[SustainableTompkins] TCLocal on fruit in Tompkins County

[Margaret McCasland]

Great article on fruits.

A question and a suggestion (to help people learn from my mistakes).

What are the implications for fruit growing of the more extreme 
weather we are already having due to climate change?
	alternating droughts and floods;
	longer warm periods in winter, with less snow cover during 
subsequent hard freezes
	ice storms
	more extreme weather events in general

Suggestion: could you add info re:  weather-hardy species (in regards 
to above) and also re: good species for home gardeners.?  A link to 
the appropriate CCE pages would be fine.

Learned the hard way: I let my kids each pick out a favorite apple 
variety and we planted one tree of each kind (I think they were 
Macintosh and Ida Red).  It turned out they were appropriate for 
orchards with regular professional care, but not good backyard 
varieties for fruit (we did get a great shade tree for a small yard 
from the Mac).

Our next-door neighbor did her research and planted trees designed 
for backyard planting and she had much better success (and shared 
apples with us). BTW, this was in the city of Ithaca.

The three old farms I've lived on in Tompkins County (before and 
after my time in the city) had remnants of 19th c orchards with GREAT 
apples, pears, peaches, plums, etc on them.

Oh, yes, and elderberries were left off the list.  Not a big seller, 
but popular as a traditional fruit and I believe native to the area . 
. . It may be especially hardy.

And mulberries!  Some taste better than others, but easy to grow.

Margaret