Fruit tree recommendation
I live in Central Oregon in a high desert, where we have cold long winters and hot summers. I would like to have a peach tree; do you have any recommendations for a hardy variety?
Amanda Modin
Bend, Oregon
Mmmm, just the thought of peaches makes my mouth water. It’s one fruit that we can’t grow (yet!) here in Zone 3. Two very hardy varieties are Reliance and Contender with Hale Haven coming in behind but tasting very good. To tell the truth, I’d probably wait until next spring and order your tree from either Fedco Trees or St. Lawrence Nurseries. Both of these companies sell VERY hardy trees that are grafted onto VERY hardy rootstock as opposed to more advertised nurseries that graft their trees of the same variety onto less hardy rootstock. And in challenging climates, the rootstock makes all the difference in the world in future livability and production of a tree. Unfortunately, both Fedco and St. Lawrence only take orders in the late winter and very early spring and have already closed to orders for this year. — Jackie
Life of canned food
I have canned foods that are 4-6 years old. Jackie, I have always understood from your work that the canned food is forever if sealed and not rusted. Recently people have told me that cans now have plastics on the inside that degrade and that canned foods are no longer long term nonperishables. Would you please weigh in on this.
Name withheld
Sorry, but I still maintain that store-bought canned goods remain fine for years unless the can is damaged by rust or physical damages such as creasing after being dropped. Others are welcome to their opinions. I go by experience and have never yet found any changes to store-bought cans in my pantry after long-term storage. Of course, I much prefer my own home-grown and home canned foods! — Jackie
Donnie,
Oops! You’re right. St. Lawrence doesn’t have peach trees but does have zone 3 pear and cherry trees. Fedco does have peaches, though. I’ve bought em there.
Not sure about FEDCO, but to my knowledge St. Lawrence doesn’t offer peach trees.
I recently found cans from 2009 that were bulging. No rust or damage. I threw them away. I do not think the recent cans are lasting as long. On the other hand, I made pumpkin bread with can pumpkin that was eleven years old. My goal is to use up, and give away, the store bought canned goods and do all my own canning from now on, in glass jars.
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