Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2013 21:11:01 GMT -5
I have been enjoying all these images of folks' gardens. I don't 'garden' much but do have fruit trees. Just finished eating all the tangerines (Cuties). I was outside having a brewski and took a couple of phone pix of my fruit flowers. Backlit by the setting sun! Santa Rosa Plum  Indian Blood Peach  |
|
|
|
Post by helens on Apr 3, 2013 21:15:38 GMT -5
Very beautiful Scott:)!
About the only thing cared for in my entire yard at the moment is my little waterlily pond... LOL!
|
|
snuffy
Cave Dweller 
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
|
Post by snuffy on Apr 3, 2013 21:24:30 GMT -5
Ah,Santa Rosa,I used to plant 1 Santa Rosa and 1 Methley plum,fruit galore,but the cotton root rot disease always killed them after a few years.My kids used to walk under them and graze on the plums.Thanks for the memory.Makes my mouth water thinking about them.  Probably 25 years since I've tasted one! snuffy |
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
|
Post by Sabre52 on Apr 3, 2013 21:33:14 GMT -5
Beautiful pic Scott! Thing I miss most about California ( actually except for the rockhounding and a few of my friends, about the only thing) is the mini orchard I had in the yard of our Southern California home. Used to graze the yard all during stone fruit season. Had apples, four types of plums, two types of apricots, pomegranates, four types of citrus, guavas etc. Can't grow squat here on a limestone hill without major work to build up beds.( I do have two peach trees in raised beds). At one time grew a lot of grapes and bushberries in Cally too and then, working for the Ag Dept, farm friends used to load me up with produce all the time. I sure do miss all that fresh fruit and produce..Mel
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 0:08:29 GMT -5
Thanks Mel, Snuffy & Helen. Not bad for Droid pix!
If all goes well this will be a bountiful season for the plums. The image is my Santa Rosa. I also have an "improved" Santa Rosa. That tree is about twice as aggressive in every way so far. It is already leafed out and done flowering. About three weeks ahead of the one year older Santa Rosa. I did not get plums last year because I pruned incorrectly. Prune in winter you get massive summer growth but no plums. Prune at end of summer and this year I should get plenty of nice red meat, juicy, sweet, tangy plummy happiness.
We do have the Clementine Tangerines (Cuties) doing well. Probably 20# of fruit on a dwarf tree. The Indian Peach is a dwarf too. Those damned sellers just send what they have no matter what you order. It takes a few years to learn they sent the wrong thing. I prefer full sized trees. The tortoises like the shade.
Meyer Lemon was a complete fail.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
|
Post by jamesp on Apr 4, 2013 5:33:48 GMT -5
Well done Scott.And Clementines are as good as it gets.What do you mean-tortoises?Cell phones really got the cameras dialed in,great pics.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
|
Post by Sabre52 on Apr 4, 2013 9:01:28 GMT -5
Clementines are yummy! Scott, if you have room for any more plums, you might want to try cherry plums. I had some plum rootstocks that grew up in the yard and got some experimental budwood from a buddy for two types of cherry plums, ( "Sprite" and "Delight"). Grafted the rootstocks so I had both types on each tree. Really meaty fruit with a cherry sized seed and plums maybe an inch and a half in size. Really a good eating plum and the trees grow into production fast with very high yields.....Mel
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 11:20:18 GMT -5
Jim: Please allow me to introduce you to Swifty.  Mel: I will look into grafting some of those cherry plums onto my santa rosas. Any chance you are still in contact with the guy that you got your budstock from? |
|
Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
|
Post by Don on Apr 4, 2013 12:24:29 GMT -5
my apricot tree in early march this year.  |
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
|
Post by jamesp on Apr 4, 2013 12:32:44 GMT -5
Is that a native tortoise.He is a double decker!And healthy.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 12:59:25 GMT -5
Don, thanks for sharing your apricots! Nothing better than h0me grown fruits, no chemicals or additives. Just good ole fashioned yumminess! Anybody else, please add your stone fruit pictures! Jim, Swifty is a female East African Leopard Tortoise (Geochelone pardalis babcocki). They are hardy to my SoCal weather and with the recent addition of a male, should be good reproducers. Swifty is approaching 40 pounds and is 17" straight line carapace length. I have a small colony of 1.3 (one male.3 females). Al;l the females are in the 40# range. The poor widdle male (Loverboy) is only about 3#! LOL. Courtship is cute and the one mounting I have seen looked treacherous! The wiki link is pretty good tho' factually incorrect on a few issues regarding conservation. The issues are political in nature and therefore I stay away. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 13:07:28 GMT -5
Snuffy, it looks like Mexican plums are cotton root rot resistant and could be used as rootstock for growing santa rosas. Since it has been so long, I will bet this problem is solved on a local level. Check your local nurseries to see if they have resistant plums. You should not have to go without!
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
|
Post by Sabre52 on Apr 4, 2013 17:42:22 GMT -5
Scott. No I'm not in contact with that guy anymore. He decided to change his sex and dumped his wife ( who was a friend) and kids so we kind of parted ways. Ain't California just the neatest place? *L* Those trees are available from nurseries though as I told a neighbor here about them and he got some to plant....Mel
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2013 19:10:30 GMT -5
Thanks Mel. My area sucks for variety in fruit trees. No real good nurseries. I have to mail order. Bare-root season is coming soon, like what? 10 months!! lol!
Mel, I have to say, I have lived in Kalifornia all my life. I have yet to meet a sex changed person, at least one which I was aware that they swapped peepees.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
|
Post by Sabre52 on Apr 4, 2013 19:50:59 GMT -5
Scott: Lucky you. I found the whole thing very confusing and not a bit disconcerting. Where I lived I was surrounded. Gay guys next door, sex change guy the other side, lesbian across the street. Actually all really nice folks, but coming from a strict Baptist upbringing, kind of hard to wrap my mind around it all *L*....Mel
|
|
bhiatt
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2012
Posts: 1,532
|
Post by bhiatt on Apr 4, 2013 21:59:24 GMT -5
That is one wicked looking tortoise. How old is it? Very cool looking.
|
|
|
|
Post by helens on Apr 4, 2013 22:35:34 GMT -5
Uh... WHAT?
Back to the turtle... wow... what an incredible looking creature!!!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2013 12:00:46 GMT -5
Swifty is about 15 years old. She has a very lumpy shell because her environment was too dry when she was small. Her owner decided to give her to me. I put her outside where it is more humid at ground level and she has grown like a champion ever since.
I think her previous owner would be very happy to see that picture. So because of this post I googled her and found her. Calling now!
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
|
Post by jamesp on Apr 6, 2013 8:34:56 GMT -5
There is a turtle season at Lake George Scott.For snappers and soft shells.They use long lines.One of them pulled his line and had so many turtles that it would be about 200 pounds of meat after cleaning!I have caught 2 snappers in the 120-150 pound just guessing.They were hanging out on my property ran in to the shallow lake where i was able to chase till i grabbed by the tail.Wow,attitude galore.I found a snapper skull.Big ones are rare.This one is 6.25 inches across the jowles.
I keep an acre of sand plowed on my lot there.It is a point stiching out in the lake has a lot of turtle traffic.They always bury eggs like sea turtles do.And the hawks are always waiting for the hatch.I have a little toy turtle that i tie a string to and the hawks will swoop it when it is 4-5 feet away from me.Lake George has a lot of one legged gulls,turns and pelicans.They say from turtles as the gators don't allow escape.I used to supply the Tennessee Aquarium with reptiles.One of the biggest coral snakes on record.A 5'3" moccasin that was so obnoxious.The reptiles are dinosaurs at that place.
|
|
|
|
Post by helens on Apr 6, 2013 21:37:59 GMT -5
When I was really young, went with my parents to visit a friend (think they were French?), any way... they had this cute turtle in a box, and it was pretty big (to me, but I was small). And I was fascinated by it, and spent some time looking at it and admiring its shell. Then... the husband comes in and pulls the turtle out of the box, pats me on the head, pats the turtle, and as I'm watching with big eyes, he sticks a long knife RIGHT INTO THE TOP OF THE SHELL and then holds the turtle over a bowl to bleed out...
Then he happily made soup. (I didn't eat anything at all there)
I had a little plastic 'pond' when I was small, back when they sold the little red eared turtles for pets, and I had a little red eared turtle for a long time. The BIG turtle they had looked to me like my little one... grown up. Gaaah.
I could never ever eat a turtle!!! To this day, I don't know what they taste like.
Now... snapping turtles... maybe... since they are so mean. But I still wouldn't want to see anyone butcher or kill it. You know the things that terrify you when you are small usually terrify you when you're big too! LOL!
|
|
Probably 25 years since I've tasted one!
