Annual Festival of Fruit goes for the exotic

Persimmon grower Jim Bathgate handed out tiny yellow peaches to others at the California Rare Fruit Growers' annual Festival of Fruit and watched with anticipation as they bit into the sweet and juicy flesh. The fruit grew on a peach tree that sprouted... Fruit - Persimmon - Peach - California Rare Fruit Growers Association - Tree

Time to make an autumn home, garden checklist

In the garden --Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then, feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year. --To prolong bloom into fall,...

Rare fruit growers meet to swap seeds, tips

POMONA, CALIF. — Persimmon grower Jim Bathgate handed out tiny yellow peaches to others at the California Rare Fruit Growers' annual “Festival of Fruit” and watched with anticipation as they bit into the sweet and juicy flesh.

Brown emphasizes 'uniting Californians'; Whitman attacks 'mismanagement'

The gubernatorial candidates kick off Labor Day weekend with campaign speeches in Santa Ana and Columbia, Calif. Gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown marked the start of Labor Day weekend — the traditional beginning of the general-election sprint — by arguing before friendly crowds Saturday that their resumes make them best equipped to fix the state's fiscal disaster and ...

Ag briefs: Sweet potato harvest starts

Demand remains strong for sweet potatoes, and California farmers say they're harvesting as fast as they can, to keep up. Per-person consumption of sweet potatoes has been increasing, in part because of demand for products including sweet potato french fries. As a result of the demand, sweet potatoes kept in storage have been sold, so consumers will see new-crop potatoes in stores. The California ...