Orchard update

Another year has passed as has another successful pruning season.  Meanwhile I have learned a great deal from an apple management seminar I took in at the State Fair last fall.   One is that I picked the right two trees for my "mini-orchard" - the Honeycrisp and the Zestar.  Another is that the growth characteristics of these trees is quite different, in ways which made complete sense to me, having observed these trees for the past several years. Turns out could have pruned the Zestar back very hard last year and it would have been fine.   I also learned why the Honeycrisp did not bear last year--it had not been properly thinned the year before.  Honeycrisp is very sensitive to density of fruit, and it needs very active thinning or else it will only bear every other year.   So now I both trees back to the size I want them to be, and there structure is pretty good too.  The two key management activities will be aggressive thinning (especially on the Honeycrisp) and the application of fruit tree spray if I want cleaner more useable fruit.  After a year or two of fairly clean fruit with no spraying, each year we have had lots of blemished fruit, most of which is not useable.

Pruning season

A little over a month ago, on an unseasonably warm weekend, I got out and pruned our two apple trees. I found it to be a very enjoyable activity, as I examined every branch and decided where to make a cut to encourage the sort of growth that would be beneficial in the future. Both trees can be seen in this photo, the one in the foreground being a Honey crisp, and the one in the background a Zestar, both bred in Minnesota by the university.  I was very pleased with the outcome of the Honeycrisp;  the Zestar had become much taller and I was hesitant to take too much off in one season, so I think I will consider this a two season pruning venture.    Both trees were very prolific last year, but they had too many blossoms and set clusters of three or more fruits, which tended to stay small and drop early.  I did some thinning last summer, but not nearly enough, and I need to be more persistent this year if we are to harvest larger apples.   Two years ago we had a good crop, but the squirrels seemed to like to take a chomp out of each one and leave the rest, which attracted hornets and other insects that left much of the fruit unusable.  Last year I put mesh down under the tree, which seemed to keep the squirrels out, but we still had the problem of small malformed fruit.   I think I have the solution to many small fruits (pruning and thinning) and am willing to accept some blemishes if I can avoid spraying.

There are some obvious spiritual analogies to all this--the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, and that the Father, the Vinedresser, prunes us that we may bear fruit.  I thought of this quite a lot as I was engaged in the pruning exercise.    I believe that the way God prunes us is through trials, illness, discipline, and setbacks.   We can either accept these things as being from the hand of a loving Father, and thus bear much fruit, or complain and reject these events as being the work of the adversary.    I feel I can come to this conclusion, because the Master Gardener doesn't only just prune, but also waters, feeds, and gives abundant sunshine.  In my experience the Master Gardener is also quite tolerant of the blemished fruit I bear, and for this I am quite grateful, and can learn patience with others from His example.

The blood of the grape

After talking about making wine for quite awhile--probably as long as I have been making beer-- in January of 2013 I put it in my goals for the year to start a batch of wine.  I met my goal-- barely.  On December 27 I started a wine kit by putting three gallons of juice into a big bucket and pitching in some yeast.  On February 27 of this year I bottled my first batch--15 bottles of port I named Grey Havens Port.  You LotR fans will recognize the reference.  It turned out pretty well-- tasting similar to a commercial bottle I opened for comparison.  I chose port for my first batch because I figured it would be more forgiving than a table wine.  I also thought it could be a communion wine, but the kit cost the same as what we use at church, so it definitely is not worth the hassle.  My next batch, which I just started on March 19, is a Riesling Ice wine style.  I expect that will be another sweeter wine with a high probability of turning out well.

Seed order time

Receiving and pouring over a garden seed catalog is always a delight driven task for a gardener.  Since we live in a town with a major seed supplier that fills seed orders for more than one catalog, it has been our habit to go down to their retail store and purchase what we need.  Last year we discarded most of our older seeds and replenished our stocks, so our needs weren't great this year.  I was looking for a variety of green bean that I couldn't find at the retail store, but I found just what I wanted mail order.  Mrs. Gardener and I had been very impressed with a green bean side dish served at a local restaurant, the beans always being thin and tender, not the thicker ones that come out of our garden.  In the course of my research I discovered the " French/filet bean" which are bred to be thin and suited to the French cut which is also my favorite form of canned bean.  I ordered two varieties of the filet style bean, including one that is purple at harvest, and turns green as you cook it.  I also ordered a gerkin style pickle and an English style cucumber (long and thin).  Lastly, flush from our first victory in five years over the local deer herd, I ordered some more Swiss chard seed, the colorful kind.  Mrs. G discovered last year that the deer will lay off the Swiss chard if it has it's own cage.  Swiss chard is the closest thing to candy to a deer.

Garden successes

I don't seem to be very good about keeping up with this gardening blog once the summer gets going.  My last post was midsummer last year.  Well, it is planning time for 2014, so it is time to begin posting again.  I will start out be reflecting on the crops we grow, grow successfully and will repeat.

Garden crops in order of their success and benefit:

1. Raspberries.  A perennial favorite, that generally do well with minimal maintenance.  Last year I implemented a management technique I learned from a commercial grower- to mow down half the patch each year to prevent overgrowth.  So now I have two patches with alternate production years.

2. Potatoes.  We love the Yukon Golds, and we're able to grow enough last year to last until Christmas.  They are fun to dig up, (ok, it's still work) but it is like digging for treasure, and with the new mulch system I am planting them shallower and mounding with mulch.  You will notice two varieties of potatoes in the photo.  These are  Russets that accidentally sneaked into the garden, but we discovered they store so much better, that we plan to grow more this year.

3. Tomatoes.  Not a flashy crop because we use them mostly for sauce, but they contribute all year to our food supply.  We have been growing 8-10 plants for years now.

 

4. Asparagus. Not a big yielder yet, but the pleasure to yield ratio is very high.  I am anticipating a large increase in yield, so the patch is starting to fill in the patch, as I recognized many small plants for either seed or stolons. That was either new or I had been tearing them out with the weeds in previous years.

5. Sweet corn.  Another crop we don't get much in yield - only a few meals a year, but we really enjoy those.  Plus, what would a garden be without sweet corn? It is such an iconic crop.

6. Pumpkins and squash.  Space consuming, but easy to grow enough for a year's worth of pies and squash recipes.  Until we went with the mulch system it was hard to keep weeds down, but last year the plot was clean.

7. Salad fixins.  The first plantings of the year are Snow peas, lettuce and radishes, and these  are also the first harvest of the early summer.  Impossible to grow enough for the year, but like fresh sweet corn and asparagus, is an existential pleasure while it is in season.

8. Dipping veg.  Snap peas, cukes, and Kohlrabi lead the list here.  Great while they last.  The peas and cukes do great when allowed to vine up on chicken wire.  Pictured are Asian Cucumbers.

9. Green beans.  Best fresh, so we don't grow too much of these.  Also grew wax beans last summer, but the rabbits (or deer) liked them preferentially to the greens.  Bush style works best for us.  Would like to find a more slender variety than seems to be available at our local seed store.

10. Cabbage.  I failed at sauerkraut a couple of years ago, so we are back to fresh eating in coleslaw and I like cooked cabbage too.  It is easy to make more slaw than we can eat.  Need to space the plantings out more so we can get a fall crop.  Last year grew three varieties, and one of them (golden -Acres, I believe, split, and was ruined.

11. Herbs - mint, oregano, thyme, basil, parsley, chives, and sage are the regulars.  Low maintenance.

12. Apples. These are our newest addition, and prought great pleasure this fall as we harvest 15-20 big beautiful  Honeycrisps  or Zestars (I am not sure which because  only one flowered, and I have forgotten which was planted where).  It was a perfect year for apples, no disease or bugs despite not spraying.  I don't expect every year to be so productive for apples.  Pruning is a chore best done in the late winter,  so it often gets forgotten, and I lack confidence that I know what I am doing.

13. Peppers, both sweet and chili.  Easy to grow and so colorful!

14. Zucchini.  One plant easily feeds the family for fresh and frozen needs, with plenty of large club like fruits left over at season end.

15. Fall greens.  Swiss chard and kale are more interesting to grow than to eat.  Finally outsmarted the deer and got Swiss chard to maturity by caging the plant.

16. Blueberries.  After 3-4 years, we finally got a dozen or so berries - maybe a trend in the right direction, or maybe just "less total failure".  The jury is still out.

Big Day

Today turned into a tiring but very productive day in the East of Eden garden.   Checked the forecast last night and they were predicting rain showers in the morning, but we rose to sun, mild temps, and very little wind.  This held up throughout the day, and between 8 am and 3 pm we got the rest of the planting and transplanting done.  June  1 is a little later than most years, but 2013 hasn't been most years.  

Far right-Asian radish; center-conventional radish; left-bibb lettuce

We are getting close to our first harvestable item--radishes planted April 27.    I didn't get very good germination on the lettuces due to old  seed, so I had to replant (areas that appear empty).  Hard to see, but I also have an onion or two mixed in there.

As I mentioned in the last post, we are using a new method this year involving wood chips over news paper to eliminate most weeding and retain moisture.   There is a bit of up front work, but we should more than make up for it by having less maintenance through out the season.   It also allows me to plant "no till", I don't turn the soil or rototill except for the little area where I plant; the rest of the garden is covered with a few layers of wet newspaper and topped with 3-4 inches of woodchip mulch we get for free a the city composting facility.

Peppers, kohlrabi, and cabbage transplanted today

Tomatoes transplanted last Saturday

So far we are  very pleased with the system.  The plan is to  extend this to the most of the garden, but we are only about half done.   We like it because it uses mostly free stuff--newspaper and mulch.  The proof is in the pudding, so if we save hours and hours weeding and watering--should be a good deal.   Next year should be a test too, as we see how we like planting into it.  In theory the wood chips should decay providing fertile soil, and over time we expect to keep adding more chips to the top.  It is also a nice surface to walk on--no mud, etc.

Back to East of Eden

I'm back after a long hiatus to attend to....life.  I had the best of intentions to follow through to harvest and even commissioned Mrs. Gardener to take photos of the harvest, but I never tracked the photos down on the old hard drive.  But now it is a new year, and suffice it to say we had a bountiful harvest of many of our veggies, and are back at it again.  April has been very snowy, and the first fit day was yesterday, so I planted   romaine, loose leaf lettuce, bibb lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and two kinds of radish (regular and Asian).

We watched a gardening video last night that promoted a philosophy of gardening that has wood mulch at its center piece.  The website, interestingly is "Back to Eden" and features the gardening advice of a fellow by the name of Paul Gautschi who  developed the methods after observing how lush and drought resistant forests were.  Motivated by his observations of nature and principles derived from thoughtful contemplation of (and sometimes creative applications from)  Scripture.   Mr. Gautschi described how he grows all his veggies in soil that is covered by a layer of wood mulch.  The mulch decays and provides nutrients, retains water, controls weeds, and keeps the soil loose and free from compaction.    Wood mulch (the kind made from ground up leaves and branches, not shredded bark) is cheap, plentiful, and readily available.   We have used it with some success in our perennial garden ("the berm") and around bushes but have been afraid to use it in the garden because I thought it would tie up nitrogen or make it hard to hoe.   As long as you don't incorporate it but let it break down from the top, it should be ok, according to the video.  Another advantage is less tillage required; I don't think the Back to Eden method turns the soil at all,   I wonder if the soil warms up and is ready for planting at the same time as traditional methods.

In any event, I think I would like to try it this year.  There are several options for obtaining wood mulch--the free stuff available from the city compost site; from a local tree service (advantage--delivered); or grinding my own from downed branches and tree trimmings (disadvantage--purchasing and maintaining a loud mulcher).

The Midsummer Garden

It has been quite some time since my last post, as I find summer is more about the living of life than its documentation.   The garden has gone from mostly to potential to actual production.  We have eaten our salad crops fairly regularly this month.  The winner of the new crop of the year award is kholrabi, which was easy to grow and delicious with Mrs. Gardeners famous dill dip.

Mrs. Gardener has also been highly motivated in the weeding an composting department, so that our garden still looks show worthy.  It was a very popular tour stop at the graduation party a few weeks back.

Very soon we will be getting raspberries, though in smaller quantities than previous  years.  The new growth is good, so next year should be back to our normal bounty.

Our one apple did not make it, and strawberries have been a bust, and are soon to be plowed under for good.

The pole beans are growing at a phenomenal pace and have shot up my lattice in a matter of days, and are soon to reach the top.   Where will they go then I wonder?

We had a pesky deer eat the leaves off the squash a few days ago, so I applied Deer Scram and hope that discourages future visits.  Meanwhile the squash has grown back rapidly.  Hard to keep a good squash down!

The foreground of this picture to the left is pumpkin, the far end is zucchini, neither of which the deer ate--they went right to the squash---go figure.

It will never look this good again

It has been a couple weeks since I have posted last.   Busy with work, and gardening, and politics.  On the 12th of May we had a big day--transplanting all the bedding plants, and seeding the large seeded veg like corn, beans, and various cucurbits and even melons. The asparagus is done for the season, the potatoes are getting bushy, the lettuces are nearly ready for first harvest, the strawberries have flowers, and we even have one apple!  The major addition for this season is the pole bean support, which was converted from my grow light stand (after getting a coat of Thompson Water Seal).  These are the golden days for any garden, when everything is small, neat, and weed free.   However, I don't garden just for looks, so I do welcome the fruitful days to come when squash will be taking over the yard, tomatoes will be groaning under the weight of their red globes, and giant zukes and cukes forming every time you turn your back.

  We are going to try to grow  tomatoes with out cages this year (cage-free!), training them to a pole and keeping the branches from getting out of hand.  Most of the good fruit comes lower down and close in any way.

  Lynn has been real busy weeding out the perennial gardens--strawberries, raspberries, and the flowers on the "berm". My job is now to haul in some mulch to preserve as much of the progress as possible.
  Below is our one apple--which I now think is on the Honeycrisp, not the Zestar, which didn't put out any flowers this year--not sure why.   Could be the warm March followed by the cold April.  Anyway,

one is better than none!   I can be patient.  It doesn't pay to get too anxious to eat fruit from a tree, no matter how good it looks for food.   There is ample historical evidence to attest to this principle.
   There is also historical precedent for not waiting forever either.  If a tree doesn't bear fruit, it gets cut down--not that we are considering that for our apples.   We will continue in Patient Mode, not in Judgment Mode, as this is only our fourth summer with these trees.  They are still babes.

First fruits

Our first crop from our 2012 planting has come in.  These radishes were planted March 17 and harvested  (by Mrs. Gardener) May 6.   That is 7 weeks and about 250 growing degree days (base 50).  I plan to plant some more as soon as the soil dries out, but with warming temps I should get a crop in fewer weeks.   These are very tasty radishes too--very mild.   We received 5.6 inches of rain this week, which should give the subsoil a good reserve in advance of transplanting activities in the next few weeks, once we are past the last average frost date.

Wascally Wabbit!

A bunny got to our lettuce last week, necessitating the construction of a security fence.  While I do believe in free-range lettuce, I didn't plant enough to share with the free-loading neighborhood rabbits.  However, they are welcome to all the grass they care to eat, so invite all  your friends, I say.   In fact, if they could eat the dandelions in the grass, that would be even better.

47 bottles of beer on the floor....

Last night I bottled a new batch of beer.  I started this hobby two years ago, and this is now my 6th batch.  So far I have made all ales from extract kits, this one being a German ale called Altbier.  Starting with my next batch I plan to forgo the kits, and branch out on my own.

Signs of things to come

 I saw our first strawberry flower this week.   Like the fig tree in the Gospels that didn't bear fruit, we are giving this patch one more year to prove itself, or out comes the rototiller!

Our small blueberry bushes have faced much adversity, (drought and grazing deer) so we don't expect to be bearing loads of fruit for a few years yet, but I did spy a few small flowers on the earliest of the three varieties.








We had a real frost last night, enough to freeze water in puddles, but not enough to harm hardy plants so it would seem.  The lettuce I transplanted from bedding plants didn't seem to mind a bit.

Lights, camera, action

Thanks to Mrs. Gardener the bedding plants we bought on Saturday have been transplanted from the little 4-pack size to a 4" pot.  This should be the last stop before they go into the garden, unless they just go crazy in the next 3 weeks.  The last average frost date in these parts is around May 5-10, so we will wait until then to put them out in the garden proper.  I made this little grow light set up a few years back, but haven't used it for the last few years.  On warm days we can set the plants outside and bring them in at night, and on cool days they can stay indoors out of the cold and wind (but not terribly warm in the garage I'm afraid).

Black Gold

 Saturday Ruth and Sam helped me move some finished compost to the gardens and refill the composting bins with new compost-able material.   It's fun to be able to recycle the garden waste and turn it into something that keeps the gardens fertile.  Saturday was just a perfect afternoon for garden work as it wasn't too hot and sunny for what was pretty manual labor. Later in the evening is started raining, and we got an inch of rain Saturday night and another 0.75 Sunday night.  I has also turned cold, with a threat of a frost tonight.  Happily, a warm up is coming.

Spuds

Today was a big afternoon in the garden.  Mrs. Gardener and I did some strategizing, then went out to the garden stores (Donahues, Farmer Seed, and HyVee) to check out what they had. Most of these places are just getting their inventory in place.  Today we bought some seed, seed potatoes, and bedding plants at Farmer Seed.   As you can see from the picture the seed potatoes went in the ground today.  Even though we got 0.3" of rain yesterday, the soil was workable by the late afternoon.  We picked smallish potatoes and planted them whole (instead of cutting in pieces).  Many of the garden books tell you to cut them, dry them, and maybe even treat the exposed surfaces with a chemical.  Last year I cut them and planted them right away with no treatment and all but one grew.  This was even easier.  We selected two varieties this year.  Our favorite, Yukon Gold (foreground) and Kenebec, a traditional baking style potato that is supposed to have good storage qualities.

A quiet week in Lake Wobegon

It's been a quiet week on the garden front.  Cool temperatures have persisted for two weeks (very normal April weather) and the lettuces and radishes aren't doing much.  The peas seem to be growing however.  No frost damage on anything that I can tell.  May never know really if the covering on the apple tree helped; at least it probably didn't hurt.  The farmers are getting their fields  ready, but most have resisted planting corn.  In about 10 days I could be on a planter, probably wearing coveralls.  Might plant potatoes and onion sets this weekend.   Mowed the grass again this week, some of the yard for the first time, some for the second time.

You never know 'til you try

It is supposed to freeze tonight, so we decided to attempt to protect the apple blossoms on our Zestar from being frozen and not setting fruit.   I personally don't think it will be enough if it stays below freezing for more than a few hours, but no way to know without trying.

By the way, last week we had zero GDD and 0 precip (though I think it did drizzle once).

Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!

Our journey East of Eden takes us through some other famous gardens besides the garden of Eden and the garden-city of the new Jerusalem.  This week in the church year we commemorate Jesus passing through the Gethsemane where he prayed for us and was betrayed, and the garden tomb, where he defeated death and appeared to Mary Magdalene, who supposed Him to be a gardener.  The world around us is filled with images of death and resurrection, not least of which is the simple act of planting a seed or bulb.  Our Christian hope, put simply, is that one day we will be planted, and rise again.  "O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?....Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"

Will the real daffodil please stand up!

Here is the picture I should have posted yesterday.  Note to self:  all yellow flowers are not daffodils!