Well, thank you for your kind words. I am very blessed to have a lovely, lovely piece of property in a wonderful neighborhood with a perfect climate. We pinch ourselves every day that we are so fortunate. As far as intensively planting fruit trees - depends on the type of tree. With stone fruits, you can get away with one-hole planting if you're a good pruner. Not so much with citrus. They need their own "space", even if it's tight. If you're considering intensive planting with citrus, I would strongly recommend truly dwarfing rootstocks ('Flying Dragon' if you can find it, or at the least, Cuban Shaddock, which is what Four Winds puts most of their trees on). Boy, it is really hard to limit my trees to just the 5 favorites. Here is the list of what I really, really love in my yard, not in any top to bottom order: Seedless Kishu Mandarin Ponkan Mandarin California Honey Mandarin Page Mandarin (nothing beats it for juice) Moro Orange Tarocco Orange Wekiwa Tangelolo Valentine Pommelo hybrid Cocktail Pommelo hybrid Melogold/Oroblanco grapefruit hybrid Jan Boyce Avocado Reed Avocado Comice Pear Seckel Pear Any of my 3 different Fuji apples (Fuji, Red Fuji, Myra Fuji) Spice Zee Necatplum Artic Star Necatrine Royal Lee Cherry Any of my flat peento peaches (several varieties) Ronde de Bordeaux fig Panache fig Just to name a few :-) I would strongly urge you to join your local CRFG Chapter. Find out who is your real fruit tree guru in your chapter. See if you can find someone in the chapter that has done what you want to do. It really, really helps to have someone to pattern after, and have as a sounding board. You should have a fairly active chapter up in SF. In fact, there are some rather famous citrus hobbyist growers up in N. California that you might want to make sure you visit, if your CRFG chapter has any tours set up. You will find membership extremely helpful in what you're trying to accomplish. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: California Rare Fruit Growers

Lol, Mike, that's sooo funny about you shoveling snow, and the mites laughing at you..inside warm and cozy..lol Mike, I know it's temping, but don't bother bringing plants back out..the reason is, you'll haul them out, then it'll rain, nights will turn cold, and you'll have to deal with a muddy, icy mess..I've done this before, never again. I finally cleaned out the back room, planned on toting plants inside today, well, it's pouring. Not showering, but pouring rain..I hope and pray it doesn't get cold tonight..hopefully, rain will stop..I wish we had one more warm week w/o rain...even if it was in the 90's, plants would come in..that'd be perfect..each plant is hosed before coming in, water is cold, unless hose is hooked in the basement. Using cold water on plants is bad enough, but worse if temps are under 50. So, don't trust the weather, Mike. Mother Nature is playing a game..lol.. Again, you're funny about your idiot neighbors and their trees..lol.. Talk about idiots, our old neighbors planted a young tree, before moving..What the he** was the point? That little tree has grown tall and wide. It obstructs my southern windows. I hoped the tree would get struck my lightening, but unfortunately, never happened. This may sound harsh, but considering they moved 3 months later, a planned move, for the life of me, I had NO idea why anyone would plant a tree before moving. It's not like they're going to see the tree, especially since they've moved out of state. sheesh!!! So, I know what you mean about your neighbors trees. Are you seriously thinking of asking if you can keep your citrus across the street? Is there a spot in between your house and the neighbors, a gangway or entranceway, where your trees would get south sun? West light helps, since your front faces north, they should get west and east, right? I have the same problem, Mike..Most plants in the yard get north!! Some 'idiot' planted a maple tree out back, (detest that tree) that shades the yard from south. If I place them beyond the maple, they're shaded by neighbors' bushes..they don't bother trimming their darn bushes, so I end up doing it. Are you friends with ppl across the street? If so, maybe you should talk to them, ask if you can possibly add a 'few' plants on their property..lol.. Maybe if you offer a little money, like one would renting space, they'd agree..As long as you clean up any mess, (soil on windy days) felled leaves, etc, they might agree. But wouldn't you worry someone might walk off with a tree? That's my biggest fear when it comes to outdooring in summer. Especially my Gardenia tree and a mandarin someone gave me. Mike, all ingredients in the home-made insecticide are natural, except for dish soap, and soap if fairly safe. My favorite dishsoap is by Ajax..they sell grapefruit and lemon scent. The smell just might help deter insects, too. Besides, Ajax is, I believe considered a generic brand, so it's probably watered down a lot. When I use it to wash dishes, etc, I have to double the amount to get a good amount of suds. Still, 2-4 drops in even a gallon of water bubbles up. I wanted to tell you, you can experiment with dossages. The only ingredients I measure is soap and SuperThrive. Garlic, Citrus rind/juice/and pepper are added w/o measuring..I take a sniff after ingredients are added..when smell is noticable, it's enough..lol. A little more or less isn't going to matter. Except for ST, but I don't know if you plan on using it. Everything else is safe. Keep us posted if you're going to haul citrus outside again..Oh, what about your Gardenia? What are the temps up east? (the next 2 wks prediction) Leave gardenia out till temp is 40 or so. If you want it to bloom. One thing about gardenias and citrus, they bloom throughout the year. Same applies to Cyclamen, Azaleas, and Holiday Cactus..(Christmas/Thanksgiving Cactus.) Take care, Toni

Hello everyone :) I've been reading this post with great interest, especially since JF mentioned that the previous year's harvest of mangoes are drastically different in appearance compared to this year's harvest. JF, I believe the appearance changes may have something to do with the effects of "xenia" & "metaxenia" on your mango fruit this year. Metaxenia & xenia has been documented as affecting a large gamut of fruits, from dates to certain varieties of citrus. If you do a search of the word "xenia" or "metaxenia," you will run into multiple links to studies which have been carried out and posted online. I don't know if mangoes are subject to such drastic effects of xenia or metaxenia, but it's a shot at uncovering the truth, right?? Just thought I would add in my two sense... :D Harry, care to experiment with your trees and see if Lancetilla pollen will somehow enlarge the fruit size of a smaller variety...perhaps a Julie? Wishful thinking?? Hehehe... We can all dream of the more delightful effects of xenia and metaxenia.... everettsky

* Posted by coconut-nj (My Page) on Sat, May 30, 09 at 11:27 Sally, anywhere that has alot of British imports would probably have it. I was checking out who had it online the other day and while you might not want 6 bottles of it.. smiles... Amazon has 6 bottles for $27.05. It's free shipping too. Most places sell it for between five and six or up to eight dollars, so that's a great price. They say they're 15 oz bottles. Maybe somebody else would want to go in on it with you?? I've always heard of it described as a mayo with more vinegar and also with a mustard taste. Sounds good. Smiles. My DW used it when she used to travel to the UK all the time for buisness. Surprised she didn't bring any back. I have a head of savoy cabbage so I'm going to make my easy 'stuffed' cabbage casserole that I described above. It makes it so easy and quick which is just what we want on a Saturday night. Steam the cabbage briefly, layer it with dirty rice, pour some tomato juice mixed with onion and garlic powder between layers and on top and bake for about 40 minutes. I'll see if I can manage to take a picture. I seem to be terrible at that. The camera is always in the other room and it's a kind of big house and by the time I'm done cooking I'm not walking very well. LOL.. We will see. Oh btw, I always make two dishes of this because Christy gets burnt out on "red" since I always have something made with red sauce around I make her a version with just some broth on it. I do stuffed peppers for her the same way. No red. I do love the red on it but prefer tomato juice since it's nice and light although I'll just water down tomato sauce or puree with chicken stock/broth, if I don't have any handy.