Notes and ideas from magazines and other sources which
sounded interesting.
1. Birds can be kept away from fruit by spraying the
with sugar water. The sucrose can't be digested
by birds and they soon avoid it.
2. Slugs avoid sage plants and new sprouts can be protected
by saving sage and scattering it around the base of the
plant.
3. Fuchsia fruit is edible but flavor varies.
4. PawPaw fruit is high in vitamin C, potassium, magnesium,
iron, copper, manganese, and several amino acids. The
twigs and leaves contain anti-tumor and pesticidal
compounds this is both useful for keeping the tree
disease free and may have use as a human supplement.
Breeders are trying to develop fruit suitable for
commercial growers. We may see it in grocery stores
some day.
5. Zone 7 orchard/garden activities for June.
-Thin fruit trees.
-Prune water sprouts
-Begin checks for coddling moths
-direct seed corn, beans, squash, cucumbers
-transplant seedlings of tomato, melon, pepper, eggplant.
6. Average time a dwarf fruit tree takes to begin fruiting:
2-5 years - apple, apricot
5-7 years - sweet cherry
3-4 years - peach
4-6 years - pear, plum
7. My comments to Carol about coppicing red alder may have
been premature. I checked our local alders again and found
several that had been cut at a height of 6-12 inches when
they were a year old. All of them sprouted. I've noticed
this same phenomena with scotch broom. You can create a lawn
of Scotch broom if mowed young but let it get a couple of years
old and mowing kills it.
