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About Christine

http://cmshimekeducationblog.wordpress.com

Science Educator and Naturalistic Gardener

Posts by Christine

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Growing Apples in Texas

. Apples, News . ,

Apple trees can be grown throughout Texas, but in order to decide which apple tree will produce in your garden, the chill hours for both the growing area and the apple tree are needed.

Pink Lady Apples, 2025

What are Chill Hours? The number of hours, per year, that are between 32 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit (we consider all hours below 45 degrees and it has worked so far!).

Chill hours where you live. Find the Chill Hours for the USDA zones where you live. For example, we are in zone 8b where there are 420 to 700 chill hours each year.

Chill hours required by the apple tree. This number must be within the range for your area. Example apple varieties include; Anna (200-300), Pink Lady (400-600), Granny Smith (400 or less), and McIntosh (900+ chill hours).

Which apples will grow in Zone 8b? We are in zone 8b, so from the chill hours discussed in the varieties above, the McIntosh apple may grow but will not produce apples in Zone 8b. We have great success with Anna Apple and are trying both Pink Lady and Granny Smith (planted this year, late winter) so we will find out if the apples produce next year or the year after, depending on how well the trees themselves grow.

These are the Anna variety apples that were harvested this year. Because we do not use any chemicals (no pesticides, herbicides, or wax coatings on the apples), they have odd spots and colors are not “picture perfect”. However, the flavor is amazing, and there

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Update July 6, 2025

. News, Tomatoes

The events starting in 2020 and continuing into early 2024 took so much immediate attention to family, friends, health and disease. The gardening continued here, but much was different; with new time constraints and considerations — all taking a toll on finding time to post about happenings in the garden. Today we are starting back with the blog with the current “star” of the garden.

Tomatoes are widely grown in the spring and into the summer in Zone 8b. We begin canning tomatoes some time in June and that continues until there they stop producing, usually when the temperature is dependably above 95 during the day. This is an image of the Roma tomatoes as they begin producing in early June. Roma tomatoes are great for canning sauces because they are so easy to peel and so easily dissolve into a sauce with few chunks and often times fewer seeds than the larger round tomatoes.

This year has so far been quite productive for tomatoes so the canning continues …

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Peaches!

. News .

This is the first year for peach production from one of the trees,. Once the birds start to sample the peaches, it is time to pick them. Once inside, I make a 10% vinegar rinse solution (1part vinegar, 9 parts water) and let the peaches soak for about 5 minutes, then rinse with clean water. Once dry, they can be frozen whole in gallon freezer bags if you do not have time to do anything with them right away. They can be pulled out of the freezer, sliced and eaten as “popsicles” or cooked as desired. If you have time for a little work, try making ice cream with peaches, or try canning them.

Peach Tree, June 2024