Spent the afternoon top grafting while the girls played. Displayed my rusty whip and tongue skills and eventually stabbed myself in a finger. But still managed to get Blairmont, Norfolk Beefing, Wallace Howard, St,Anna Boskoop and Circassian grafted. I'll finish out some others tomorrow to hopefully collect pollen samples this year.  No new bud breaks observed.

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First outing with inexpensive foreign grafting tool with omega head

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 Welcome to the Blog!   Looks like a busy season ahead. So many wonderful people in the fruit growing community. Lots of valuable groups where folks willingly share their well learned advice. From Vendors, Universities and our own USDA. You can find lots of information and help. Especially your local County Agents. Lastly to my dear wife and family tolerating my projects. One of the things that inspired me was the Blairmont Apple developed by the USDA; with a lot of thought and effort. But as Apples go; it's reception was lackluster and today it is more of a curiosity.  This is ashamed as the Apple has many good traits. Late bloom misses frost. It is relatively scab free. Yields sizable 80mm or better fruit on average. Typically ripening is around mid-August. The USDA said three weeks ahead of "Delicious". In orchards observed, no occurrence of fire blight or powdery mildew, bitter or black rots. Flavor is mildly sweet with a little bit of tang. With fruity and vinous aro
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