Thursday, March 12, 2009
Oldie, The Garden Song
Chorus:
Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
Til the rain comes tumbling down
Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones,
we are made of dreams and bones
I feel the need to grow my own cause the time is close at hand
Grain for grain, sun and rain I'll find my way in nature's chain
Tune my body and my brain to the music of the land
Chorus
Plant your rows straight and long,
Temper them with prayer and song
Mother earth will keep you strong if you give her love and care
An old crow watching hungrily from his perch in yonder tree
In my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there
Chorus
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Rootstocks
Looking into backyard orchard culture information, I want to keep track of my rootstocks. I'm not sure if this information will be useful, but if I don't put it here, I wont have it. This information is not available for most of our existing trees, unless I kept the labels somewhere. Here are a few that I found:
Hollywood Plum - Marianna 2624
Shiro Plum - Marianna 2624
Surefire Cherry - Gisela 5
Combo Asian Pear - OHF97
Prior trees, if current catalog info is still correct -
El Dorado Peach - Lovell
Tri-Lite Peach-plum - Lovell
I have recepits that show:
Liberty Apple - M27
Jonagold Apple - M27
Garden Gold Peach - Lovell
Flavor Delight APrium - Citation
According to Raintree, Lovell is a "seed-grown standard peach rootstock has proven dependable and may develop a longer lived tree with better disease resistance and hardiness than other peach rootstocks. " Dave Wilson Nurseries states that Lovell is "slightly more resistant to wet conditions than Nemaguard but prefers well-drained soils, slightly more resistant to bacterial canker than Nemaguard" but also "susceptible to root-knot and root-lesion nematodes and to oak-root fungus, some what susceptible to bacterial canker"
According to fruitforum.net, Gisela 5 is a rootstock of choice for growers and makes a compact tree for gardens, although that information referred to sweet cherries.
According to the Dave Wilson Nurseries label, Citation"Resists root-knot nematodes. Induces heavy bearing at a young age. Trees on Citation may be held to any desired height by summer pruning"
As for the Marianna, Dave Wilson Nurseries states "slightly dwarfing, moderately resistant to Phytophthora crown and root rot and oak root fungus, tolerates wet soils, root-knot nematode resistant" but tends to lean, shallow roots the first few years, very susceptible to bacterial canker... susceptible to crown gall..." Raintree states "It will produce a semidwarf tree maintained from 10 to 15 feet tall. It does very well on wet soils and tolerates a variety of soils. It is compatible as an understock for plums, peaches and some almonds and apricots."
Dave Wilson Nurseries states that OHF-97 "...vigorous, widely adapted, disease-resistant. Winter hardy, tolerant of wet soils."
Hollywood Plum - Marianna 2624
Shiro Plum - Marianna 2624
Surefire Cherry - Gisela 5
Combo Asian Pear - OHF97
Prior trees, if current catalog info is still correct -
El Dorado Peach - Lovell
Tri-Lite Peach-plum - Lovell
I have recepits that show:
Liberty Apple - M27
Jonagold Apple - M27
Garden Gold Peach - Lovell
Flavor Delight APrium - Citation
According to Raintree, Lovell is a "seed-grown standard peach rootstock has proven dependable and may develop a longer lived tree with better disease resistance and hardiness than other peach rootstocks. " Dave Wilson Nurseries states that Lovell is "slightly more resistant to wet conditions than Nemaguard but prefers well-drained soils, slightly more resistant to bacterial canker than Nemaguard" but also "susceptible to root-knot and root-lesion nematodes and to oak-root fungus, some what susceptible to bacterial canker"
According to fruitforum.net, Gisela 5 is a rootstock of choice for growers and makes a compact tree for gardens, although that information referred to sweet cherries.
According to the Dave Wilson Nurseries label, Citation"Resists root-knot nematodes. Induces heavy bearing at a young age. Trees on Citation may be held to any desired height by summer pruning"
As for the Marianna, Dave Wilson Nurseries states "slightly dwarfing, moderately resistant to Phytophthora crown and root rot and oak root fungus, tolerates wet soils, root-knot nematode resistant" but tends to lean, shallow roots the first few years, very susceptible to bacterial canker... susceptible to crown gall..." Raintree states "It will produce a semidwarf tree maintained from 10 to 15 feet tall. It does very well on wet soils and tolerates a variety of soils. It is compatible as an understock for plums, peaches and some almonds and apricots."
Dave Wilson Nurseries states that OHF-97 "...vigorous, widely adapted, disease-resistant. Winter hardy, tolerant of wet soils."
More Fruit Tree Orders
Uh Oh....
Last weekend I looked online at Raintree Nursery again. Decided to order two additional trees to grow, using the backyard orchard culture method:
Surefire Cherry. I was thinking about my parent's cherry tree, and realized that I haven't had a pie made from sour cherries for about 30 years. Being into "slow food" - you can't get much slower than starting out with the a small, bare-root tree. OK, you could plant a seed to grow the tree, but I'll be dead before I get cherries from a seed-grown tree. Tree should be here in 1-2 weeks. The 'ideal location' in the backyard was occupied by a rose (Carl Brunner), so yesterday I dug it up and moved it a few feet to the former location of "Angel face", which did not survive the winter and has now joined other Angels in heaven. Well, actually, in compost, but it sounded nice. The location is ready, I added some chicken compost, and will add some eggshells when planting the tree. Some thought actually went into this selection: It blooms later than other cherries. Late frost has been a fruit-tree nemesis, so the later flowering is a bonus. Most sour cherries, including this one, are also self-fertile, so no pollinator variety is needed. They stay fairly compact, especially compared to sweet cherries, so the pruning might be easier as well. IT's on Gisela5 rootstock.
I DID say two trees. I've been developing a taste for asian pears - they are crispy like apples, but have more flavor, like pears. Not enough room for more than one, and most asian pears need a pollinator, so I ordered a multigraft Asian Pear. I won't know the 3 varieties until it arrives. It will be all but one of:
Shinseiki (medium to large, sweet, yellow fruit, late August).
Yoinashi (medium to large, russeted, butterscotch flavor).
Hamese (mid sized, sweet, yellow fruit, mid August).
Mishirasu (large, russetted fruit, late September).
They can't say which if the 4 is missing. If I could pick, I would go for the two sweet yellows and either of the russetted, but any combination is OK with me. Planning for this to go into a front-yard border, possibly in the location of the opuntia (winter did a job on that one too) or eucalyptus (also a winter victim - there is a trend here). I'll have to look at the site from multiple angles to scope out the optimal location.
We already have a multigraft European pear and a multigraft sweet cherry. Some authors are not crazy about multigraft trees, since some varieties may be more vigorous than others, but my feeling is that for trees that need pollinizers, it's a way to achieve that need in one tree. Plus, judicious pruning can keep the most vigorous in check and allow the other varieties some space as well. I've added a couple of unknown variety grafts to the dwarf apple trees, last year. If we are very lucky, they'll bear this year.
Last weekend I looked online at Raintree Nursery again. Decided to order two additional trees to grow, using the backyard orchard culture method:
Surefire Cherry. I was thinking about my parent's cherry tree, and realized that I haven't had a pie made from sour cherries for about 30 years. Being into "slow food" - you can't get much slower than starting out with the a small, bare-root tree. OK, you could plant a seed to grow the tree, but I'll be dead before I get cherries from a seed-grown tree. Tree should be here in 1-2 weeks. The 'ideal location' in the backyard was occupied by a rose (Carl Brunner), so yesterday I dug it up and moved it a few feet to the former location of "Angel face", which did not survive the winter and has now joined other Angels in heaven. Well, actually, in compost, but it sounded nice. The location is ready, I added some chicken compost, and will add some eggshells when planting the tree. Some thought actually went into this selection: It blooms later than other cherries. Late frost has been a fruit-tree nemesis, so the later flowering is a bonus. Most sour cherries, including this one, are also self-fertile, so no pollinator variety is needed. They stay fairly compact, especially compared to sweet cherries, so the pruning might be easier as well. IT's on Gisela5 rootstock.
I DID say two trees. I've been developing a taste for asian pears - they are crispy like apples, but have more flavor, like pears. Not enough room for more than one, and most asian pears need a pollinator, so I ordered a multigraft Asian Pear. I won't know the 3 varieties until it arrives. It will be all but one of:
Shinseiki (medium to large, sweet, yellow fruit, late August).
Yoinashi (medium to large, russeted, butterscotch flavor).
Hamese (mid sized, sweet, yellow fruit, mid August).
Mishirasu (large, russetted fruit, late September).
They can't say which if the 4 is missing. If I could pick, I would go for the two sweet yellows and either of the russetted, but any combination is OK with me. Planning for this to go into a front-yard border, possibly in the location of the opuntia (winter did a job on that one too) or eucalyptus (also a winter victim - there is a trend here). I'll have to look at the site from multiple angles to scope out the optimal location.
We already have a multigraft European pear and a multigraft sweet cherry. Some authors are not crazy about multigraft trees, since some varieties may be more vigorous than others, but my feeling is that for trees that need pollinizers, it's a way to achieve that need in one tree. Plus, judicious pruning can keep the most vigorous in check and allow the other varieties some space as well. I've added a couple of unknown variety grafts to the dwarf apple trees, last year. If we are very lucky, they'll bear this year.
Temperature Jan and Feb 2009
Keeping track of temperature so that NEXT YEAR when I'm wondering "was it this cold/warm last year?" I can look back and see what it was like. Excel makes for easy to read graphs, here are the highs and lows for Jan and Feb.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Early March Garden Log
What's growing and blooming?
Daffodils are about 4 inches tall. Many closed flower buds are present. Hyacinths, similar size.
Rhubarb is the first food plant to start growing. I love the crinkled red leaves and knobby buds.
Helleborus is blooming. Since the plant is short and the flowers droop, they are difficult to appreciate.
Garlic is alive and about 5 inches tall. We'll have garlic this year! I was concerned that the extreme cold this winter might have done it in.
Pussy willow is blooming, but not much. It may be too young, or not in enough sun.
Forsythia has green buds. I don't know if it will bloom - no yellow shows - again, it's on the North side of the house, so possibly not enough sun. Last year the flowers were sparse.
I planted cuttings from my Dad's forsythia from Illinois. That shrub is at least 50 years old and maybe 80 years old. Not really special, but if the cuttings grow, I'll have a bit of a keepsake from my past.
Pear blossoms are swelling. Lilac blossoms are swelling. Aprium blossoms starting to show a little pink.
The plum trees that I recently planted are starting to show life, with swelling buds. Can I hope for, maybe, one plum each, so that I know what they taste like? I did spray both with the last bit of lime-sulfur.
Finches are fighting in the feeder now.
Today was a day off. Overcast, not too cold. I did the following in the back yard:
Pruned roses. Most have about 1 inch of growth. Local authorities precaution against pruning too early, since pruning supposedly stinulates growth which can be killed by frost. Since they are growing now anyway, I don't see the difference. I have pruned as early as January, and many neighborhood roses were pruned then as well, but this year I thought I would try to follow the 'experts' advice.
Most were cut back to about 2 feet tall. Tallest was about 7 feet tall before pruning. Removed dead wood. Sprayed these roses with the left-over lime sulfur from the peaches, but to prevent leaf spot.
Still a lot of roses to prune in the front yard. Maybe this weekend.
Uncovered peaches. These are miniature peach trees. Big problem last year was leaf curl, which destroyed the crop and almost killed the trees. Last fall, I sprayed with Micro-cop and covered the trees with plastic (see links). I meant to uncover them last week but was not able. They are actually starting to grow. The tiniest is blooming. Uh-oh. So, I uncovered. I read that micro-cop doesnt work, so I sprayed with Lily Miller PolySul Summer and dormant spray at dilution C, which is for growing season. I used the more dilute spray due to concern for toxicity to new buds. This may not be strong enough for leaf curl (4 teaspoons per gallon instead of 1 cup per gallon) but compromise is necessary. Maybe the unscientific combination will be better than no spray? This is considered organic since it is just lime and sulfur, not petrochemicals. Depends on who you talk to.
Daffodils are about 4 inches tall. Many closed flower buds are present. Hyacinths, similar size.
Rhubarb is the first food plant to start growing. I love the crinkled red leaves and knobby buds.
Helleborus is blooming. Since the plant is short and the flowers droop, they are difficult to appreciate.
Garlic is alive and about 5 inches tall. We'll have garlic this year! I was concerned that the extreme cold this winter might have done it in.Pussy willow is blooming, but not much. It may be too young, or not in enough sun.
Forsythia has green buds. I don't know if it will bloom - no yellow shows - again, it's on the North side of the house, so possibly not enough sun. Last year the flowers were sparse.
I planted cuttings from my Dad's forsythia from Illinois. That shrub is at least 50 years old and maybe 80 years old. Not really special, but if the cuttings grow, I'll have a bit of a keepsake from my past.
Pear blossoms are swelling. Lilac blossoms are swelling. Aprium blossoms starting to show a little pink.
The plum trees that I recently planted are starting to show life, with swelling buds. Can I hope for, maybe, one plum each, so that I know what they taste like? I did spray both with the last bit of lime-sulfur.
Finches are fighting in the feeder now.
Today was a day off. Overcast, not too cold. I did the following in the back yard:
Pruned roses. Most have about 1 inch of growth. Local authorities precaution against pruning too early, since pruning supposedly stinulates growth which can be killed by frost. Since they are growing now anyway, I don't see the difference. I have pruned as early as January, and many neighborhood roses were pruned then as well, but this year I thought I would try to follow the 'experts' advice.
Most were cut back to about 2 feet tall. Tallest was about 7 feet tall before pruning. Removed dead wood. Sprayed these roses with the left-over lime sulfur from the peaches, but to prevent leaf spot.Still a lot of roses to prune in the front yard. Maybe this weekend.
Uncovered peaches. These are miniature peach trees. Big problem last year was leaf curl, which destroyed the crop and almost killed the trees. Last fall, I sprayed with Micro-cop and covered the trees with plastic (see links). I meant to uncover them last week but was not able. They are actually starting to grow. The tiniest is blooming. Uh-oh. So, I uncovered. I read that micro-cop doesnt work, so I sprayed with Lily Miller PolySul Summer and dormant spray at dilution C, which is for growing season. I used the more dilute spray due to concern for toxicity to new buds. This may not be strong enough for leaf curl (4 teaspoons per gallon instead of 1 cup per gallon) but compromise is necessary. Maybe the unscientific combination will be better than no spray? This is considered organic since it is just lime and sulfur, not petrochemicals. Depends on who you talk to.
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