It’s officially summer of 2019, and it’s time for a peach update. This April we planted a bare-root Veteran peach (along with a few other new fruit trees) and unfortunately it never showed any sign of life. Everything else is doing great, putting on leaves and blooming. You know what…
It’s winter of 2018, and the seed catalogs are starting to arrive. We expanded the garden in May of 2018 with the help of my awesome family, so we have room for a few more fruit trees. We had wanted some apple trees that were specifically for cider making, so…
When we think about peaches, I think we all remember our favorite song..the one about ripe peaches growing in the shady forest? Biting into a peach wearing a summery outfit of brown Carhartt bibs and a puffy jacket? Maybe that’s just me. But also when I think about peaches, I…
In Canada, there is a winery that produces several varieties of fine tomato wine. It is said that tomato is one of the most difficult wines to place in taste tests. Since Omerto does not ship to Idaho, I guess I will have to make my own. Our zone 3…
Technically it was a practical purchase. It was the hardiest fig available, at zone 5. If it froze, shoots would quickly regrow from the hardy roots. Violetta de Bordeaux fig, recently arrived and repotted. In 2016 I ordered a Violetta de Bordeaux fig from Burpee’s. It…
A pluot has a complex family tree. It starts off simply enough, just cross an apricot and a plum. Both are stonefruit, both in the Prunus genus, both easily identifiable in the grocery aisle. It is simple to cross-pollinate these fruits. The result is a plumcot, bred over 100 years…
Berries might be the most successful perennial you can grow in our area. There are so many to choose from, and it seems like there is a new ‘superberry’ in the news daily. I think it is safe to say berries, regardless of type, are good for you. Here is the…
During our first winter as homeowners, we plotted what fruit trees we would plant in the spring. “Apples, of course. Apples like chill hours. And pears would be practical. And an edible crabapple to help pollinate them.” We bought a Honeycrisp apple and a Honeygold apple, which are very cold…
When we first carved out a garden from the surrounding trees, we knew we couldn’t grow a sun-loving shrub like the blueberry. Blueberries needed a little more warmth and light than we could provide, so we researched cold-hardy berries like the honeyberry, seaberry, and lignonberry, and planted a 30 ft…
Utah Honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis) If you’ve ever walked through the woods near McCall, ID, you’ve probably seen several honeysuckle varieties growing wild. The distinctive red twinberry, or Utah Honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis) looks like two translucent fish eggs glued together. The black twinberry (Lonicera involucrata) looks like…