by Greg Alder | Jan 26, 2018 | Avocados |
I call this tree the Japanese Fuerte. I’d seen many pruned avocado trees, I’d pruned many avocado trees, and I’d read much about others’ pruning of avocado trees, but I’d never encountered an old tree that had been so consistently and artfully molded to a shape and...
by Greg Alder | Jan 19, 2018 | Fruit |
Whether or not you should prune a bare-root fruit tree depends on two things: One, what the tree looks like when you buy it. And two, what you want the tree to look like when it’s all grown up. This being mid-January, heart of bare-root season in Southern...
by Greg Alder | Jan 12, 2018 | Fruit |
“Sorry,” I said as I leaned in front of a guy to snap the above photo of the label on the bag of a bare-root Carpathian walnut tree at Home Depot. “Do you know what is different these?” asked the man, pointing also at the tree beside the Carpathian walnut,...
by Greg Alder | Dec 22, 2017 | Berries and Vines, Fruit |
I had a problem and passion fruit solved it. I live on a dirt road and my vegetable garden starts only twenty feet from the road. I wanted both privacy and dust catchment. Because there’s a chain link fence between the road and my garden, I was able to plant a passion...
by Greg Alder | Dec 1, 2017 | Avocados, Watering |
One of the many signs of the fall season in Southern California is the browning of avocado leaves that is also called “tip burn” because the browning starts at the leaf tips. The photo above shows leaves on one of my Hass avocado trees in late fall. Why do they look...
by Greg Alder | Oct 27, 2017 | Fruit |
We buy a fruit tree — a Pinkerton avocado, a Cara Cara navel orange, a Flavor King pluot — and we think the tag tells us what we’re getting, but it tells only half the story. Almost every fruit tree you buy has been grafted. In other words, almost...
by Greg Alder | Sep 30, 2017 | Avocados, Fruit |
Avocados are California. They are our heritage fruit. My great great grandfather grew a huge seedling avocado tree at his house near Los Angeles. When my mother was a child, she climbed in her neighbor’s Fuerte avocado tree. I have planted avocado trees...
by Greg Alder | Sep 22, 2017 | Fruit |
We don’t normally shop at Whole Foods Market, but once each year I make a visit in order to buy these California-grown mangos. Last year, I bought some in October; this year I decided I’d stop by in September just to check and . . . I bought these three....
by Greg Alder | Sep 1, 2017 | Fruit, Misc |
Chuck Ingels is one of the main authors and technical editors of The Home Orchard, the best book available on growing deciduous fruit and nut trees for home gardeners in California, and at last week’s Master Gardener conference in Long Beach I attended a presentation...
by Greg Alder | Aug 3, 2017 | Fruit |
This one is embarrassing. I should know better. In fact, I do know better. It’s just that from afar this small branch of Burgundy plum didn’t look like it had an overwhelming amount of fruit on it. Only once I looked closely did I see that the branch had...
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