The Oil Drum: Europe

I am changing{upgrading} my garden capacity 4-fold this year due to uncertain weather and food outlook.My primary focus is fruit trees,and the advice my grandfather gave me has been a blessing.That advice was to always have a wide varieties of trees,not a mono crop of 1 or 2 varieties.I have blocks of 10-30{total around 140}on three acres.This year was a boom on pears,and bust on apples,though I have lots for the chickens due to a apple maggot infestation .Good yield on Bosc,Bartlett,and all my asian pears,especially the Chojuro.

A recommendation for the best gardening book I have read in a long time that gives some very hardheaded,practical advice on food production is "Gardening when It Counts"by the guy who started Territorial Seed co. Steve Solomon.Get it .Study it.People who don't have the benefit of having been raised by a depression era gardeners {like my grandparents} might have a a shortened learning curve when it is needed by using his information.

We had cool year here,much like the summers of my youth,when the coastal forests would keep the temps moderate.{Most of the big trees are underwater in japan now,exported,and stored.}I have noticed the changes that have increased the sun,and also the extremes.Rarely did the weather get as extreme as is has become,with windstorms,weird times in the spring{feb} where the temp will go to 70's for long enough to break winter dormancy of plants,thus making then vulnerable to the inevitable freeze that insures a 50%loss of my fruit{grrrr}Climate change is real,here,and the farmers know it well..