'dem Apples

We went out to the Dacha this Saturday for the first time in forever. We were greeted by forest of ragweed and thistles as tall as our heads. (Alister is my witness that I am NOT exaggerating). I quickly located our neighbor's (AKA guy we are buying the property from) scythe and got to work clearing a path to the door and to all my trees and plants.
Sadly, my rhubarb, which I had labored so long over and saved from the evil mouse is missing. It was there in April - and I was ecstatic as I thought it had died in the winter. It had 5 healthy leaves and was safely surrounded by bricks to mark it as special. No rhubarb. No bricks. Very odd.
Another oddity is that there are no apples. None. Alright, out of the 3 healthy apple trees on our property, I can count the total number of apples on both of my hands. Natasha, a neighbor who also goes to our church said this is normal. In Ukraine you harvest every other year. Last year there was a bumper crop and this year nothing.
I wonder if I missed some lesson in agricultural absorption as a child growing up on the farm. i remember fruit, apricots, apples, and cherries coming every summer. We never harvested a lot - except form the apple sauce tree in our yard - but we always harvested.
Is this an oddity of Ukraine vs America? My explanation of the lack of apples would be that something happened while the apples were in blossom - I.E. strong rain or frost, But Natasha says that Apples come every other year.
This isn't the only "fruit cycle" in Ukraine. Huckleberries are apparently every three years. Last year was a bumper for them too. If I had known that they wouldn't be as plentiful this year I would have conserved my freezer stash through till this December at least - But before we went stateside I made it a point to use things up to make way for the new harvest. I'm guessing that the walnuts might be cyclical too because our tree also seems to lack a single nut.

I'm finding my knowledge about farming slightly defective.
Among the list of things I wish I knew more about is pruning. I know there are ways to prune to make trees more productive - but how is that exactly - and when do you do it. I did internet searches - but somethings are just better to know from people.
Also - how can I keep misletoe from killing my apple trees? Which is worse - letting the misletoe stay or severely pruning? How densely can trees productively coexist?

Playing With Dirt

It must have been all the hours my I spent outside making mudpies and tracking ant colonies - but I really love being outside and digging in the dirt. Weeds, like split ends, are my nemesis, and I pursue them both with such concentration that I really can't understand HOW both they manage to continue their existence.

Anyway - back to dirt. On International Women's day - I trotted down to Nova Linia and bought 16 kilos of dirt. Beautiful black stuff - it says its Ukrainian. I bought a trowel as well, lugged my purchases home and set to work rolling newspaper planters. I started peppers, tomatoes, spinach and celery. Spinach because I would like to see if I could grow it year round on my balcony - Celery because its super expensive here and thought why not grow it.

Now, a week later, I think the first spinach sprout it pushing up through the dirt. Knowing that I have seeds growing on the balcony is exhilarating - all that potential sitting there and germinating.

A friend who was over last Friday did burst my bubble a little - she pointed out that on the 14th floor and on the balcony - my plants my not have access to the bees and bugs which are vital for their pollination. My wonderful potential tomatoes will do nothing more than bud. I've decided to worry about that hurdle when the tomatoes actually sprout and put out blooms. Maybe I could trundle them off to the park for a few hours every day, let them frolic with the birds and bees while I read or study Russian or something.

The next hurdle came when i decided that I should actually look up on the Internet HOW to grow celery. I figured it wouldn't be a problem - seeds - you plant them, water them, and they grow right?

Celery seeds are small. Much smaller than a mustard seed. And they grow up to look like trees. I wonder why Jesus didn't tell us to have faith like a celery seed. Surely the apparent effort needed to grow a stalk of celery requires some faith - especially to begin the undertaking on a balcony and then hope that weekend visits to the country side will produce crunchy stalks? Faith or stupidity - I began the adventure by strewing the seeds in a dirt filled egg carton and then "raking" them a bit more through the dirt.

Strike one.

This "more difficult to grow" vegetable should be planted as few as possible in each pot, and later thinned to ensure that only one seedling is in each pot. I doubt that by as few as possible they imagined my spreading out half the contents of a seed packet through 15 egg carton baskets.

Strike two.

After the seeds have been planted and thinned, they should be transplanted in rows 2 1/2 feet apart, leaving 1 ft between each seedling.
There goes my dream of two or three celery plants making a home in a large balcony planter. My whole balcony would need to be filled with dirt to accommodate these plants.

Strike three.

"Celery is a heavy feeder . It also requires lots of water. Make sure to provide plenty of water during the entire growing season, especially during hot, dry weather. If celery does not get enough water, the stalks will be dry, and small. Celery plants should be grown n full sun. and a rich a rich, garden soil." From http://www.gardenersnet.com/vegetable/celery.htm

If the celery is planted in full sun, it will definitely require watering every day. How i am to manage that while feasibly being able to go out to the village every few days is beyond me. Maybe I can find a Babushka who I can convince to water the celery. they will think I'm crazy - they don't really raise or eat it here - hence it's price but seriously if you need a square foot of land for each plant and with land prices being what they are here - I'm surprised its only up to $6 a stalk.

In addition to the watering - apparently I will need to be actively defending my poor stalks from slugs. I've decided not to worry about that either. There are lots of ducks and chickens about and IF my celery can survive all the other obstacles - I'm sure they will manage to evade the slugs.