A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Fruit Forum Fruit in the garden

When I moved in there were already fox grapes and blackberries growing on the property. I've heard that the fox grapes make a great wine and jam if you add enough sugar because they are naturally very sour. The deer love them without the sugar.

I've added a selection of herbs, blueberries, pears, cherries and a plum tree. They are all young plants as yet but they are working on providing me lots of canning opportunities.

What fruits are in your garden?

Last year I only got a few fruits from each plant and the birds got the only plum and all of the cherries. This year I have the netting and if I can just figure out how to get it on the tree I should be in good shape. Can anyone help me out with that?

Netting is tricky without ladders or equipment to help get it over. I have only 'netted' a peach tree once without help of equipment. The tree was nearly 20 feet tall. I tied a rock onto two corners of the netting and tossed those over it at the same time.
It worked the second time with a little tweaking afterward. The first time, getting the snagged netting out of the tree to try again, nearly had me in tears. After that the netting stayed until it completely fell apart a few seasons later.
How tall is your tree, Tammy?

These are 4 year old semi-dwarfs and reach a maximum height of 10 feet. That means about 2 feet taller than I am on the ladder. I wonder if I can borrow my neighbors ladder and get sharon to help me? Well maybe.

My momma has always said it never hurts to ask, Tammy.
After all if you do not ask, the answer is no--therefore it does not hurt to ask---what she gonna do,- turn you down?? & then what?? you are no worse off, right ??-

So give her a try....
Good luck

I think I will when the time comes. I mean if your going to share in the harvest...

If it were me, and I had one (or preferably 2) friends helping, I would get a couple of 10-12' poles and put a nail in one end of each.
A pole and a person on the front 2 corners, hook the corner of the net over the nail, then lift up and over.
The third person is helpful for fixing tangles, mixing margaritas, etc. etc.

That sounds like a good plan. I like that better than climbing up on a ladder. I wonder if I could make a slingshot shaped pole so I could do it by myself?

I think that might give you a really bad headache, a sore back and strained muscles that you didn't even know you had!

hummmmm...I don't think I'll do that. lol.

Thanks for the advice Bill.

I agree. It is tough. What I found with my netting I mentioned prior was that the birds only caused part of the damage. My biggest problem was with squirrels. And hanging a lot of flashy things helped scare both birds and squirrels away long enough for me to harvest. CD's and mylar strings I bought cheaply in the toy dept of my dollar store. Made them nervous enough to stay clear.

I like variety and like to use every spot. I can't say I like grass and it feels wasteful to water grass. Why would you water and maintain grass ? I have Apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, and figs. I grow squash, peppers, cucumbers, rosemary, oregano, peas, and beans.