Bob That is fantastic. I thought about going to see what is growing in my semi wild part of the yard, but I know what I will and won't find. The won'ts grove of NZL's and a mix of Meiwa and Fukushu kumquats. I will find Poison ivy, tree of heaven seedlings, Box alder. bush honey suckle, vine honey suckle, Callery pears (excellent rootstock for food pears. Wild grape vine seedlings, Dandy lions. Poke weed, 5 apple trees 25 years old that don't produce, 5 peach trees that don produce. It is 35F outside so I think I will stay inside and look over my productive citrus and fig trees. LOL

Callery pear with bushels of fruit that taste great but have a bitter skin. 1 inch diameter is to small to peel.

Steve

Hey Steve, i could come over to your place and do a major clean-up, got chainsaws, pole saws and a couple rakes, but you got to feed me a meal..

I can even topwork your callery tree and barkgraft Warren pear to it, you would love that pear and have fruit in 2 or 3 years.

Bob I am tempted to take you up on this. I did not see the LOL , so I,ll ask you are serious. I have a spare bedroom if needed and I can provide a few meals as needed. I know the distance between us is close to infinity. I can even show you by example what not to do in citrus growing. I have had many failure. I primarily talk about and share with example what does work so other can learn form my successes not my failures. I looked up the warren pear. Looks interesting.

Steve.

Wow Bob, what a beautiful site!! You are lucky to live in such a place. I love your persimmon grove too!!

Bob, what do you mean by: Should fall and winter any different?

You could also explain ' You finish big and then you start early' and ' you tell yourself " uncle" '.

Made no sense to me!

Vladimir & citrange - those terms directly relate to this part - "I push myself..." and "I like to make the year whole, fill-up to the brim."

. ;-D You just plow through and keep it moving year-round.

You gotta be a hardy type to do what Bob does and you can see the fruits of his labor because the property is a beaut!

Jenny, don,t worry what Vlad insinuating is all about he leads a sheltered life, bookworm. Citrange, you spell your name wrong, suppose to be Strange?

Let me put it this way.

If the Almighty on occasion pays a visit to planet Earth, He would stop at my place before He does yours.

Fall is a much harder time than winter for me. The shelters have to be built and air-leak debugged. Trees have to be brought in and placed in light or window. Our anniversary vacation comes when 'closing in or leaving out' can be fatal to my plats in an extreme weather event while we are gone. I have to bring many plants inside a month ahead of time to be safe. This is a problem in itself. Winter is easy. Water and feed. Spring time is even harder than fall. Sun is high days are long and risk of burning leaves is very high. I don't know when my last frost will be but in fall I know when my first frost will be and bring the plants inside.

I have started my spinach and collard plantings for next spring.

I say a big yes. Fall and spring are much more hectic.

Steve

Bob, the lives of bookworms are not sheltered at all! I learn a lot about the world and people through my reading. Also, just because I read books does not mean that I am cloistered somewhere. On the contrary, I am out enjoying life.

Perhaps you should read a book or two sometime. You might learn something. And you might learn to write post titles that people can understand.

You are the only one i worry about. I know you have a higher education than me, i believe you are a chemist, well i got a phd in "streetwise". Much lower.

Steve seems ok with what i am writing

Hey Bob, I think I’m going to be ready to graft onto that baby persimmon tree I grew from the seeds you sent me next spring.

I am not all that educated. I went to a technical school to study to be an engineers assistant. I seem to have a very good grasp on engineering knowledge of natural events with earth that has helped me solve garden and plant problems in a way that most others would not. That is probably why most of my growing tactics seem so strange. I do not want to appear that I am trying to look smarter than any others.

Steve

Often times, the amount of education that someone has is representative of life circumstances that allowed them to do it. I know MANY people who are extremely intelligent and talented - many in this forum and others I’ve met throughout my life - who just did not have the opportunities I had or others have had. I was able to spend six years working on my PhD because my husband supported us, which allowed me to study. Without that, it would have been nearly impossible. Having a PhD is does NOT make anyone better than anyone else. I read very often - several books a month - but I don’t know half what Bob and Steve know about many other things. It is really not important. What matters to me is character and kindness shown to others. You guys are awesome and I’m honored to have you as friends :)

Here Here Laura well said !!!!! . Since this thread had the word winter in it WELL here we go ----snowing like crazy now :-( Sorry everyone for ruining this thread .

Laura, that is kind heavy this late in the evening. It has never been mine intention to be meanspirated. I know I don’t always spell right, it is not required on any garden forum to be squeaky good. There will not be a next time to comment on people who don’t like my stuff. It is just too puny, case close.

Laura, just let me how thick or thin your sionwood need to be, will have it for you. Anytime, anything!

Bob and Brian you guys are awesome. Now Brian, don’t send any winter weather my way please!!! My trees are good for two more weeks. I keep checking the 14 day forecast and so far so good...;).

No worries Laura I would never send a sloppy slushy cold icy white mess to a very good friend never !!! Very very jealous that you still have your tree's outside. Laura's it's hard to believe 3 weeks ago we went through 3 day's with no electricity after a F3 tornado went through Ottawa and now we have 3 inches of snow on the ground , never a dull moment here !!!!

Brian

Brian - YIKES!!! White grass. Tell me that is foam spray please. LOL

My lemons and mandarins are still out (but wrapped) but I am going to unwrap them next week and spray. They are talking upper 60s, near 70Fs (~20 - 21C) starting on Oct. 31st (Halloween)/Nov. 1, through to Nov. 10th here and I want to try to get a couple sprays in and aim to get them in just before the forecasts show more consistent cold.

Hey Brian, you got your snowmobile ready, always fun to have one of those, had one. Your tree’s are OK, enjoy.

Love that photo of the greenhouse in the snow. A glowing oasis of summer!

Bob snowmobiling is a blast sadly I have not been on one for many years. Just as fun snow ball fights we had one this morning and lost horribly . I use to love down hill skiing you know up the hill once then down to the chalet to warm up with food and drink then repeat cycle . Arkansas must get it's share of snowstorms come January ,February?

Jenny I live maybe 300 miles north of you and the difference in weather is incredible. It snowed a few inches last night then it turned to rain and the snow all melted . The rain turned back to snow this morning and it's now back to a winter wonderland. Halloween it's supposed to go up to 50F not 70 lol with lot's of rain. Good idea that your spraying your tree's now because you know come March and April the tree's are usually coated in a sticky mess from scale and whatever.

Thanks stupidlazydog!!!! It looks much better when there's feet of snow outside . So many here pay big $$$$ to head down south all I have to do is take a small walk through foot high snow to my greenhouse instant tropics .

Brian