Author Archives: thirteenvegetables

Orchard Planting Dress Rehearsal

Posted on February 12, 2017

Visions of cider apples danced in my head … but we are going to have to wait another year before we are ready to plant our own cider orchard. So I was happy to help out and learn from fellow cider … Continue reading →

Posted in Cider, Fruit Trees, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Tasting and Blending

Posted on January 8, 2017

This season we were more careful about keeping notes on the apples that went into the different batches of juice; and we experimented with a couple of commercial yeasts as well as natural fermentation. That resulted in 5 distinctly different ciders … Continue reading →

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Garden Giants V

Posted on October 16, 2015

Parsnips took the garden giant crown for the second year running; but this time not because of impressive height, but due to the size of the root. I could hardly believe how big this thing was when I dug it … Continue reading →

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Bud Grafting Success

Posted on April 11, 2015

Most of my grafting experience thus far has been with stem grafts, which involves fusing a piece of scion wood onto the existing tree or root stock. I’ve become pretty comfortable grafting apple, pear, quince, and plum trees this way. … Continue reading →

Posted in Fruit Trees | 1 Comment

DIY Grafting Wax

Posted on April 6, 2015

When I graft, I am usually bark grafting on established trees. An important step in this process is sealing the insertion point to prevent the grafted scion from drying out. On smaller limbs, electrical tape works well: it exerts pressure on … Continue reading →

Posted in Fruit Trees | 3 Comments