Currants and Cherries

[BobF]

Potted 3 black currants yesterday that will stay in pots until fall. Was going to do the same with the cherry trees, but the roots are too large to make potting practical. Was planning on potting b/c all of these came in bare root.

The currants are larger than I expected as well. They req'd 3g pots.

Soooooo ... 3 Danube cherry trees are going in the ground today!

All of the plants look great! Got them from Jung's.

http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=30760
http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=30151

 

[Wade E]

Hope they all set nice for you, are you going to get another currant bush for them to set heavier?

 

[BobF]

Yeah, I'll be adding reds next spring. I have an area set aside for trees, currants and a few 'rows' of blackberries and raspberries.

My Heritage raspberries are like weeds. I've already dug out 25 or so new canes that sprouted 'out of bounds'. I gave them away this year, but next year I'm going to start them in another location.

Rather than fighting disease and such with domesticated blackberries, I'm planning to transplant new growth from a few wild patches I have access to. A couple of these patches are producing 12' canes with jumbo, thumb-sized berries. Next spring ...

I will also be adding a different cherry variety next year.

No, I have no plans to start a vineyard. Varieties I like are too readily available here from local sources; Chambourcin being my favorite. I have space, but grapes are too darned much trouble to deal with.

 

[docanddeb]

Jungs is from this area... good company to work with. We have pear trees from there.

Debbie

 

[BobF]

I got a lot of stuff from Jung's when we lived in Madison. Very kool place.

 

[docanddeb]

Did you have the flooding we saw on TV?? or the tornado damage?

Debbie

 

[BobF]

No serious flooding - we got 10.5" of rain in 1 week. My pond overflowed it's banks, but the spillway did it's job well enough to prevent any damage.

None of the tornadoes were near here. We had some hairy t-storm winds, but no damage. The hail we got was small, so no prob there either.

Our biggest concern with storms is the wife's PM colony:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc330/BobF_bucket/PMs_2010/5-1-2010_Colony_sm.jpg

She has 60 pair of Martins + 8 pair of tree swallows this year

 

[Runningwolf]

Bob nice picture and yard. I always enjoy watching them eat!

 

[docanddeb]

I've seen houses, but I don't believe I've actually seen the birds... would love to have some in MY yard!

Debbie

 

[Flem]

Nice pics of the martin houses. If they could be trained to eat stink bugs, I would start a colony.

 

[BobF]

LOL! Getting Martins to eat Stinks bugs and Jap Beetles would be VERY kool indeed!

Thanx for the comments on the housing. It's the wife's passion for sure. They are definitely a treat to watch. They don't really eat mosquitos either - dragon flies are their favorite food!

 

[BobF]

Here are some bird pics (if you didn't see them already):
http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/...ies/?action=view&current=IMG_0016_fullres.jpg

http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc330/BobF_bucket/birdies/?action=view&current=air_brakes.jpg

... and, No birds were harmed making this crash landing photo:
http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/...09/?action=view&current=1_4-27-09_2_Crash.jpg

 

[Flem]

Thanks for the additional pics. Is that a picture of you and your family?

 

[Runningwolf]

Awesome job to the photographer!

 

[docanddeb]

Amazing pics!!

Debbie

 

[BobF]

Thanks for the additional pics. Is that a picture of you and your family?

Which pic? You do know I'm not a bird, right? ;-)

 

[Flem]

View 7 of 15. Not a bird.

 

[BobF]

Nope, Not me. The wife is on the left. The other two are folks we met in Tulsa at a Martin roost. There were several hundred thousand Martins rossted at a hotel in downtown Tulsa preparing for a trip back to Brazil.

I'm behind the camera in that one.

The pond album has pics of me and my dad when we were digging a pond. He just had to drive his truck in for pics