mountainfigs

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10 Acre Maryland Food Forest

10 Acre Maryland Food Forest

Great food forest project in Bowie Maryland:

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LSU Figs video

Good presentation on LSU’s officially released figs: Would have been good to show the interiors too. Would also be good to have a presentation of the figs LSU bred and trialed that have not been officially released. Many fig growers already know what many of them are, and are growing them, but would be good to have LSU’s view on them.

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Medlar interior, flavor & texture

Medlar interior, flavor & texture

This is a bletted medlar fruit. It has a flavor and texture like a thick cinnamon applesauce.

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Medlar

This medlar fruit was picked yesterday after repeated freezes over the past few weeks. Somewhat soft, came off easily at stem. Will allow it to continue to ripen indoors before cutting open for eating.

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Red Currants & Black Currants

Red Currants & Black Currants

Like gooseberries, currants are still banned in some states and counties due to white pine blister rust concerns. The currants in the photos are grown in northern Pennsylvania where they ripen with blueberries, and serve as good additional mid-summer berries following the wave of spring and early summer berries. Black currants are mid size between gooseberries and red (and white and pink)…

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old barn and mullein

old barn and mullein

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Gooseberries

Gooseberries are a precocious, large, juicy sweet-tart berry that typically ripen during blueberry season. These are a nice complement to blueberries, most similar to grapes, a bit crunchier, more firm. In a pie gooseberries taste somewhat like rhubarb and mix well with blueberries and other fruits. Most varieties have thorns. Sprawling bush shape. Hardy to zone 3. Still outlawed in some states…

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Mid-Late June Fruits

Of the past few weeks. The early varieties of blueberries here are Duke and Blueray. Juneberry came and went too. Goji also ripened though I missed getting a photo of those.

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Mock Strawberry

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North Star Cherry Compared to Nanking Cherry

North Star Cherry Compared to Nanking Cherry

The smaller Nanking Cherries were more flavorful and sweeter than the larger North Star cherries, which were juicier.

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Plate of Fruit

Pre-blueberry fruit picking: two varieties of goumi, Nanking cherry, and haskap. Birds got most of the Juneberries (Serviceberry, Saskatoon). And don’t currently grow strawberries.

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Early June Fruit: Juneberry, Haskap, Goumi, Nanking Cherry

Early June Fruit: Juneberry, Haskap, Goumi, Nanking Cherry

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Nanking Cherry Ripe

Strange goings on with the Nanking bush cherries, both red and white varieties. Three red cherries in the photo were well ripe and good. The rest of the cherries seemed to have been bitten by something and had begun to ferment. The white cherries were mainly under ripe.

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Goumi Time

Carmine goumi is considerably sweeter than Red Gem and Sweet Scarlet goumi, also much larger, more pulp, less skin. Carmine is like a small red grape with one big long seed in the middle, shape of a skinny football. Unless dead ripe, goumi will have some tartness to it. Again, Carmine is significantly sweeter and bigger per stage than are Red Gem and Sweet Scarlet.

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accidental 100 percent rooting

accidental 100 percent rooting

Six and a half months ago, in mid November, I cut this Emerald Strawberry (UCD 143-36) scionwood, about 50 cuttings. I bundled them with vinegar-water soaked paper towels and wrapped them inside of a couple plastic grocery bags. I put them on the cement floor of my attached garage and forgot about them. After a very unusual year in which I did not move out all the potted figs from garage until…

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Maxine Thompson's Maxie Haskap Variety

Maxine Thompson’s Maxie Haskap Variety

Tart-sweet flavor when picked at this stage pre-ripe with green pulp. Fully ripe fruit would have purple pulp and be sweeter. Maxie variety of haskap propagated by Maxine Thompson: Upload an image file, pick one from your media library, or add one with a URL.UploadSelect Images

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Goumi Color and Size

Goumi Color and Size

Carmine goumi large size (near ripe green and early ripe orange), Red Gem goumi medium size (near ripe green, early ripe orange, ripe red), wild seedling goumi very, very small not ripe (at least I hope it is wild goumi seedling which is what it was sold to me as rather than Autumnberry, which is what it may resemble, close relative, nitrogen fixing. Goumi is supposedly non-invasive as opposed to…