39 Comments
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Q: You know the best time to plant a tree?

A: Twenty years ago. But twenty years from now, you'll be glad you planted them this year.

Expand full comment
author

I had four hundred peaches two summers ago, from the peach trees I planted in 2010 and 2016. I dreamed a long time about picking a peach from my own tree. That first peach was the best peach ever. I am dreaming again about the peaches I will be picking in about six years. Twenty years from now I hope I will be picking a few thousand peaches.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Love peaches. Here in the front range of Northern Colorado (zone 5), we get peaches about once every three years because of late frosts. If peach trees are in full bloom or already pollinated when that frost hits, the blooms or small fruits abort. When we do get peaches, we are ready to eat peaches every day and can the rest for those late frost years. Apricots are even harder, as they are the first in the genus Prunus to flower. Apricots are once every 5-7 years. Growing both are worth it, though. The most reliable stone fruits in our area are plums and pie cherries, especially the self-pollinating varieties.

Good luck this spring and in the future. Growing food is so rewarding.

Expand full comment
author
Apr 1, 2023·edited Apr 1, 2023Author

In Minneapolis the peaches were the last of the stone fruit to flower, so typically frost was not a problem, except the kind in deep winter @ -20F with a wind, which reliably knocked back branches. My apricots unfortunately would flower as early as April 03, fruiting well at a young age but then after one particularly hard winter, continuing to grow but never fruiting again.

The issue of this orchard will be two-fold, the cooler climate than Minneapolis, and the fact of sandy soils. Peaches and Apricots are going to be a challenge. But I am going to move a lot of soil from the wetland I am planting the orchard next to, to the orchard, gradually the next several years and ongoing.

I do some canning, but I am also fond of peach homebrew :)

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

I'm a big fan of brewing lambics and peach lambic is my favorite. However, once you invite the wild yeasts and bacteria required to produce a true lambic into your brewery, you have to be meticulous about sterilizing all your cold-side equipment, or every batch you brew after that wants to become a lambic, also.

Expand full comment
author

Interesting! I have only had cherry lambic, which I did not love, but then every cherry wine I have made I did not love either. Peach lambic sounds amazing.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Omigosh! Yummmmmm!

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Looking forward to seeing it grow!

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Beautiful garden under all that snow. Our winter has been very mild. We saw a little bit of sleet in March. That being said, never did I ever think I would quit my government job, move out of the NY/NJ area and find myself owning a little house on 2 acres of land in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains raising chickens, planting fruit trees, vegetables, berries, flowers, learning how to pressure can meat (I don’t like to eatz ze bugz) and making friends with my neighbors that raise cattle, pigs, ducks, sheep etc... I want to thank the lockdown left virtue signalers for scaring the crap out of me with their tyrannical medical mandates and pro-WWIII stance. I’m in God’s country now and I’m loving it.

Expand full comment
author

Excellent decision! Sounds idyllic. I am not missing the city or my government job either.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

I am as proud as a tonic masculinity momma can be! So glad to have been a part of nurturing this fine stack. And I'm looking forward to the harvest of in-process photos so I can get a vicarious sense of getting things done. I hear that imagining really hard also builds muscle ;-)

Expand full comment
author

It is an honor. Also, I'm up to about 125 pushups a day, imagining this garden so...

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

That's putting imagination into action!

Expand full comment
author

My nephew challenged me over second Christmas, to see how many I could do. I did twelve and he said I was shaking. I did 52 in one set yesterday.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

I so look forward to seeing your ‘garden’s progress…as I sit on a finally ‘sunny day’ in SoCA!

I look out on my garden (which is basically a few raised beds and a big ‘lawn’ of green weeds growing higher by the day), I am grateful, that where I live, one can ‘garden’ pretty much year round.

Things just slow up a bit in the winter.

Expand full comment
author

There was a lemon tree in the front "lawn" of a house I rented a room in in San Diego, shortly after the OJ verdict as I recall. I loved that tree so much I bought a clementine dwarf in Minneapolis, keeping it indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer. It flowered three times a year and produced a 100+ fruit every year, bright orange fruits that tasted like limes. I only ever fed it coffee grounds every so often. Sadly it died when I tried to put it in a bigger pot.

Expand full comment
Apr 2, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

my brother grow fruit trees in pots, he said the watering can build up deposits maybe of lime or flouide and that kills the tree over time, he's very careful of the water and soil

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

As an avid gardener with inadequate space to do as I please,I am excited to see this transformation!

I vowed 2 years ago to never put in another plant unless it be edible, medicinal,or both. I just haven't the space or sun to share with freeloaders,no matter how pretty.

So... and you putting in antique/ heirloom fruits?

Expand full comment
author

Several heirloom apple trees. The Serviceberry (Juneberry/Saskatoon) are native in the region (they are marginal for eating but splendid for fermenting.) I will see about posting a list in the orchard intro.

That was my basic plan in the city, edible and medicinal primarily. Now I have 80 acres with about 35 with full sun.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

You should look into finding a couple of Regent Serviceberry. They are a cultivar of the Saskatoon Serviceberry, but are more compact (4-6ft) and way more fruitful. And if you are looking for medicinal fruit, its hard to beat Black Elderberries. These will supercharge your immune system and if you get a cold, flu, or lab-made virus, they will help shorten the duration of your illness.

Expand full comment
author

Actually I have standard SB and Regent SB on the way. I used to pick Regent SB in a Minneapolis park before the gardeners there ripped them out. And also yes, I ordered some elderberries!

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Am looking at Stark's gooseberries atm...they're on sale,and accept partial shade... 🤔

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

If you want to grow edible fruit in a shady-ish area, something to consider would be chokeberries (genus Aronia). Chokeberries have antioxidants that rival blueberries and gogi berries and will grow in shady areas where other fruit bushes would struggle. Chokeberries are best cooked in pies, jams and jellies, and their fresh juice is better blended with other juices, as they are a bit astringent (drying on the palate). But healthy...yeppirs!

Expand full comment
author

For a long time, I don't know why, I didn't think Aronia were edible. I thought about buying some for the orchard but I went with blueberries instead.

Expand full comment
Apr 2, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

I looked at viking aronia ,but chose currants instead because they seemed more versatile.

Now I need to see if I can get potatoes to give me at least replants for fall ,before it gets too warm 😣

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Concur....as I have John's and Adams elderberry plants. I need more currants, as the 2 I out in last year won't be enough.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Because plant diversity is a good thing, you might want to consider planting some Jostaberries. These are a cross between black currants and gooseberries. They taste a little bit like both, but have no thorns. Make delicious pies, jams and jellies and are fermentable, for the brewers and vintners amongst us.

Expand full comment
author

Also, I bought the Regent SB in part because an arborist friend of mine told me serviceberry is the densest wood in Minnesota so they take quite a while to grow. The two I planted in Minneapolis didn't have all day sun and grew a few inches a year. Most of the ones in the Minneapolis parks are 15ft tall and four inches or so thick at the base. In the Boundary Waters region they rarely grow taller than 6ft and thicker than an inch. I figured I would have berries a lot sooner with the Regent.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

Sooooo envious!

I'm hoping the native paw paws I put in will do well as they don't like full sun.😅

I'm looking forward to your list and proceeding documentation!

I&K NE Georgia ( where we get all 4 seasons,and winter tends to be roughly 3 months with my warm days)

Expand full comment
author

I have heard of paw paws, but I'm sure I have never seen one or eaten one. The 80 is on the border of zone 4 and 5. Looking into it, they might grow in zone 5. If I see any for sale, hybridized for this climate, I am absolutely planting some.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

They are widely grown and don't take up a great deal of room!

The U of Kentucky has a breeding program ,info,and they do seeds for the public until they run out.

Expand full comment
Apr 4, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

I'm happy for you with the subscriber milestone *and* all your gardening prep! I am going to stay in touch RE: summer trip through your area. Ron and I would love to meet you. Also, speaking of "gardening," being busy with other stuff is good time for all your amazing comprehensions about archetypes, etc. to coalesce in your psycho-spiritual realm!

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023·edited Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

So we are fortunate to be able to grow citrus outdoors year round in SoCA. I have a ‘dwarf’ Meyer Lemon tree in my backyard that struggles along. A Meyer Lemon is a X between a lemon and an orange . The rind is thinner, it is more orange yellow in color, and the juice is less tart, than say a Eureka Lemon (the commercial lemons you see in stores). Meyer Lemons are more ‘aromatic’ than the Eureka and make great lemonade! My next door neighbor has both a Meyer and Mexican lime tree in his front yard, that I pick a lot of fruit from! If you lived in SD you probably know what a Meyer Lemon is.

I’m a bit into citrus as my grandparents had a small citrus orchard in the Imperial Valley (in the SE corner of CA). They had one particular Navel Orange tree right next to their farmhouse, that produced the sweetest navel orange I have ever eaten in my life. They had a ‘fruit stand’ that they ran in the winter out on the main Highway between Brawley & El Centro, CA. My first ‘for money job ‘ was at their fruit stand when I was 10. I learned how to clean, size and bag citrus from my Grandpa. My Grandmother taught me how to add up the sales, write it them down in the Ledger and count back change! Such fond memories of those times and when the trees were in bloom the ‘intoxicating’ aroma of the citrus blossom! Heavenly!

Expand full comment
author

What great memories! Having never picked an orange off a tree, I can only imagine. We eat a lot of oranges here in Minnesota, but I am hoping as the orchard matures I can depend on canned fruit for vitamin C rather than oranges from who knows where. I still have some canned peaches from my trees in Minneapolis, I am cherishing.

Expand full comment
Apr 1, 2023Liked by William Hunter Duncan

That’s funny because I don’t eat much citrus now..only use the Meter Lemons and Mexican limes for lemonade/limeade and for cooking. I rarely eat oranges, as I find that even the ‘organic’ ones are rather flavorless, as compared to the quality and taste of the citrus of my youth.

I don’t drink OJ, but do use the occasional tangerine juice in my Tequila/Cointreau/Tangerine Juice Margarita Cocktail!

Expand full comment
author

Yum!

Expand full comment