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Post by paulf on Jul 5, 2023 9:30:05 GMT -5
Our raised beds are doing great...lots of green beans, cucumbers beginning to produce lots, cabbage beginning to form heads. beets growing and will harvest a few soon, onions (I don't eat but my wife says they are pretty warm) getting bulbs. The experiment with potatoes in a raised bed have blossomed and are dying back so that means there are potatoes under there. It has helped that we have had a couple of rains in-between the very dry spells and the high heat...well, high for us anyway. It is supposed to be cooler this week and next so maybe the tomatoes and peppers will begin to take off. Looking back on years past journals both are about at normal but I am getting a little antsy. I see other tomato patches looking bigger and healthier than mine. I may have apply a dose of fertilizer if I don't see some improving growth. Apples and pears will give us a harvest and the eighty year old apricot has a ten year high for fruits on the tree. The old variety has very small fruit and the tree is so large picking is about impossible and besides, I can't spray a 40 foot tall tree. It is just fun to see all the apricots even if they go to waste.
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Post by september on Jul 5, 2023 10:54:02 GMT -5
I clicked on the photo, and Oh my gosh, that IS a lot of apricots! Can you knock down enough for at least a jar of jam to show for it? Yumm! Do some naturally fall to the ground when they are ripe, or just shrivel on the tree?
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Post by paulf on Jul 5, 2023 13:26:32 GMT -5
They all drop down when ripe. Several years ago I put tarps all around the base and out about ten feet staked up about two feet to cushion the blow. Collected maybe fifty pounds of apricots and made jelly. Since then we have sold all our canning jars. I suppose there is a recipe for jelly without putting it in jars, but like I said,"Way too much work." Most do not have worms but a lot are snacks for the crawlers. Flavor is quite good but it takes a bunch to fill a person up.
With a bumper crop I need to rake all the dropped fruit so the worms don't multiply. We are attracting wildlife for a free desert and we don't mind that. It has been six or seven years since the blossoms were not frozen off with a late frost. An interesting sight in the landscape. I will go out and harvest some every day just to snack on. Feel free to help yourselves.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 7, 2023 9:10:28 GMT -5
paulf, Freezer jelly has a wonderful taste and does not require jars. You can put it into any storage container and freeze it. I make it with strawberries but I think that there is a recipe for apricots too. Just buy some liquid pectin and the recipe booklet is inside. You could also check for the freezer apricot jam recipe online to check it out.
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