high hopes gardens is a living experiment. Can a creative, hard-working family make a living working with nature? Join us on the journey from idea to practice as we revive an Iowa Farmstead.
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room!
In addition to Reliance peaches, we recently planted some “Iowa Peaches” which are evidently smaller and white-fleshed. They bloomed for the first time this year.
The blossoms of the Iowa Peach are much larger and deeper pink than the Reliance peach.
Here’s a “starter” bird nest. It’s nestled in a sturdy place, but at about 18 inches off the ground, probably isn’t in a very safe place from cats and dogs.
one year ago…”Putting the Lambs to Work”
We’ve reached a spring day worth living! Most of the fruit trees are in full bloom, the weather is beautiful, and it was dry enough to get some onions in the ground today.
The pinks and whites of the emerging apple blossoms are hard to beat.
Of course, the shy little violets tucked under the apple tree do their part to announce spring as well.
The cherry blossoms outdo nearly every other tree is sheer volume of blossoms.
The first fruit trees, mainly the plums and apricots are in full blooming regalia. 
The scents catch you in unexpected places and gently remind yo to notice the wind direction and sweetness of the season.
I’m cheating here by putting this picture from May 6 in today. Just after sunset a big line of storms moved through to the north. Emma and I were out on the gravel road watching the huge outflow boundaries of the storm and looking for tornadoes as one had been associated with the storm just one county away (that’s within sight distance out here). One second we were basking in the warm, humid south breeze and just like someone hit a switch, we felt the cold north wind rush past.
After years of waiting, the first pear blossoms grace the farm!
Today was the beginning of fruit tree pruning.
Some of the apple trees we planted are now large enough to climb up to prune the top branches.
The goats enjoy a little roughage and chew on the tips of the prunings.
Cherry trees generally don’t need a lot of pruning - primarily to get rid of the watersprouts near the base and any crossing or dead branches.
You can do your own “Where’s Waldo to see what branches were cut from the previous photo.
one year ago…”When I Grow Up…”
After a few years of planting “safe” trees, this year it time to go out on a limb in a manner of speaking and try some more unusual varieties. It was prudent to start with native trees for the bulk of the planting, but now it’s time to experiment a bit a push the growing zones a bit. All the following photos and descriptions are from Oikos Tree Crops in Michigan (I like to get trees from north of me, to help with hardiness, although I know that most of Michigan is a zone warmer than here due in part to the Great Lakes). I ordered four of each to start.
New northern pecan selection created by using wild tree germplasm from across the U.S. Selections were based on the early ripening characteristics, so all seedlings would fill nuts every year in southern Michigan. Special thanks to the Northern Nut Growers Association, and some of our more nutty customers, we were able to obtain seed from Minnesota to northern Illinois. Some of this strain has its origin near the ancient portages on numerous Midwestern rivers and streams. It took about 25 years to evaluate this strain completely. In the last 10 years of nut production, there was only one year that the nuts didn‘t fill. That was the same year the Concord grapes didn’t reach their normal sugar count and we had a frost at the farm on the eve of July 1. Besides that one extreme, we always have trees producing in our hedgerow. Starting in early October, the nuts will begin filling and be completely out of the shuck throughout the month of October and early November. Although many of the original seed trees have perished on the Mississippi flood plain, we are fortunate to grow and offer these as progenitors of a new generation of the most northern hardy pecan. Height to 60 ft. with equal width. Hardiness -35 °F.
Next to the English walnut, heartnut is the easiest of the walnuts to use for nut production and edibility. The flavor is very mild, similar to cashews. Clusters of nuts are produced in profusion near the ends of the branches. The nuts are fairly easy to crack and come out in halves and wholes. The trees are easy to grow as a yard tree and will develop a wide spreading crown with horizontal branching. Young trees can bear nuts when only 4-6 ft. tall. A few insects attack the tree, but resistant to all fungal diseases that attack butternut or black walnut. Hardiness -25 °
The American persimmon is one of the most luscious and sweet fruits containing up to 30% sugar. ‘If not ripe,’ said Captain John Smith of Jamestown, ‘it will draw a man’s mouth awrie with much torment.’ ( Hmm - Similar to eating my grandmother’s corn relish.) And that’s the real challenge of growing persimmons north of their native range. Unripe fruit will make it difficult to use them for anything except frozen golf fruit balls and possibly feeding a few birds and deer. As the fruit ripens the astringency decreases and the sweetness increases. Trees can grow throughout the north even in Minnesota or Maine but in short season areas the fruits will not be edible to humans. Contrary to folklore, frost has little to do with ripening. Having a long warm fall something like an Indian summer really does wonders for edibility. About 25 years ago, we began surrounding our property line with American persimmons from different northern seed sources. Today we have many trees producing a wide variety of shapes and sizes of fruit. Ripening occurs from mid-September through late November. After the leaves fall, the fruit hangs on throughout the fall and winter. All types of wildlife consume this high-energy fruit either in the tree or on the ground. A favorite of deer, persimmons are a strong attractant and will bring them in quantity to your property. Deer rarely browse seedling trees since the foliage is poisonous to them. Persimmon is in the ebony family and the wood is very valuable for special uses like golf club heads. Dark heartwood. Persimmons will grow in a variety of soils, including clay, sand or wet muck. Tolerant to shade and competition from grass or other trees. Trees begin producing at 6-8 years of age. Dioecious-male and female flowers on separate plants. A seedling population will contain a 50-50 mix. There is no way to know ahead of time what sex the tree is until it flowers. Space 10-30 ft. Height to 50 ft.-30 F hardiness for our strains.
The largest native fruit - up to one pound - with a rich, custard-strawberry, banana flavor. Purple orchid flowers in early May. Best growth in a rich, moist high-organic soil, although tolerant to sand and clay. Grows extremely well throughout North America from Florida to Maine to Nebraska. Some commercial growers are found in California too. Two are required for fruit set. They need each other’s pollen to produce. It takes 4-8 years before fruiting begins. Slow-growing at first, established plants average 1-2 feet growth. The Louisiana Indians wove the inner bark into fiber cloth. The fruits can be made into jam or custard and mixed to make cookies and cakes. The fruits can be eaten fresh after they become soft and fully ripened in September and October. The seeds are lima bean shape and contain alkaloids that are not ingested by birds or mammals. Racoons and possums are frequent visitors to the groves we visit in the wild. Deer never eat the foliage of the plant. A pyramidal tree to 20 feet. Plant 10-15 feet apart for a dense grove or 20 by 20 for an orchard. Great understory tree with oak, hickory and maple.
Today was another big picking day - both raspberries and apples. I even got tired of picking raspberries today. We also started on the peach harvest, they seem to ripen better off the tree. But those will be for another day.
So, 24 more jars of canned raspberries, 11 pints of peach-applesauce, and 22 pints of raspberry-applesauce. The apple sauce was from some apples we had peeled and frozen earlier in the season, plus some apples the girls picked and peeled today. ‘Tis the season for harvest. I was thinking, although it might seem like a lot, 33 pints of applesauce is not even one jar a week. OK, you can subtract summer months when other fruits are in season, and that leaves us with one jar a week from today’s batch!
This is a nectarine tree, that was damaged as a lad and grew back from the rootstock, so the nectarines aren’t particularly big, but they are plentiful and Martin loves them canned.
They look like small, white-fleshed peaches and the tree is the most prolific fruit tree we have, so I keep it year after year.
Today is a day to live for - fresh sun-warmed peaches just off the tree!
This is a day we greatly look forward to - we are cheating the range of peaches to get them this far north - and despite the ice storm and late, hard frost, the trees still managed to produce a tempting basket of fruit.
We have one cherry tree that produced this year (we are grateful as many trees around here have no fruit because of the late cold snap).
This photo shows cherries in various forms of processing - cherries right off the tree, cherries pitted, and the cherry pitter full of pits. These cherries are destined for cherry jam.
Martin insisted on getting in a picture as well!
Today, the peaches were culled. In year’s past, we have lost trees because the tree was overloaded with fruit and the branches broke. Our fruit book suggests leaving at least 4 inches between peaches, so this is the result.
It’s good to know that the late frost did not affect the peach trees!
Looks like the verdicts are in with the freeze impact. Most of the trees have at least a partial bloom, except the highbush cranberries and viburnum (which are usually the first to bloom).
The apples, cherries, nectarines, and plums all are putting on the blossoms.
The plums are out of the flowering gate! Looks like all the plum trees will have at least some blooms. Doesn’t look like a full bloom, but at least some of the buds made it through the freeze.
This year, a number of our fairly new peach trees developed wounds on the south side of their trunks. While I was at the Small Farm Conference I spoke with someone from the Missouri experimental fruit station after a grafting workshop who told me to paint the south sides of the trunks white because the hot winter days followed by cold were causing the splits in the trunks. He said you don’t need fancy paint, interior latex works as well as anything.
It looks kind of strange to see all the white trunks offering striking contrast to the autumn browns.
Our raspberries refuse to surrender. We’ve been picking since mid-August. On Monday we picked 2 gallons and today (Friday) 6 more quarts. This is from a 50 foot row!
The oldest peach tree was ready for harvest as well. Three crates of peaches from it this year - about 1/2 or less of last year’s harvest from the tree, but still lotsa peaches.
So, time to make more jam, and depending how the mood strikes us tomorrow - canned or dried peaches. I would not be disappointed if it froze tonight (it won’t for quite some time yet). I’m ready for something else besides picking and putting food up (at least for a while). I don’t think I’d do very well in a place without seasons. It’s nice to anticipate, enjoy, and exhaust each season. I look forward to fall - typically a time to fix up buildings/create contrivances in the workshop after the gardens die.
