We have a couple of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees, and one apricot tree in our backyard. Pear trees are the easiest to maintain and the most productive for us. They produce consistently well, and do not have any pest or disease issues.
All the other trees are attacked by 'Japanese Beetles', a difficult-to-contain pest for us. These trees produce well in some years, but not so in others. The apricot tree needs a second tree for cross-pollination. Our second tree had died a few years ago. So, the remaining one doesn't produce more than one or two fruits per year!
We had a peach tree that produced so much in one year that most of its branches snapped and the main trunk got split in half. The tree died in a year or two despite all our efforts to save it.
We have two Hardy Kiwi vines. They produce the tastiest kiwi fruits. Their fruits have fuzz-free skins that do not have to be peeled. Our short growing season is barely enough for the fruits to mature though. This year they produced abundantly, but all of them were killed by frost before they ripened! We couldn't get a single ripe one!
We have blackberries, raspberries and currants: several plants of each. They are very easy to grow and maintain. They all produce tasty, nutritious berries, in abundance, every year.
Our Concord grapes are usually prolific producers. Somehow they didn't produce any this year!
Thank you for reading Dispatch № 15.
