# Spring (break) is almost here, so who else loves to garden???



## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Years ago, my doctor buddy diagnosed me as OCD, which I have now embraced. I never gardened until about 7 years ago when my daughter Felicia began eating and loving fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm now up to: 

36 varieties of non-citrus "tree" fruits (27 fruit trees)
26 varieties of citrus trees (46 citrus trees)
30 varieties of berries (39 berry bushes + well over 50 strawberry plants)


My non-citrus fruit tree collection includes: 

4 Stone Fruit "Cocktail" trees (2 Esplaniered, 2 "norm" grafted) with peach (Red Haven & Frost), apricot (Puget Gold), nectarine (Hardy Red) and plum (Yellow, Green Gage & Italian) 
1 Santa Rosa Plum (NEW: Sept. 25, 2015) 
3 Nectarines (Independence, Hardy Red, Flavortop) 
1 Oscar Pear 
1 European pear combo tree (Seckel, Flemish Beauty, Anjou, Comice) 
2 Fuji apple 
1 6 variety Apple esplaniered tree 
3 Cherry combo (4 varieties each tree) 
1 Asian pear combo (Chojuro, Hosui, Kosuri, & Shinseiki) 
1 Chojuro Asian Pear 
1 20th Century Asian Pear (NEW Sept. 25, 2015) 
3 Fuyu persimmon (1 in my greenhouse, 1 outside, 1 rescue) 
2 Izu persimmon (NEW Oct. 1, 2015) 
1 Desert King Fig tree 
1 Negronne Fig tree (NEW SEPT. 2015) 
1 Arbequinna Olive tree (NEW Oct. 1, 2015) 


Now my citrus collection consists of: 

LEMONS: 
3 Ponderosa lemons (8 years old from cuttings) - all have fruit 
4 Improved Meyers - fruit (2 NEW RESCUES SEPT. 2015) 
3 Eureka - fruit 

LIMES: 
1 Australian Finger limes (rarest type of citrus in Canada) 
1 Bearrs 
3 Key limes - fruit 
2 ****** - fruit 
1 Palestinian Sweet Lime 
1 Unknown Sweet Lime (RESCUE SEPT. 2015) 

SWEET ORANGES/MANDARINS/SATSUMAS: 
1 Washington Navel 
1 Weeping Washington Navel 
2 Cara Cara (1 NEW SEPT. 2015) 
2 Owari Satsuma - fruit 
1 Okitsu Wasa Satsuma - fruit 
1 Page Mandarin - fruit 
1 Kara Mandarin -fruit 
4 Kishu seedless Mandarin - fruit (1 NEW Sept. 25, 2015) 
2 Tangerine (both rescues) 

MISCEL Citrus: 
2 Pomelo (1 NEW RESCUE from neglectful owner SEPT. 2015) 
5 Yuzu ichandrin (2 NEW Sept. 25, 2015; 2 NEW Oct. 3, 2015) 
2 Calamondin - fruit 
1 Melogold Grapefruit (rescue) 
2 Saduchi ichandrin (1 NEW 2015) 

BERRIES in my collection include: 

16 Blueberry bushes (Duke, Elliott, Pink Lemonade, Bluecrop, Reka, Brigitta) 
2 Black Currant 
2 Red Currant 
2 Thornless Blackberry 
1 Thornless Raspberry 
1 Yellow Raspberry 
2 Red Raspberry 
1 Cranberry 
2 Gooseberry 
2 Cape Gooseberry 
1 Lingonberry 
1 Elderberry 
1 Mulberry 
1 Loganberry 
1 Tayberry 
2 Boysenberry 
1 Huckleberry 
Countless strawberries (at least 8 varieties) 


I have a large (by Metro Vancouver standards) backyard, but in my mind, I have "acreage" :bigsmile:

I'll be starting my seedlings soon and then I'll be planting several varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, Chinese vegetables, lettuce, potatoes etc. This mild winter has allowed my Swiss chard, Rainbow chard and Brocollini to survive and now we're already harvesting and eating fresh garden veggies from my backyard.

Anthony


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Whoa your doc is right but amazing is how that all fits in a yard! Are you full up yet? 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Well, I took over a third of my neighbour's yard after he (Irene's cousin) saw how full up my side of the yard was. I've transplanted 8 blueberry bushes, most of my other berries, and 5 or 6 dwarf fruit trees (mostly multi-variety grafts) over there. I buy and grow mostly fruit trees with dwarfing rootstock and I'll try to keep them heavily pruned to keep the size from going to outrageous. 

My theory is that our family would rather eat a few dozen each of dozens of homegrown fruits than deal with a couple massive trees with hundreds of fruits each, most of which would go to waste or have to be given away before they rot. For instance, my greenhouse grown Fuyu persimmon gave me 46 HUGE sweet fruit and that was great. My mother-in-law's persimmon usually produces several hundred smaller, less tasty fruit.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

It is a double win
good food and good example for the children


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

mikebike said:


> It is a double win
> good food and good example for the children


Yes, the kids like to help Daddy in the garden, especially Felicia. Isabella has a much shorter attention span and gets bored with picking berries or Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes much sooner. Both are especially fond of being able to run into the backyard to pick fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, etc. throughout the summer. They really love persimmons so that's why I went from 2 to 5 persimmon trees last autumn.

I'll be building more cedar garden boxes and planter boxes this spring to increase my yield of veggies and raspberries. They can't get enough of sweet/tart raspberries so I have to find more thornless raspberries to plant for this year. I'll plant some in the greenhouse to expand my growing season 2 weeks earlier and probably 3 weeks later. I'll probably downsize my citrus tree collection (have over 50 citrus trees) to make room for planting a couple of the persimmon trees into the greenhouses and raspberry bushes as well.

My winters are spent focusing on my tanks, and my summers are spent in my garden. Spring & fall are especially busy cause I have both addictions to contend with as well as work, which can be as much as 7 days a week. Good thing I only average 4-5 hours sleep a night.

And April, by anyone else's definition, I am ALL FULL UP.

Me, I always think I can squeeze in one more fruit tree or berry bush or some more veggies.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

My place is home to 4 types of bamboo and banana
last year a few of the bamboo were over 12 feet tall
but they have started running and require work to remove.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I set up a "Zen" section for Irene with yellow, green and black bamboo in planter boxes so they don't grow everywhere. Don't have any bananas because they get too big and take up too much space, with very little chance of producing edible fruit in our climate. Although last summer was long and hot enough to raise bananas we could eat in my greenhouse. Still, I'd rather devote my greenhouse space to Persimmon trees, Olive tree, chilis, tomatoes, cucumbers (English & Japanese), and my citrus collection.

Besides lack of space, I simply don't want or need to have another family of "fruit" plants to start obsessively collecting. So for now, NO bananas for my garden.


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## Hammer (Apr 22, 2010)

Very interesting
I have wondering what can be grown here. I have seen outdoor persimmons ...we call them kaki
But you are right, they don't taste as good as ones grown in warmer climates...what an ongoing project...


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Hammer said:


> Very interesting
> I have wondering what can be grown here. I have seen outdoor persimmons ...we call them kaki
> But you are right, they don't taste as good as ones grown in warmer climates...what an ongoing project...


My persimmon trees in the greenhouse(s) have a 2 month headstart in the fall, compared to my outdoor tree, and extend the growing season by at least 1.5 months in the fall. The extra 3.5 to 4 months results in persimmons that are literally twice the size/weight of my outdoor-grown persimmons. My tree inside will be fully leafed and with fruit already forming before my outside tree even has leaf buds on the bare branches. My mother-in-law and others told me I was crazy to plant my persimmon tree in-ground in my greenhouse, but I wanted to see how much of a difference it would actually be. HUGE difference and so by the end of this spring, I'll have 3 persimmons in the two greenhouses, even if it means less room for my tomatoes, other hothouse vegetables and my citrus collection.

Similarly, I collect citrus because, in part, of the challenge. It's like my reefing addiction. I like to collect different varieties of citrus and see if I can get them to grow and fruit in our marginal climate. This winter, I didn't really do anything special to winterize them, as a test of their cold-tolerance. I'm experimenting to see how winter hardy I can get these citrus trees and the best ones I'll plant in-ground and hopefully end up with reasonably big orange/lemon trees that actually produce a bountiful harvest. That would be tres cool, IMO. The other citrus will remain potted and kept smaller in size. My best hope is for a couple of Meyers and Eureka lemon trees and my Owari Satsuma trees. Limes are much less cold tolerant and will have to always be protected indoors in the greenhouse in the winter.


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## Dietmar (Dec 15, 2011)

You have a lot of work to do to take care of all those trees/greenhouses/planters.
I'd like to come over one day to see how you have arranged all of the plants/trees. Unfortunately not in the near future as I am renovating and do not have time.
It comes to mind that you need some mason bees, to pollinate all the plants. they are amazing in that they pollinate only close to home, do not sting, don't make honey as they are not communal and do not have a hive. 
I have spare bees you could have.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Dietmar, when you have time, in a couple of weeks or later, come for a visit cause I'd love to get some mason bees from you.

Every spring I get a dozen or two mason bee cocoons and let them "hatch" in the greenhouse. After they pollinate in there, they eventually fly outside to pollinate the rest of my garden. Hopefully I'll have some time and good weather next week to start my seedlings and finish all my planting, adding compost, and additional soil to my planters and garden boxes.


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## coppercloud (Apr 14, 2012)

Do you heat your greenhouse? Might be a stupid question. I was thinking of setting up a cold frame for succulents!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I heated my greenhouse last year. Added another layer of 6mm greenhouse poly to lower my ceiling and trap more warm air in a smaller space (10' high greenhouse). I then turned on my space heater (900w setting) for the coldest part of the coldest nights (i.e. usually 1 am to 6 am on nights it dropped below -2C.)

This year, its been a very mild winter. I may have had a couple of key lime trees cold damaged from the few dips below 0C, but otherwise my citrus collection and olive tree have come through well without any supplemental heat this winter.


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## Hammer (Apr 22, 2010)

seahorse fanatic,
what is the consequence for someone caught sneaking in and eating fruit? ....just asking


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Penalty - being composted to provide nutrients for next year's crop

Actually, that reminds me how some property owner was having trouble with trespassers cutting across his property even with the "NO TRESPASSING" "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs up. He finally got results when he posted "TRESPASSERS WILL BE COMPOSTED" around his property. Muahahahahhaaha.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Amazing!!!


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

I have admired your passion for citrus trees for a while anthony, Bonsai dave has me into gardening now. I might have to bribe you for a lemon tree :bigsmile:


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## barvinok (Nov 20, 2011)

Where are you getting your greenhouse poly from?


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## poiuy704 (Nov 6, 2010)

I don't grow a lot of fruit or veggies but I have a yard and greenhouse full of Angels Trumpets


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

poiuy704 said:


> I don't grow a lot of fruit or veggies but I have a yard and greenhouse full of Angels Trumpets


Ooooh, purty:bigsmile:


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

barvinok said:


> Where are you getting your greenhouse poly from?


I bought it years ago from some place along Marine Drive in Vancouver. I can't remember the name off hand. I bought a huge roll.


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## poiuy704 (Nov 6, 2010)

Probably False Creek Industries?


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Just started building a garden during nice days. Got the soil, peat and mushroom manure all ready, just need to build the fence\gate to keep the deer out. I've got a small greenhouse and I'm seeing how well it works out. Seems humid, so I'll try out some root vegetables and a tomato plant or two in there to play around with it.

Found a random hazlenut germinating in a weeded side garden, so I've planted that, i've just got to keep the deer away from all this


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

If you can get some sheep manuer it is a good base to use in the planting beds/boxes to help keep things warm as it compost


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Well, even before I get any of Dietmar's mason bees, I noticed my Apricots are already fruiting. Checked the branches today and small baby apricots the size of the first segment of my pinkie finger are covering all the branches. Yessirreebob, it's spring time in the Shieh's Urban Orchard:bigsmile:. Since I grow many more fruit and berry varieties, I think I'll try this name out. I would have preferred to "name" my backyard Edible Oasis, but there's already one in New West.


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## rah_rabbitry (Jun 18, 2010)

How are everyone's crops doing? We have been trying to garden for 3 years, all edibles, this year is our biggest success using fresh soil from Port Kells this year.


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