Vegetables are easy..Let's talk about fruit.

[SoCalDem]

Last edited Wed May 16, 2012, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)

I grew up across the street from a jungle. We had access to free oranges, pineapples, bananas, guava, papaya, limes, avocados, mangos, *guineps.. you name it. Any time I wanted fruit, all I had to do was climb a tree.

When we came back to the states, we had apples, bananas, peaches, grapes, pears, cherries, plums, oranges, watermelons and every berry you could think of.

Vegetables will grow pretty much anywhere there is dirt, water & someone to tend them.

Fruits are a different story.

Fruit (except for oranges & apples) tends to be very temperature/time sensitive once picked, so unless it's close to the marketplace, it costs a LOT to preserve its quality, and that all drives up the price.

Except for the berries, most fruits require YEARS for the trees to mature enough to produce enough of a quantity to make it profitable. Orchards require a lot of work, water and these days, land.

Land got too expensive for many orchard owners to ignore, and many of them now are house-orchards.

Once an orchard is bulldozed down for houses, the fruits it produced are no longer available , so "replacement" fruits have to be trucked in from "somewhere else"...and for only as long as that orchard owner resists the opportunity to sell their land.

Neighborhood trees are now ornamental, and lot sizes are smaller. My grandparents' yard had two apple trees, a cherry tree, a plum tree, an apricot tree and a huge messy mulberry tree. The neighbors had a pear & a peach tree.. There were GREAT pies all summer long.

How many producing fruit trees are in YOUR yard?

[rurallib]

1. 1 delicious apple tree

it has been sick, but think it will survive.
produces a huge crop every other year.

[malaise]

2. Wow

Mango, orange, ortanique, lime, avocado

And anything not in our yard is available in the yards of family or friends.


Love the guineps

[SoCalDem]

5. I truly envy you having guineps

They are a main reason to come back to visit Jamaica again some day



and of course I could always call you & take you to lunch or sumthin

[malaise]

21. We'll get lychees next month but we have to wait for the guineps until

late July to September. Truthfully I prefer lychees these days.
LOL

[SoCalDem]

22. I never liked lychees.. but you have me curious about ortanique

never heard of than one

[malaise]

28. Ortanique is a hybrid of orange and tangerine

the most delicious of all citrus. An enterprising Jamaican agriculturalist came up with that one. Makes the best juice as well.

You know every now and then we realize how lucky we are - we only drink 100% orange juice, ortanique juice or grapefruit juice with no preservatives or anything else added.

How can anyone hate lychees - when they're in season I refuse to cook dinner - I'm good for a pound

[SoCalDem]

29. Truthfully, I don't like papaya or guava either

but I'll knock down your grandma for her guineps

[malaise]

33. Bwaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahha

Last edited Wed May 16, 2012, 09:21 PM - Edit history (2)

Love papaya with lime and I like guava icecream or stewed guava on coffee icecream.
Guava pie isn't half bad.
My paternal grandma had a guinep tree in the backyard and we used to climb it - it was a huge tree with massive branches. The problem was that it often had hairy worms which would sting the bejebus out of you. We'd take our chances but she and our aunt were never amused.
Did you have June plumb/golden apples - those are great - make a lovely juice.

[SoCalDem]

34. Those do not sound familiar to me.. Our lime tree had horrendous thorns

and spindly little branches, so every time a parent wanted a cocktail, we would have to put on long pants, shoes & a jacket to shinny up that tree....talk about child abuse.. Sometimes we "accidentally" hit an adult as we tossed down the limes

[malaise]

38. You're cracking me up here

hehehehe

[randome]

41. I think you guys are just stringing random letters together.

You can't fool me!

[malaise]

42. LOL

Here's some history

http://genforum.genealogy.com/jamaica/messages/6738.html
The ORTANIQUE PLANT AND FRUIT was developed by a Jamaican, DAVID DANIEL PHILLIPS, JP, of Davyton District in the parish of Manchester,Jamaica, and later of the Blue Mountain District in the same parish. The area is about ten miles from Mandeville, the capital of the parish; five miles from Williamsfield, and two miles from Bellefield. The parish of Manchester's most famous product is the ortanique. The ortanique is also one of Jamaica's most important money-earners.

The name of this seedless, extremely juicy fruit was coined by combining the words "orange, tangerine and unique" by D.D. Phillips, who had previously created the "Ugli" plant and fruit. The ortanique fruit was created specially for export by years of experimentation by D. D. Phillips.

I am tired of seeing and hearing about THE ORTANIQUE FRUIT AND PLANT being (A) developed (and/or created) by Charles P. Jackson of Chellaston Property, Manchester, circa 1920; OR (B) developed by the chance cross-fertilization of fruits by birds or bees. The fruit was being exported to England, the United States of America, New Zealand, Panama and Costa Rica, by D. D. Phillips, from the latter part of the 19th century and therefore, long before World War 1 (which began in June 1914 and ended in November 1918)).
D. D. Phillips, who was not a selfish gentleman, was kind enough to share his ideas, invention and information with Charles P. Jackson of Chellaston property; John G. Miller, JP, Businessman of Mandeville, (and Plantation Owner of several plantations in Manchester); Thomas A. S. Manley, Produce Dealer and Owner of Roxborough Property (i.e. part of the Roxbro' Estate); William George Hogg Wilson II, JP, (aka W. G. Hogg Wilson), Plantation Owner of Ayr, Hartham, Great Valley, Canoe Valley, Melrose Plantations, Manchester, and Businessman of Park Cresent, Mandeville; and Louis Oscar Heron, Plantation Owner and Horse Breeder of Russell Place, Hope, and Broadleaf Plantations, Manchester, among others.

Many persons including the Swabys of Manchester; the Sharpes of Trout Hall, Clarendon; and the McConnells of St. Catherine, got their seedlings and plants from David Phillips' citrus nursery in Manchester.

How could Jackson be the inventor or the namer of the fruit?

Jackson declared himself the inventor (and namer)of this citrus fruit in 1946 during World War 2, when shipping of fruits to overseas countries was extremely difficult, thus causing Phillips' citrus export business to crash. You should note that Jackson was able to get monetary loans to grow large quantities of fruits, and to develop his properties, where Phillips wasn't. (You should note that World War 2 started in 1938 and ended in 1945). In 1944, the then-newly-formed Citrus Growers' Association took over purchasing from the growers, while the United Fruit Co. took over the fruit export to overseas markets. In more recent times (the 1990s), ortanique is one of the juices being bottled in Jamaica (for local and foreign consumption) by Trade Winds Co. of St. Catherine, Jamaica, under the label "TruJuice" - Ortanique juice.

D. D. Phillips, a coloured man of bi-racial parentage, that is, the product of a white man and the daughter of a Black enslaved woman, needs to take his right place in Jamaican History, in particular, and World History in general.

FEW BLACK INVENTORS HAVE BEEN GIVEN CREDIT FOR THEIR INVENTIONS, AND THEY WERE EXCLUDED FROM ACCESSING FINANCE AND RECOGNITION BY THE THEN-COLONIAL GOVERNMENT, AND THEREFORE, MARGINALIZED BY THE COLONIAL SYSTEM.

D. D. Phillips was recognized by the Jamaican Agricultural Society (JAS), as the inventor of the ortanique plant and fruit, in 1939. It should also be noted that in 1966, when an ortanique plant and seedlings were presented as one of the Jamaican Government's gifts to the Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selaisse, only then was Mr. D. D. Phillips, recognized internationally as the INVENTOR OF THE ORTANIQUE PLANT AND FRUIT.

[RebelOne]

3. When I was a teenager in South Florida, we had

tangerine and orange trees in the back yard. Then years later, I was renting a house that had avocado trees in my front and back yards. There were so many that they used to rot on the ground. I could not eat them all. People would ask me if they could have the avocados that had fallen from the trees. I used to let them help themselves. I wish I had those trees now. I could make a mint selling the fruit, as just one avocado sells in the local supermarket for $1 each.

[d_r]

4. you can't grow oranges and apples in the same place

apples need to get cold, oranges can't handle the cold. I always thought there was some sort of nifty thing about that.

[SoCalDem]

6. True, but they are the hardiest of fruits & they do travel well

so maybe they don't need to grow together.. However, in Calif we DO have both..at least we DID have both..now we are approaching neither

[d_r]

8. yeah, both are kind of naturally self-packaged

I heard a story on NPR a while back about a modern day Johnny Appleseed who traveled around finding apple trees growing in people's yards for the seeds; with so many large factory-type places taking over the market, there is a risk of losing a lot of these traditional seeds that were so suited to a given climate and part of the country. My Grandpa used to graft branches on apple trees and have different kinds of apples on the same tree.

I get what you are saying about losing those fruits. One thing about it is, if we reach peak oil without having other alternatives developed we are going to miss those. There have been a lot of short sited things like that (like tearing up the rail road lines, paving over all the farmland).

[SoCalDem]

30. My son has a grafted tree in his yard..plum & apricot

but he tells us they are super-sour.. so they let the birds & squirrels have-at

[malaise]

39. That would make great jam

or strew for dessert.

[Retrograde]

7. Sure you can

At least in the same town. I have a producing orange tree; two blocks down in a producing apple tree. I used to live in a house that had a lemon tree and an apple tree in the back yard. I live on the San Francisco Peninsula, which is about the lower range for apples and the upper range for citrus.

Currently I have a lemon, quince and sour cherry tree in addition to said orange.

ETA: forgot about the avocado tree, odd since I spend a few minutes every day picking up the half-eaten fruits the furry-tailed tree rats leave behind.

[d_r]

10. wow, I've never seen a place you could grow both

[Luminous Animal]

16. I have both an apple and lemon tree two feet from each other in my San Francisco back yard.

Both produce. The apple has 4 varieties grafted to one trunk and all but one produce really well.

[d_r]

44. Wow San Fransisco must be the place

I've always lived in the East, basically along I-75 from Michigan to Florida, I really thought that there was no way the two could grow in the same place. I learned something today.

[SoCalDem]

18. I pay $6 a jar for quince jelly

I sure wish it was a more popular fruit.. Um.. do you sell jelly?

[malaise]

23. My big sis in Denmark has delish apples

and loads of strawberries - her youngest son and I would just pick, wash, then lie in the sun and eat - day after day.

[NV Whino]

9. My neighbor/landlady's daughter and SIL planted some a couple of years ago

Peaches, apricots, pears, plums, apples, figs and a quince. My clients have orange and lemon trees. We have a great peach orchard/stand at the bottom of the hill with about six varieties of peaches. We don't lack for tree-ripened fruit around here.

Then I put in a veggie garden every year—tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, lemon cukes, chard, beans, peas, lettuce, broccoli and sunflowers. Herbs: oregano, sage and basil.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. 1 little orange tree on my balcony. produces about 10 oranges a year.

[Luminous Animal]

45. What a trooper!

My apple tree did not produce for 5 years. One day in the fall I threatened to get rid of it if it didn't start acting like an apple tree. I know that my threat had nothing to do with it but the next spring it had blossoms all over the place and about 40 apples and it hasn't stopped producing and increasing production since.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. One Honeycrisp apple tree.

One Honeygold apple tree.
One Prairie Fire crabapple tree.
One Harbin pear tree (ornamental).
One dwarf Meteor cherry tree.
Two mulberry trees (one male, one female).

[jp11]

13. One pear tree

had an apple tree that never bore more than a handful of tiny apples that wouldn't get bigger or mature.

The cherries, nectarine, apple and plum pits I try to plant won't grow for crap.

[chickypea]

14. Dammit None

We just bought an older home. There are 3 ornamental cherries, 3 dogwoods, and 22 conifers (all UGLY) and a HUGE tulip poplar.

It will take some time, but the poplar and conifers will all be replaced. Some new trees planted, and some bamboo in areas where trees are merely a nusiance.

[Brickbat]

15. Three apples and two plums. Also tons of wild raspberries, and two rhubarb, which of course is not a

fruit.

[SmileyRose]

17. fig in the front - apple in the back

K and r to remind us all that grass and azalea bushes look nice but ya can't eat um.

[SoCalDem]

20. If I had only known that we would live in this house for over 30 years, I would have planted

avocado, orange & apple.. sadly, we have dirt & weeds

[SmileyRose]

27. never too late

somebody will live there after you............

We've been in our house 35 yrs and almost to the point we have no business taking the responsibility of home ownership. I've been fretting over the fact most of my suburban yard is "victory garden" with raised beds and home buyers seem to want grass so chemicaled it looks like expensive astroturf.

My 27 yr old niece told me I'd be shocked at how many of her friends would just be thrilled to find a house already set up for gardening.

so if you want to plant fruit, plant fruit. If the next inhabitants let it go to crap at least the birds and squirrels will eat well.

Hugs.

[wandy]

19. One Apricot tree. Planted it when I moved here about 20 years ago.....

Apricot trees blossom early so here in the foothills, because of spring frosts, it only bears fruit about once every 3 years.
Ha; but when it does! The entire neighborhood is has more Apricots than anyone knows what to do with!
The neighbor lady, bless her, climbs like a monkey. She can not tolerate so much as one going to waist.
They have Peach trees and yup about once every three years their are Peaches all over the place.

[kentauros]

24. My "yard" is made of concrete,

and at least nine feet up in the air. With a flat roof and limited sunlight. Apartment living doesn't always work that well for growing fruit trees

Now, the house where I grew up, we had a fig tree (I hate figs!), a pecan tree, and a pomegranate tree. In looking at Google Maps satellite images, I was saddened to see that the subsequent owners had removed the pomegranate tree (maybe the fig tree, too.)

I'm guessing they never priced poms in the store (much less ate them), or they'd have kept it

[Viva_La_Revolution]

25. 2 cherries, edible but the birds like them better

3 apple
3 grapes
3 blueberries
3 strawberry beds
1 plum that never blooms
3 plums on the neighbor's side of the fence, but I can pick them from my bathroom window

I want to add figs and more blueberries.

[TuxedoKat]

26. Before last year

we only had two ancient apple trees. Last year I planted one apricot, and two cherry trees. This year I added a peach tree and am planning to get a couple more apple trees once I decide on the variety and maybe a couple of pear trees too. I have a big raspberrry patch and am getting serious with growing blueberries and blackberries. Oh, I also added two elderberry bushes and some lignonberry bushes too.

[noamnety]

31. One of my goals was to turn my land

into something that produces food. The fruit trees ARE a lot of work, more than I expected if the quality is kept up.

But I have:

sour cherry trees
apple trees (heirloom)
pear trees
pawpaw trees
gooseberries
currants
raspberries
grapes (put them in last year, didn't get any grapes yet)
strawberries
and I have some fake fruit - rhubarb and ground cherries.

You're absolutely right - I can buy veggies for next to nothing, so cheap sometimes I ponder why I bother to plant them. The fruit though takes more time to pick, goes back quicker, needs more processing, etc.

[shanti]

32. Orange trees

I have two dwarf orange trees, but I didn't plant them. They came with the house. They were badly placed though, so I may chop them down - more room for gardens!

[annm4peace]

35. out here in MN

there are apple orchards.. and there has been big movement to plant different fruit and nut tress in the backyards.. but also there are groups in the twin cities that lists people who have trees that need help taking care of them, with people who want to help take care of trees.. they glean the trees and take the left over fruit to food shelters.. it helps the trees, the owner of the tree and those who get to work on them.

I'm from Central CA so I grew up with fruit trees all around.. and then I came here to MN and had to pay .50 for a lemon.. crazy.

but several years a go I noticed plum trees and met someone who just planted a peach tree. It produced 3 fruit last year.

there are many berry plants.

[rwiliff]

36. Our place in New Mexico

We have a small vineyard of 150 plants that has produced a little for the last four years. Just planted two apple trees.

Do pinyon trees and pine nuts count? If so, about 10 acres.

Warmest Regards,
Robert Iliff

[spinbaby]

40. We have two apple trees

It tends to be a bit of a feast or famine thing with them--either we have no apples at all or we're trying to use up the surplus by madly giving away apples and making applesauce for the freezer. No apples this year.

[laundry_queen]

43. I'm too far north for most things

and I'm currently renting but have bought a duplex, just waiting to get in. When I do, I'll have my own yard and I'm planning at least one apple and one pear tree, maybe some raspberry bushes and some hardy grapes. Rhubarb too, but many consider that a vegetable, but since I use it in pies, I'll call it a fruit

My parents have a crab apple tree that has had bumper crops for like 6 years now even though it's supposed to take a year off every 3 years or so. I still have peeled crab apple chunks in the freezer. At their lake lot they have wild hazelnut bushes all over, but the animals usually get to them first.

I love my grandparents' farm. Most years there are so many wild blueberries you could can a year's worth for several families. Also, a sufficient amount of wild raspberries and strawberries. NOTHING in the world tastes as good as a wild strawberry. They have old chokecherry trees (not a fan of chokecherries myself) as well. I've often debated moving there (my grandparents are deceased but my uncle now owns it, and it's a large chunk of land I'm sure he wouldn't mind - it's just really far from civilization - no cell phone service at all).

[malaise]

46. Kick for the morning crowd

because I like this thread

[Javaman]

47. I have 4 berry bushes and one fruit tree...

I'm hoping to have 3 more fruit trees by this time next year.

[snooper2]

48. Peach tree in side yard (corner lot) Pear and Plum tree in front yard

Peach tree produces great every year, two in the front need another year to get there...(got a couple pears last year)

And this is in Plano TX...Key is, Don't move into a fucking HOA

Any HOA would have a shit fit if they saw a peach tree

[SoCalDem]

49. Why do HOAs hate peach trees? n/t

[snooper2]

51. HOA's hate anything that wasn't initially planted by the construction crews...

One of my friends has to had to make sure the shrubs he wanted to put in were "on the list"..


We were talking a while back and he told me this little gem. When they were looking to pick a lot to have their house built on, trees were all around. So they picked the lot, but it was $5000 for each tree they wanted to keep on the lot.

You believe that shit? Trees are there, they pick a lot, but they said all trees on lot will be cut down and they can add new ones "from the list" or pay 5K a pop to keep an existing tree.


Just fucking stupid...

[SoCalDem]

52. Insane, especially since the "generic" trees usually die within 15 years

When we used to have UCTV I always watched the Denman Forestry lectures (don't ask why), and one of their lecturers said that tract-housing & commercial property trees are the LEAST healthy trees there are, because of the way they are grown as small trees ...


http://www.cfr.washington.edu/outreach/denman/index.shtml

[snooper2]

53. We have a lot of native live oaks that live for 30-40-50 years

If I remember correctly. It's kind of the crap tree around here but I like them

I've got three around my house that were there at least since 1976

[SoCalDem]

55. We have volunteer palms and some wacky tree with purple-ish berries

It's a wild-thing.. has to be trimmed all the time.. It was a shrubby looking thing when we moved in in 1981 and now it's about 30 ft tall.. The birds love it and it shades most of the back yard..I have NEVER watered it, as far as I can recall

[Pathwalker]

50. Five. Three Apples, two peach. It takes 20 years for a Spy

apple tree to produce a crop, which is why I didn't plant one. I get them in the fall at the local Farmer's market.

[Odin2005]

54. My mom has a white walnut tree in her front yard.

The nuts are delicious, they have a richer, more buttery taste than English walnuts, but they are a PITA to prepare because the walnut fruit is covered with an oily resin that can permanently stain any fabric it touches.

[SoCalDem]

56. I used to LOATHE the back walnut trees in our yard.. We kids were given ice picks & hammers

It's an awful chore to get to the nutmeat.. Many "injuries" happened