliction that looks the way corkspot looks in the photos but everyone told us that doesn’t happen here.
opiejeanne
@Bess: I will look into Queen Anne’s Cox. That sounds good. The Melrose are delicious and keep pretty well. We eat them out of hand and cook with them. The William’s Pride we just eat.
Betsy
There’s a guy a couple of counties over that collects and grows old southern apples for orchard stock. Of his 200 or so varieties, I have Virginia Beauty, Williams Favorite, Grimes Golden, Aunt Rachel, Mary Reid, and Mattamuskeet. Montmorency and North Star pie cherries have also grown vigorously here to my great surprise (can’t grow sweet cherries in this area — disease pressures too high). Figs have done well too but they are very much at home here.
Betsy
@satby: I would love to learn how you use boxes as temporary raised beds! Don’t the sides sag out almost immediately?
opiejeanne
@Betsy: Mary Reid? The pirate? How interesting that an apple was named for her.
Not sure where you are but I’m in the Pacific Northwest, about 12 miles east of downtown Seattle. We live on the “Eastside”.