Dallas Fruit and Vegetable Grower

Harvesting Pears

When is the best time to harvest pears?

In growing fruit, one of the things that has been a learning process fo rme has been identifying when the optimal time is to harvest my fruit.  There are different rules for different fruit.

Every year, I learn something new or accomplish something different, and this year, I am most excited about my pear harvest.

In Texas, and the South in general, our pears and apples can be vulnerable to fire blight.  Consequently, I do not grow European pears which are particularly vulnerable to fire blight.  I currently am growing fireblight resistant hybrid varieties such as Orient, Warren, Monterrey,  Moonglow, Pineapple, Kieffer, Seckle, and Magness.

When determining ripeness and harvesting pears, the books and experts suggest that you look at the color of the lenticels, the small pores in the skin, to turn from white to brown.  They also suggest that you feel for a little give in the skin.  When both of these occur, the pear should be mature and will ripen off the tree.

Frankly, I think determining ripeness from skin or lenticel color on a pear is pretty tough, and I don't think I am experienced enough to easily use that method.

Personally,I think one of the best indicators for me in determining ripeness is by lifting a fruit up toward the sky from the bottom in an arcing fashion (with the stem being the pivot point) to see how much give there is with the stem.  If it can come off easily from the stem, it should be ripe.  When harvesting, you should be able to lift the fruit upward and off -- don't twist or pull. If it doesn't come off easily from the stem, you should wait.

I kept an eye for fruit on the ground to determine when I needed to start watching the fruit more closely.  Our squirrels are very aggressive, however, so the mere fact that a pear is on the ground does not  necessarily mean the fruit is ripe in my garden.

Don't expect the fruit to be soft.  European pears are best ripened off the tree, so they don't become mealy.  They ripen from the core, out.  (In contrast, asian pears are ripened on the tree.)

Once harvested, I immediately chilled the fruit in my refrigerator.  After 2 weeks, I would select fruit as needed and leave it on the counter for 2 or 3 days for it to soften and get juicy.  It was perfect!

While keeping the pears in the refrigerator, I have been able to consume the harvest for a period of approximately six weeks.  After the pears were in the fridge for four weeks, I could eat them really almost immediately or after only a day on the counter.  After six weeks, I am getting near the end of my harvest.  I am not sure how long these fruit will remain edible, but I suspect another 2 to 4 weeks.

Summer Fruit: Peaches, Figs & Pears

The summer brought a bounty of fruit this year.

Early summer started with a good crop of blackberries.  The blackberries usually ripen in June and with three varieties, produce for three or four weeks.

Our blueberries produced a modest crop.  I had to replace approximately a third of the bushes last fall because of the heat and drought of the previous two years that had taken their toll.  I removed the drip lines that irrigated the blueberry bushes and replaced them with pop-up spray heads.  The drip lines were not reliably getting adequate moisture to the plants.  As a result of the spray heads, the bushes have done much better this year through the summer heat.

We had only a small plum harvest this year.  From seven trees, I probably only harvested 15 - 20 fruit.  There were several more on the trees, but the varmits got to them.  We had a huge crop of plums last year, and I think that caused the trees to take this year off to recuperate.

We will not get many apples this year.  The varmits really go after our apples.  They got almost all of the early ripening fruit.  However, I did harvest a couple of beautiful, small, red Williams Pride apples, which is a very early season variety.

Nevertheless, our peach crop was enormous.  That is the benefit of having a lot of different kinds of fruit trees and bushes.  Invariably, each year, certain fruits just will not produce anything.  As disappointing as that may be if you have some favorites, you are  almost guaranteed to be successful with other fruits in that same year if you have several kinds of fruit growing.

Whereas the plums were our banner "crop" last year, the peaches won the prize this year.

We have five mature peach trees and two  young trees.  The five mature trees really put on a show.  

The Jefferson, Springold, and Ranger trees are very vulnerable to varmits because the varmits can get to them easily without being seen or exposed.  Consequently, the birds, squirrels, and possums are fat this year from eating so many peaches.  However, the Sentinel and Redhaven are more exposed, and we were able to harvest the majority of their peaches before any animals got to them. 

The peaches ripened four weeks later than they have in prior years.   Dallas had late freezes this year in late March and early April, and I think this caused the later harvest.

 

The two photographs above are of the Sentinel tree.  You can see the branches weighted down by the fruit.  I  probably should have thinned the fruit earlier in the year, but I did not do it because I did not know how much of the fruit would be shared with with critters.  If we get this big of a harvest next year, I will thin the trees more. 

 

The photographs above and below are of the Redhaven tree.  One of the main branches really bowed under the weight of the fruit.  I also suspect that the weight of a climbing possum caused it to bow even more.

The photograph below really shows how prolific the trees were. 

I tend to harvest the fruit when they give a little to touch.  The Sentinel peaches below had less red blush than the Redhaven. 

 

 

Our fig trees were also very prolific.  We have five fig trees, but only two of them are very mature.  The nursery mislabelled the two mature trees, but as I have mentioned in the past, I think they are Lattarula/Italian Honey figs.  They ripened over a three to four week period in July.  When ripe, they get bright yellow and have an amber interior.  They are very sweet.  Some of them weep a milky liquid when picked, as you can see with a couple of them in the photograph below. 

 

We also had a very large pear crop.  It was a crop of impressive, huge pears.

We have four mature Orient, Warren, Monterrey, and Moonglow trees.  We also have four young Pineapple, Kieffer, Seckle, and Magness trees.

The Warren, Monterrey, and Moonglow all produced only a few  fruit, but the Orient tree was the real star of the summer.  It probably produced about fifty 10-14 ounce fruit, some of which are in the photographs below.

As with planting a lot of different types of fruit, you also benefit from planting several varieties of the same type of fruit.  In addition to helping with pollination, you never know which tree is going to have a good year.  If you increase the number of varieties in your "orchard", you increase your chances of success. 

 

 

 

Spring 2013

Here is a view of the vegetable and fruit garden in late Spring 2013.  It has been a beautiful Spring with plenty of late, cold days that have kept the Spring greens from bolting too soon.

The perimeter of the vegetable garden is lined with peach trees, pear trees, and pineapple guava bushes.

 

Here is a closer look at one of the peach trees that is in its fourth year in the ground.  It's trunk is probably four inches in diameter, and it is about 14 feet in height.

It has been a very productive tree.  In the photograph above, you can see several of the young immature fruit.   In the vegetable garden, we have five peach trees.

Several of our pineapple guava bushes are in their fourth year and are really filling out.  This bush here is approximately five feet in height.  Last year -- their 3rd year in the ground -- was the first year that we had any fruit, but the fruit was not plentiful.

This year, the bushes are covered in flowers such as the one above.  We should be getting a lot of fruit this year if all of the flowers are successfully pollinated.

Here is a photo of the ripened fruit from 2012.  Each fully ripened fruit was about the size of a chicken egg.  They had a mild and unique taste that seemed to have a combination of mint, pineapple, and strawberry.

In the background of this photograph, you can see the Royal Lee and Minnie Royal low chill cherry trees that are less than one year old.  These trees are growing like crazy.  They did not blossom very much this Spring, and I do not expect any fruit from them.

Behind the fence, you can see some plum trees that are approximately four years old.

Edible Landscape at Taos Hotel

 

On our way out to Colorado this summer, we stayed at a very nice hotel in Taos called the El Monte Sagrado Hotel.

The grounds of this hotel are beautifully landscaped.  As an added bonus, the grounds contain an edible landscape of fruiting trees. 

 

 

As you walk on  the paths throughout the grounds, you see a lovely landscape of native plants.

 

 But as you closely approach the various trees scattered throughout the grounds, you notice that they are all edible fruit trees.

 

 

Several varieties of apple trees were filled with nicely shaped apples

 

There were also a number of pear trees that had not been thinned and were overwhelmed with small pears.

 

 

 

In the photo below, you can see a nicely shaped Russian Olive that had small, immature fruit on it.

 

 

 

There were several small trees with dainty red, cherry-like berries on them.  I am not entirely sure what these were; however, I strongly suspect that they are Juneberries, also known as saskatoons.  It was too late in the year for them to be cherries.

 

 

 

 

There were also one or two peach trees that were also filled with fruit.

 

 

I was impressed with how well taken care of all the trees were.  There was no sign of pest or leaf damage on any of the trees.  The fruit was also in beautiful condition.  

Elderberries

Our elderberry bushes bloomed in early May this year.  As these bushes gain in maturity, they continue to get larger and produce more bracts of flowers.

This year was the best yet. 

 The flowers ripened into small purple berries in late June and early July.  However, only a small percentage of the flowers became berries.  I attribute this condition to poor pollination.   I don't think the poor pollination was attibutable to a lack of bees and/or moths because we have plenty of pollinators flying around.  Elderberries require cross pollination, and I have planted two types of elderberries: Johns and Adams.  I suspect that the Adams, which is placed well behind the Johns in the shade, may not be getting the attention of the pollinators that is needed for cross pollination, but this is speculation on my part.  I may try to plant another Adams nearby to see if this will rectify the issue.

Here is what these partially pollinated berry bracts look like:

Che - New Fruit in the Garden

I am excited that we are finally getting fruit from our 2 Che bushes.  We planted these plants 2 years ago.

The fruit in the photograph above are immature, and they will ripen into a reddish, maroon fruit. Here is a link to a great photo of mature fruit - photo.

I first read about the Che in Lee Reich's book Uncommon Fruit for Every Garden, which is a great resource if you have not read it.  Reich describes the fruit taste as a combination of fresh fig and mulberry, but not as rich as fig or as sweet as the mulberry.

When I was looking for my plants, I did  not find many mail-order nurseries that carried the Che.  I purchased mine from Edible Landscaping.   This nursery grafts the tree onto Osage orange to prevent suckering.  Here is how Edible Landscaping describes the tree and fruit: "Bears splendid crop of lovely red fruit clusters over the entire tree.  A center of attention at ripening time. Fully ripe fruits are juicy, sweet, very pleasant and fig-like in taste. Birds don't bother the fruits. Completely seedless and self fertile, does not need a male pollinator. Makes great "fig" preserves. Space 14' circle . . . Che on its own roots can sucker . . . Che in China are also called the 'Silkworm tree'. Like the mulberry Che's leaves are the primary food for silkworm . . . Che trees are rounded small trees probably 25' high and the same width if left to grow for about 30 years . . . Placement of the tree should be in the open or along side of small trees like Filberts or Apples . . . they ripen in late September or October. We have noticed fruit on the male too . . . It seems the male only sets sparsely if at all."

There has been some online discussion as to whether the che, in fact, needs a male pollinator. While there has been some disagreement, the general consensus is that you do not need a pollinator.  In planting a young Che, however, you need to make sure you are planting a female plant - not a male.

My plants have a bush-like form and do not want to grow straight up with a leader.  Rather, they want to produce arching branches.  The branches have very large 2 inch thorns, but the thorns are not prolific and can be navigated around without impaling yourself.  The fruit seem to grow at the base  of new branch or leaf growth -- in the axils  of leaves on growing shoots.

I have crammed my two plants into a small area that is approximately 10 feet by 6 feet.  The space is in partial shade, so we will see how that affects fruit production.  I would not mind growing these plants in a bush-like shape because I have other fruit trees growing behind them.  

Here are few sites/posts with additional information on the che:  California Rare Fruit Growers; NAFEX post.

A really great article by Lee Reich can be read here: Che: Chewy Dollops of Maroon Sweetness

June Harvest From The Vegetable Garden

 

June was a very productive month for our garden.  We had good  production from our plum trees, blackberry bushes, peach trees, and tomato plants.

I am particularly proud of our tomato harvest this year.

My favorite fruit or vegetable to grow is the tomato.  In my mind, nothing tastes better than a sun ripened fresh tomato sliced and seasoned with a bit of salt or in a BLT sandwich.  The taste has the biggest payoff versus store tomatoes bought because most store bought tomatoes cannot compete in taste or, if you buy expensive heirlooms at Whole Foods, they aren't always in the best shape after shipping.

But I have struggled the last three years growing tomatoes.  Either the varmits got to them before I did, the plants were stunted, or the plants just did not produce much fruit.

That changed this year.  We had so many tomatoes this year that I didn't know what to do with them all.   I think that I can attribute this year's success to a few factors.  First, I got the seedlings in the ground very early in the Spring.   (I did not have time this winter to grow tomatoes from seed so I had to buy seedlings from the nursery).  Second, I think I am finally, really building up my soil quality.  Last winter, I added a significant amount of homemade vermicompost to particular areas of the tomato beds, and I saw much better production from the plants where the heaviest amount of vermicompost had been added.  Third, I irrigated a lot more this year.  Last year, I used small drip hoses to irrigate the tomatoes, but I transitioned back to pop-up sprayers this year.  The pop-up sprayers put out a lot more water, and I think this was a signficant aid to the plants.  The drip hoses just were not putting out enough water over a consistent area.  (For my Fall tomatoes, I am going to use individual mini-spray heads for each plant to try and reduce the amount of spray that gets on the foliage and, consequently, late season blight or wilt.)  Fourth, our plum and peach trees were ripening throughout June, and the varmits targetted the fruit instead of our tomatoes.  Finally, I planted several hybrid varieties that really produced well for me.  SuperFantastic produced a great number of huge beautiful, perfect, tasty tomatoes.  I will be growing SuperFantastic again to see if I can repeat my success.  I also had good success with Green Zebra, but I do not prefer the taste of Green Zebra and will not be growing it again.  Maybe if I fried green tomatoes more often, I would have a greater appreciation for this variety.

Here are a few more photos of our vegetable garden in June:

 

In the bed above, we have zuchini, buttercup squash, and cucumbers growing.

 

 

In the bed on the left, you can see our Swiss Chard, butternut squash, and sweet corn growing.  On the right is a bed with eggplant and tomatoes.  The two trees in the background are peach trees.

 

 

In the bed on the right, we have okra growing in the foreground and artichokes behind them.  I also have watermelon seedlings beginng to sprout in this bed along with some beets still left over from the winter.  On the left, you can see several of our cucumber cages.  The trees in the background are fig trees.

 

Here is a close-up of the artichoke flower heads.

 

Peaches in 2012

We have been eating peaches from our garden for the last two weeks.

The peaches above are from our Redhaven tree.

In our back yard vegetable garden, we have five peach trees that were planted in 2009.  They are Springold, Sentinel, Ranger, Red Haven, Jefferson.

The Sentinel and Redhaven have been producing ripe fruit over the last two weeks, and they look like they will continue to ripen additional fruit over the next week or two.   I have decided to harvest based on feel, harvesting fruit that is soft to the touch with a red blush.

I would have liked to allow them to ripen longer on the trees, but we have a pack of squirrel banditos that have been eating about 20 peaches a day.  This has been very discouraging watching our a beautiful, bountiful harvest die a death of squirrel attritition.  I have ended up harvesting a lot of fruit early just to ensure that we get our fair share.  In the process, I am certain that I am sacrificing additional sweetness.  Nevertheless, I am still enjoing them greatly.  

The Jefferson fruit continues to ripen, and I have yet to taste any of its fruit.  I am fairly certain, however, that the squirrels will get to that crop before I do given that they do not appear to have the same patience as me and have not waited for the fruit to ripen before digging in.  

Here is the ripening time information that I found on Springold, Sentinel, Ranger, Red Haven, Jefferson:

Variety	Fruit size	Stone*	Ripe date	Planting zone
Yellow Flesh
Springold	small	cling	mid-May	1, 2, 3, 4
Sentinel	large	semi-cling	early June	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Ranger	large	free	mid to late June	1, 2, 3
Redhaven			mid-July	2, 3, 4, 5
Jefferson	large	free	mid to late July	1, 2, 3, 4

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/stone/stone.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/peach/peach.html

My initial reaction to this is that Redhaven was about two to three weeks earlier this year.  Although the squirrels got to all of these, my Springold and Ranger were still ripening as of June 30th -- later than suggested by this chart.  Sentinel ripened in late June, early August this year versus the early June suggested by the chart.  Some of the variation may result from the fact that ripening times may vary from year to year based upon the last frost date, and also from the fact that this chart may have been prepared for the Houston or Austin areas which have an earlier last-frost date.

We also have  Saturn and Reliance trees that are two year old trees.  They set a amount of fruit earlier in the year. Unfortunately, those two trees are in our front yard and also particularly vulnerable to squirrels.  The squirrels got to all of them.

Plums in 2012

It has been an incredibly busy few months which is why I have not been posting very much.  Nevertheless, a lot is going on in our suburban garden and orchard.

We had a huge crop of plums in 2012.

Our biggest producer was the Morris plum, but we also received fruit from our Allred, Santa Rosa, and Bruce plum trees.

The Allred was the first to ripen and produced ripe red fruit  (which  are pictured above)  from approximately May 1st through May 15th.  Our Allred is still a fairly small, young tree.  It produced exceptionally small fruit this year.  The fruit went relatively untouched by the birds because the red leaves of the tree hid the ripening fruit from sight.

The Morris, Santa Rosa, and Bruce ripened approximately two or three weeks after the Allred and essentially ripened at the same time -- from approximately May 20th through June 10th.  The fact that they are ripening at the same time is a bit disappointing to me in that I had hoped to stagger out ripening times to avoid an onslaught of an individual fruit and extend the fresh eating time for each fruit.

The Morris and Allred were planted in 2009 while the Santa Rosa and Bruce were planted in 2010.   The difference in one year has been dramatic, and is even more pronounced because the Morris and Allred were larger trees at planting time.

Prior to this year, I think I may have had a handful of plums on both the Allred and Morris.  When I say a handful, I mean 10 to 20 all of which were devoured by birds, squirrels, possums, etc.

Earlier this year, I posted photos of the Morris in bloom, and it was loaded with blooms:

 

 

 

 

As the Spring progressed into Summer, the Morris became burdened with ripening fruit.  The tree branches which wanted to shoot straight toward the sky like a water-spout became bent and lowered as they were burdened by the weight of the ripening fruit.

 

We harvested a huge amount of fruit over four weekends.  I didn't keep count, but there might have been anywhere from 200 to 400 fruit that we actually harvested.  There was significantly more that was composted or discarded because the squirrels and birds had gotten to them first.

We ate the majority of the fruit fresh and gave away plenty more to good friends.  The rest was made into plum preserves.  Some we just did not get to eat or preserve in time because it was such a large deluge of fruit in a short period of time.

Next year, if I can get prepared, I wouldn't mind trying to make some plum liquour or plum wine.

Additionally, I plan on taking additional steps next year to increase the size of the fruit.  Because we had never gotten a crop of any size in the past, I did not bother to thin the blooms this Spring.  Consequently, we had too many blossoms that turned into fruit which taxed the tree and resulted in smaller fruit.  Next Spring, I will think the blossoms more diligently.

I think I will also prune the tree a little more aggressively this winter.  I will have to read up on pruning plum trees, but I think that pruning more of the smaller branches may help reduce the number of fruit and increase fruit size.  I also want to prune the canopy to keep it lower than 12 feet.  The Morris is now close to 15 or 17 feet.  It was a challenge harvesting all of the fruit with only a 10 foot ladder.

I thought the Morris, Santa Rosa, and Bruce were comparable in taste.  Possibly, the Santa Rosa and Bruce were incrementally superior in taste.  These three varieties were clearly superior in taste to the Allred, in my humble opinion, but I could have been prejudiced by the significantly smaller size of the Allred. 

In going back to an earlier post, here is what I had written about these varieties based upon what others had written on them:

Morris:    A reddish-black skinned, medium-large sized plum with red flesh.  It ripens early, and its flesh is firm, somewhat dry, and crisp with good flavor.  It is a large tree that requires 800 chilling hours and a pollinator. 

Santa Rosa:    Reddish purple skinned, very large plum with reddish/pink flesh.  It ripens mid-season, and its flesh is fine-textured and aromatic and has a very good flavor.  It is partly self-fertile and only requires about 300 chilling hours.  It is a large tree that was introduced by Luther Burbank.

Bruce:    A red skinned, large sized plum with yellow flesh.  It ripens very early, and has good taste.  A medium sized tree that requires a pollinator.  Introduced in Texas, and it is believed to be a cross between Abundance and Excelsior.

Allred:    A red skinned, small plum with red flesh.  It ripens early, and its flesh is sweet-tart that is better for processing.  Its leaves are red making it an unusual and nice ornamental selection.  A medium sized tree that was introduced by Wolf Nursery in Stephenville, Texas.

We are also growing a Toka plum, a Shiro plum, a Cambridge Gage, and a Reine Claude Doree; however, these trees are still very immature.

Here is what has been written about those varieties:

Cambridge Gage:    A green skinned, medium sized plum with greenish yellow flesh.  It ripens in late mid-season with dense, firm flesh and that rich gage flavor.  It is a medium/compact sized tree and partly self-fertile.

Reine Claude (Green Gage):    A green to golden yellow skinned medium-large plum with greenish-yellow flesh.  It ripens mid-season with a richness of texture and flavor and an abundance of juice and aroma.  Considered unsurpassed.  A small to medium sized tree that can be delicate and vulnerable to sunscald.

Shiro:    Bright yellow skinned, medium sized plum with light yellow flesh.  It ripens very early and has a pleasant taste.  Juicy, somewhat melting, sweet and mild flesh.  Medium to large sized tree that can be susceptible to brown rot.  Pollinate with a japanese type plum.  Developed by Luther Burbank.

Toka:    Blue-black skinned, large sized plum with amber flesh.  It ripens late with a mild and medium sweet flavor.  It is a medium to large sized tree that is slightly susceptible to brown rot.

 

Ripe Mulberries in Texas

 

Our mulberry trees have been fruiting for the last 8 weeks.   They are just now finishing up.  

The amount of fruit that comes off these trees is staggering.  The photograph above shows all of the fruit in varying stages of ripeness.  The fruit are difficult to see.

The photograph below is a close-up of the tree branch in the left quarter of the photograph above. You can see the fruit more clearly in it.  At an early stage, the fruit is white.  Then the fruit turns red and is sour.  When fully ripe, the fruit turns a deep blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experts often advise to never plant a mulberry tree near a patio, pool or sidewalk because they are messy.  Those experts are correct.  The trees drop a ton of ripe fruit.  One of our two trees is over the vegetable garden which has decomposed granite paths.  You can see the large number of fruit that had dropped on the pathways in the photograph below.

When the fruit are dropping, we have to check our shoes before walking inside the house because the juice can stain if you walk on the rugs with these on the bottom of your shoes. 

 

 

I am amazed that any of the fruit actually makes it to the ground.  The reason for my amazement is because of the huge flocks of birds that sit all day long in the mulberries gorging themselves on the fruit.  In particular, we have a large flock of cedar waxwings that migrate to our yard each January - February to feast upon the privet berries in late Winter and then move on to the mulberries.  Thes mulberry trees provide nourishment over an extended period of approximately two months or more.

You can see some of the cedar waxwings in the photograph below, if you look closely.

 

 

 

Here is another close-up of that same photograph.

 

 

 

The photograph below shows one of the full sized trees in early, early Spring before the tree has leafed out.   As the season progresses, the trees become very lush. 

 

 

 

These trees were on the property when we moved in.   I suspect that they are morus rubra.  I have been somewhat critical of the taste of the fruit when fully ripened, describing it as being "insipid."  I think, though, that I have been too quick to judgment.  The criticism of the fruit is that it is very, very sweet but loses  its acidity and excitement when ripe.  However, this year, I thought the fruit tasted particularly excellent when eaten straight off the tree.   I think, personally, I prefer the fruit before it is fully ripened, when it still has just a slight  touch of red and, therefore, a bit of acidity.  When I eat it this way, it has a great deal more robustness, and I like it quite a lot.  Furthermore, I think mulberries are just much better eaten straight off the tree as you walk through the garden. Collected in bulk and refrigerated for later eating, it just seems to lose some of the flavor for fresh eating.

Black mulberries - morus nigra - have a much better reputation in terms of taste.  Consequently, I planted four Black Beauty morus nigra mulberries from Burnt Ridge Nursery last year.  They are planted on stocky, low grafted rootstock and should grow in bush form for easier picking.   They are still immature and did not fruit this Spring.  I am looking forward to fruit from them next year.