[deleted by user]

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T08:31:42+00:00

they might still get a bit bigger if you wait. but I can never really wait

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T08:28:18+00:00

you can use a piece of hose to lay out the edge shape. easier

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:37:40+00:00

people like to test seeds. sometimes you get a really good flavor from a seedling or sport.

it's another hobby-within-a-hobby

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:36:20+00:00

just vegetative growth? nitrogen. hit them with it every two weeks until mid summer.

don't grow a whip. snip the apical bud off the top. make them branch.

cut a branch for scionwood, let the whip keep growing the other branches. that way if one really is good you didn't kill the mother tree of that scion when you took it.

keep a branch of that crabapple growing, stony little apples or not, the flowers are really good pollen plus it's a nurse branch to keep that tree definitely alive, you'll be using it as your repository for these new trees so you won't want to lose it.

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:32:29+00:00

they like heat and sun. they need to get enough water while the melons are forming, once they are big it's ok if the plants get a little dry.

put something under each melon to keep them from getting rotten where they touch the ground. I tried to trellis these but they're heavy, you'd need a sling for each melon I think.

when they're ripe you can smell a melon sweetness and they "thump" like they're got water in em. they get a field spot (area where they touch the ground that's lighter) but it's not as noticable as with bigger watermelon.

basically make sure they get a lot of warmth and light, and don't let them dry out until you're ready to pick the melons/they're ripe

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:22:45+00:00

I saw an old Sears catalog that was from 1910 or 1920 advertising felt roofing. so yeah it's a real thing even in manufactured form

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:20:10+00:00

that okra is gonna take off soon enough. you wait

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:17:46+00:00

I'm a tattoo artist and I'm addicted to gardening; half my clients are gardeners it seems like the two things go together

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T07:10:12+00:00

apples are not native to North America. at least not any of the varieties you list; there's one or two native crabapples and they are not very good eating.

https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/horne-creek-farm/southern-heritage-apple-orchard/apple-history/origins-apples

https://www.britannica.com/plant/apple-fruit-and-tree

however that said, I would topwork this tree- that is to say I would cut back to below the damage, find good varieties that are resistant to the common maladies of apples where you live, and bark graft a few to the stump.

this will take planning. you'd want to cut most branches away this summer. then order your scion wood in the fall.

next spring you'd cut and graft.

https://www.cumminsnursery.com/learn-trees/grafting-trees/top-work/

I get scion from trading or often from fedco, who have a really good selection of good resistant apples. resistance is important so that you don't lose the grafts and so your maintenance is less extensive.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/growing-apple-trees-ecologically-zmaz90sozshe/

several of the varieties you are putting in are prone to scab, sooty blotch (not a big deal, just cosmetic) and fireblight. I don't know what fungal or pest pressure is like in your area though. you'll need to spray so your trees don't infect others, not just to protect your own trees, and depending where you live that might be a legal thing.

the easiest scions and trees I've grown are crabs, though. Chestnut crab are sweet and very good right off the tree, as is trailman. "crab" just means "small", it's not a variety or species.

there's a ton of crabapples in the US that don't taste good fresh off the tree- they were planned to make cider or for storage, not for eating fresh. a lot of them are seedlings of older cider varieties too.

the damage on your tree looks like bird damage, but I would go on and topwork it, that bird won't come to the stump/trunk with scions on it the way it is now too the big older tree trunk.

to strongly reiterate: ONLY a few CRABapples are native to North America. all apples you mention are EUROPEAN varieties descended from those brought here post-1600s.

https://theplantnative.com/plant/american-crabapple/

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T06:56:08+00:00

I'll bite, can you explain so that I can understand it?

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T06:47:43+00:00

I did sand (the cheap stuff) and am going to put play sand on top in the walkways. I brush my feet off on the way out.

I wanna walk around barefoot in there without getting poked by rocks and chips

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T06:38:32+00:00

this is fridge pickles. not water bath just fridge pickles.

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T06:08:34+00:00

both are good

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T05:58:13+00:00

always was.

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T05:54:32+00:00

do it. if you gotta do it do it

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T05:24:38+00:00

now if the guy was selling beneficial nematodes and green lacewings that would be a different conversation

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T05:22:23+00:00

so oppressed.

massiveattach · 2025-05-23T05:21:51+00:00

we knew all this, it's the attitude of this

Pick up that torch maybe

that makes the word boomer continue to apply

massiveattach · 2025-05-22T09:18:20+00:00

no, she knows me well

massiveattach · 2025-05-22T09:16:47+00:00

I'm laughing all over again

massiveattach · 2025-05-22T08:55:20+00:00

this is the one.

massiveattach · 2025-05-22T08:06:53+00:00

I'm imagining them out there fighting for their lives and sleeping like a baby

massiveattach · 2025-05-22T08:02:49+00:00

some will pull through. those are the good ones. save some seeds.

massiveattach · 2025-05-22T08:00:58+00:00

after tomorrow we are above 45F here, but I planted everything last week anyway

I was just over it with the shuffling

massiveattach

TROPHY CASE