April Ruminations

The workload from winter to now was too much for me to do much in the garden.  This week was better, and I have some hope for the weekend.

So...

I'll buy a couple more containers for container gardening, and potting soil for that.  Containers make the most efficient, doable method for many plants.

Last weekend I cleared out an existing container, that last year was used for chilis, strawberries, and garlic.  I topped it off with additional potting soil, and planted seeds for mesclun, lettuce, radishes, and cilantro.  I also planted cilantro seeds around the potted peach trees.

There is not much pruning to do now.

Fruit trees are a perfect garden plant for the overworked but yearning home gardener.  Once planted, they don't need too much care.  Some time is needed for pruning, especially if doing Backyard Orchard Culture (BOC).  That is best in summer, and with long days in summer is doable.  Also enjoyable.  I used the trimmings for mulch last summer, which helps with weeds.

I will need to apply plastic bands around the trees and tanglefoot.  I saw ants on the cherries.  Ants bring aphids, and aphid cause a lot of damage and stunting, and damage fruit. Ditto for the figs, apples, pears.

There aren't a lot of bees this year.  I did see some bumble bees.  That's good.  I went around with a small paintbrush and cross pollinated cherries, ditto for pears.  May not be needed, but not difficult and gives me a chance to get close to my little orchard trees.  This is another advantage of BOC - easy to reach the branches to pollinate by hand.

If there is time this weekend, I will prepare a container for some means, and replant some strawberries that I pulled out for the container discussed above.

That's about all.  No use overwhelming myself.  Pacing is important.