by Greg Alder | Jun 10, 2022 | Avocados |
Would you rather have 50 avocados from a tree every year or 100 avocados every other year? By nature, individual avocado trees do not bear the same amount of fruit every year, year after year. Their crop load fluctuates, and it fluctuates for many reasons. I know of...
by Greg Alder | Jun 3, 2022 | Fruit |
Captain L. L. Bucklew began planting mango trees in Encinitas, San Diego County, before World War II. By 1956, he was up to 172 trees. Bucklew’s grove was the first commercial planting of mangos in California, and today, fourteen of these historic trees are still...
by Greg Alder | May 20, 2022 | Avocados |
Bloom season is the most exciting for me when it comes to avocados. First, I look at the buds on the branches of trees to try to predict how many will become flowers. Then I observe the bees and flies visiting the flowers. Are there enough? Are the flowers getting...
by Greg Alder | May 11, 2022 | Avocados |
(These are sold out, but Eli’s Farm Stand in Fallbrook has GEM avocados for sale right now.) I’m calling this the “Family Box” because Hass, Gwen, and GEM avocados are all related. And because all three have similar harvest seasons, I can pick...
by Greg Alder | May 6, 2022 | Fruit |
This week I was in the kitchen while my three kids were at the dining room table and I overheard this conversation. Miles (six years old): “There are lots of edible flowers, like pineapple guava, broccoli . . .” Reeve (four years old): “Broccoli is...
by Greg Alder | May 5, 2022 | Avocados |
“I believe that 15 years from now we’ll be standing here and we’ll be talking GEM. We won’t be talking Hass. People will go, ‘What is Hass?’” said Mary Lu Arpaia to a room of California avocado growers in 2017. Arpaia knows avocado varieties. She has been the director...
by Greg Alder | Apr 28, 2022 | Avocados |
Bob Bergh directed the avocado breeding program at the University of California for four decades. He planted tens of thousands of avocado seeds. But he chose one to name after his wife: Gwen. I know more than one person who has eaten many avocado varieties and calls...
by Greg Alder | Apr 21, 2022 | Avocados |
(Sorry, these are now sold out.) I’m offering a second round of GEM avocados from Balmar Farm in Fallbrook, San Diego County. Here is the order page with details. GEM avocado trees at Balmar Farm in Fallbrook, California. GEM is a cream-of-the-crop avocado that...
by Greg Alder | Apr 15, 2022 | Berries and Vines |
My wife is from Oregon, where blueberries can really grow. On our visits up there I see how fast and large blueberry bushes can grow and how productive they can be. While my blueberry bushes here in Southern California are inferior to those in the Pacific Northwest,...
by Greg Alder | Apr 8, 2022 | Citrus |
April is a great time of year to plant a new citrus tree, but which kind to plant? Take a cue from these Yard Posts readers who share their favorite varieties from their Southern California yards. Lavender Gem tangelo Bob started gushing to me about Lavender Gem...
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