Grove Landscaping » Northfield

Raising Harelson and Honeycrisp apples

Doug Grove — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:00:40 +0000

Harelson apple

Last fall’s apple crop was the best ever on our apple trees. We had more than we could ever use, even after giving away several bushels to our friends and our church. I have two Harrelson reds and a Honeycrisp apple tree at my home, which is a 3 acre hobby farm. I’ve had them for about 10-12 years and we’ve had some good yields and bad yields. Unfortunately, for the first few years, the bad years far outnumbered the good ones. The Honeycrisp in particular seem to be susceptible to all sorts of damage. I’ve had to learn the hard way how to get best crop that I can from them, and I’m still not sure I got it right, but the yields are improving!

I’m not an apple expert, but this is what I did to get a nice crop of apples:

Apple maggots have always been my biggest problem. For the first time ever, I trapped Apple Maggot flies to monitor the population and keep the numbers down. I put up sticky traps to trap the apple maggots and also to monitor their occurence on a weekly basis. Each trap is a 4-5” red plastic hollow ball that you put a sticky glue on and hang on the apple tree. I put 3 traps in each tree. Evidently the flies think it is an apple, and they try to lay their eggs on it and get stuck. In this way I could check their weekly activity and relative population to help me determine how often I should spray them. In addition to monitoring the flies, the traps did help to keep the of maggot fly population down a bit.

I waited until the first week of July to start spraying, (when the maggot flies begin to hatch). A number of different sprays work, as long as the directions are followed for timing and amounts to use. Make sure the spray is registered for fruit trees, and are effective against several types of pests. Make sure you DO NOT spray the trees when they are flowering! It will reduce the bee population which is so vital to pollinating the flowers. (You’ve probably heard about the decline in bee population anyway). A combination spray of insecticide and fungicide also improve your crop, although all I used was insecticide.

I stored the apples in our downstairs refrigerator. The inside of any refrigerator is very low in humidity, so I d
Honeycrisp Apple
ouble bagged the apples in plain plastic grocery bags. I added just I bit of water to each bag and tied the top shut and made sure the temp was just above freezing. I removed any apples that had bruises or cuts, so they wouldn’t cause the other apples in the bag to ripen too fast and possibly rot. In mid March, I still some Harrelson Reds in our downstairs refrigerator and they were as good and crisp as the day I picked them! Once they start to loose their crispness, they make great apple crisp!

Peg’s Pond Part II

Doug Grove — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Last time I wrote an entry (Peg’s Pond) about building a pond for my sister-in-law Peg. A planting season has gone by, and as you can see by the pictures, the place has changed quite a bit! Peg now has some Koi and a few goldfish, and they have taken a real liking to their new home. Peg has really done something right, because they have started breeding, and she saw her first batch of Koi hatch-lings last Spring, with more hatching throughout the summer. The pond plants have done well, and combined with the fish, she has achieved a good biological balance to keep her pond healthy, and created a nice aquatic ecosystem.

Part of the design process of determining the location of the pond was preserving the great view from inside the house. There is a wetland area behind her home, and we wanted to incorporate the pond with the view. Now with plants maturing, they help make a smooth transition from the house to the pond to the wetlands. We used mostly perennials and grasses, many of which were native to the area. The photo at the left shows the main waterfall feeding one of the two streams we constructed. That’s Joe Pye plant and Back-eyed Susan around the waterfall.

Even though the picture doesn’t show it, the stream in the photo is one of two streams. It exits in to a small upper pond, which in turn cascades into the main pond. Peg told me she even saw some baby Koi in the upper pond!

The view from her picture window has now become a real focal point in her home. Peg does a lot of work out of her home for people that have mind-body coordination issues (she uses a process called Brain Gym therapy), and the view of the pond and waterfall provides a very relaxing atmosphere for her clients.

The two streams have been a real nice touch. They have created more interest, and the sound of the two streams adds a lot of dimension to the sound of the water. The photo to the left shows the other, larger stream headed down to the main pond.

Peg has really done a great job on her pond. I’m looking forward to watching it grow and mature.”Hey Peg… I could use some Koi for my pond, and I see that you have a few to spare…..”

Farmer’s Almanac: Weather predictions for 2011

Doug Grove — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:29:35 +0000

Farmer's Almanac, 1883

Farmer’s Almanac, has always been known for its long range forecasts. But it also contains a lot of other information, such as gardening tips, tide tables, moon phases, astronomy and articles on farming. It has been around for over 225 years, making it the longest running periodical ever.

You can also check out the weather history for any given day all the way back to1946.

According to the Almanac, winter was supposed to be a bit drier than normal. March is (or was) predicted to be a snowy month. Looks like they may have got their months turned around. April and May will be cooler and a bit drier than normal, with a chance for significant snowfall in mid-April

.April and May will be much cooler and a bit drier than normal, with a chance for significant snowfall in mid-April.

APRIL 2011: temperature 37 ° (4 ° below avg.); precipitation 1″ (1″ below avg.);

Apr 1-8: Sunny, cool;

Apr 9-10: Sunny, warm;

Apr 11-14: Rain to snow, then sunny, cold;

Apr 15-17: Showers, mild;

Apr 18-30: Rain to snow, then sunny, cool.

MAY 2011: temperature 51 ° (4 ° below avg.); precipitation 2.5″ (0.5″ below avg.);

May 1-8: Rainy periods, cool;

May 9-11: Showers, seasonable;

May 12-17: A few t-storms, turning warm;

May 18-23: T-storms, then sunny, chilly;

May 24-31: Scattered t-storms, seasonable

Summer will be hotter and drier than normal. The hottest periods will occur in mid- to late June, early July, and mid-August.

September and October will be much cooler and slightly drier than normal.

This web site is fun to “poke around” on. It has something of interest for everybody. If you like to throw a line in the water now and then, check out their “Best days to fish”.

Gimme Shelter: The Amerman Pavilion

Doug Grove — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:30:00 +0000

Northfield has the state’s best soccer complex for a town its size, and it continues to get better. The complex is part of Spring Creek park, which is located along Jefferson Parkway on the south side of town. Thanks to the efforts of the steering committee chaired by Rick Estenson, the complex expanded last year to include the construction of Amerman Pavilion and the *WINGS Oasis (*see below. More on the Oasis in a later blog entry). The pavilion was named after local youth soccer coach Jeff Amerman. Jeff was a big contributor to Northfield’s youth soccer program, who passed on in 2005. It is a beautiful facility with room for a concession stand, a huge exterior stainless steel counter , a large sheltered picnic area, and storage for soccer equipment.

Ray Cox, owner of of Northfield Construction, volunteered his time to be the project manager for the construction of the pavilion. He contacted several local contractors to donate their time in constructing the pavilion and also organized the timetable. Phil Olson kept on eye on the project and kept track of the day-to-day progress. I volunteered to oversee the landscaping for the pavilion, ( see photos, click to enlarge) which was accomplished by the efforts of several hard working volunteers. (Any of you guys interested in a job with Grove Landscaping?). Thanks to Knecht’s nursery for donating the plants. Construction started in the Spring of last year, and we finished up the landscaping with a volunteer work day in the first part of November. The work could not have been accomplished without a great group of about 15-20 volunteers.

Make sure you visit Ammerman Pavilion. and see what a great job these volunteers have done! While you’re there, take in a soccer game or two, or threeâ€¦..

*WINGS (Women In Northfield Giving Support) is a local organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in Northfield. They were instumental in making the Oasis possible. You can learn more about them by going to their website through this hyperlink.

Ready——————————Set———————————-Go!!

Thanks to the City of Northfield, Northfield Rotary Club, First National Bank, Northfield Soccer Association Northfield Hospital, Malt-O-Meal, Community Resource Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank for a major portion of the financial support for the construction of the pavilion.

Northfield Steering Committee: Rick Estenson, chair. Charlie Cogan, Jim Pokorney, Kevin O’connell, Margaret Colangelo, Curtis Tiano, Andrew Tiano, Rachael Stets.