Q. I planted ten bareroot trees I picked up at the orchard yesterday. I followed the directions from your Blog and everything went really well. I cut them all off at approximately knee height but when I got to the apple, I wasn’t quite sure what to do.  Should I cut off any side branches? Leave desirable ones? Cut them partially back? Or just leave them alone? I am planting my trees in hedgerows 10′ apart with 4′ between trees. A. In hedgerows make sure the trees are on very dwarfing rootstocks. M111 rootstock is probably not aggressive enough for planting that close. You could do them maybe six feet apart but four is really close.  Birdseye view of young apple tree scaffold limb development             If any of the branches can be bent down and they touch the ground they should be removed to the trunk. The lowest branches are probably going to be somewhere around 18 inches to 2 feet off of the ground.             On apples look for a whorl of branches, a minimum of four and probably a maximum of six, to leave attached to the trunk. These will be your scaffold limbs which are limbs that support other limbs which bear the fruit.             Otherwise, if this is to be a hedgerow, you can wire trellis the limbs to support them so they don’t touch the ground and you could keep limbs as close to a foot off of the ground if you wanted to.             If you are not sure what to do even after reading this just remove the ones that you know are too close to the ground and leave the rest, come to the orchard so we can talk, and address the problem next year.

Womack blackberry grown at the orchard Q. Have you had any luck with berries? I have a friend that says she does blackberries successfully. A. Some blackberries will do just fine here and others do not. Two blackberries which I have found to work well here are Rosborough and Womack, both of which you probably have to purchase online. They come from the Texas A and M breeding program. One that did not do well from that breeding program is Brazos. Dorman Red raspberry grown at the orchard             Generally speaking, I would not recommend most of the blackberries with native American names such as Apache, Navaho, Arapaho, etc. which came, I believe, out of the Arkansas breeding programs. Historically they have not done well here according to locals who have tried them so I did not bother trying them. Strawberries at the orchard             Raspberries have not done well over time generally speaking. I did try a Florida variety which had a lower chilling requirement and it failed here. I have heard some reports from locals where they had some success with raspberries but they either did not remember the name or had them in for only one or two years. Others have generally reported failures with raspberries.             Strawberries will do well with everbearing types probably doing better than the main crop varieties. You will have some iron chlorosis problems, yellowing, that will need to be addressed. I have liked them when they were growing under about 30 to 40% shade here.             With all of these you MUST prepare the soil adequately prior to planting.

From Elizabeth Kay at www.crazykranch.blogspot.com k, guys, lots to say here, so here goes… First – orders – our next REGULAR order is the fresh strawberries again in April.  From now until then is completely open, so I’m welcoming any ideas for items you need in your storage – it can be freeze-dried foods, freeze-dried meals, herbs/spices, grains, beans, etc., or we can look into bulk ordering for something bigger like a sun oven, pressure canners, wheat grinders, etc.  Or we can stock up on some medical supplies.  Really, you can throw anything out there that you’re interested in, and I’ll find out if it’s worth it to do a bulk order with it or not.   Meanwhile, I do still have some things from leftover orders so let me know if you are interested in any of the following: Raw Honey from Wyoming – 1 gallon (around 12 pounds) – $30 each (I only have 2 left so hurry fast) Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth – 50 pound bags – $50 each,                                                       5 gallon buckets – $23 each                                                       or $2 a pound  Metal Bung Wrenches for 55 gallon water barrels(will not break or warp from the heat) – $12 each I Dare You to Eat It book – $8 each Redmond Clay – 6 pounds (1 gallon bucket) – $50 and maybe some fresh free-range eggs from the farm while you’re at it – and don’t be surprised when they come in different shapes and colors – apparently that’s what real eggs look like!  $3 a dozen.  🙂 Also, zaycon foods is offering Alaskan salmon, cod, and white shrimp in bulk right now if you are interested –  https://secure.zayconfoods.com/refer/zf44690  And food storage geek is doing an order for natural beef (by the cow), and for coconut oil(if you are interested in learning about the REAL benefits of coconut oil, let me know, and I’ll do a post about it.  email me for more info on these orders… I know I’ve been a bit sporadic regarding my blog, but I’m getting better – instead of having to look it up, you can sign up for updates, and that way it will be sent to your email whenever I update it.  My blog is www.crazykranch.blogspot.com.   We’ve had some people ask us lately if we offer training for emergency preparedness/self-reliance representatives, and good news!  We do!  Let us know if you are having trouble getting started or need some ideas to get everyone thinking and excited instead of overwhelmed.  We’d be glad to help! Is there any else I can do for you right now?  I will be starting a preparedness/reliance series on my blog soon, so stay tuned for this!  Hope everything is going well for everyone.  Hang in there, and remember – self reliance is the KEY to free agency… Elizabeth Kay, Self-reliant Network [email protected]

Q. I have a tri-colored hydrangea bush in a pot in the front of my house.  When is the right time to cut it back and how do I do it?  After almost 20 years I finally got beautiful flowers on it last spring. After looking it up on the internet, I think I’ve been cutting it wrong.  I’d like your thoughts on this. A. Wow. You are adventurous. Hydrangea is certainly not a desert plant. It does not like a lot of heat, low humidity or intense sunlight. It does like filtered light or early morning light and humidity. Just what people would tell you NOT to grow here. Go for it! I didnt have a picture of this tricolor hydrangea  so I “borrowed” it online from http://www.planfor.fr/buy,hydrangea-tricolor,9117,349,list,EN,349 so I hope they don’t mind             If you have evaporating water somewhere with no wind it should like the spot if it’s not too sunny. It will also not like wind. You have to have a balance in the amount of light. Not enough light and the plant will not bloom. Too much light and it might cause leaf scorching, dieback or death.             It is also interesting because in many hydrangea the flower color may change depending on soil acidity. It is assumed it is because of the availability of aluminum. If there is ever a plant that will test your ability as a gardener, this should be tops on the list. It is probably a wise decision to plant it in a container.             Tricolor is referring to the color of the leaves, not the flowers. The leaves are supposed to be a combination of green, light green and creamy color. There has been mislabeling of this plant in the past. Whenever you see a tender plant with leaf colors like this it is nearly always one that you must keep out of direct sunlight during the heat.             My understanding is that Oak leaf and tricolor are pruned the same way. My understanding is that tricolor blooms on older wood, not this past year’s wood. This means that when you prune you will want to keep your older wood established and remove any older wood that is getting too old or that may be crossing or too close to other productive stems.             The idea is to maintain older wood and selectively removing wood that is too old while constantly renewing the older wood. This will also mean you will have to remove excess new growth that makes the plant too dense and thick while, at the same time, keeping new growth that you want to preserve for future flowers. Not an easy task and certainly one that is difficult to explain. I hope this helps.