Fig Row. Final Fall Cleanup. 11.12.14

Fig Row.  11.11.14

Today I took a little time to clean up the row of fig starts.  Most have wire screens.  There has been no rain for  days, so grass was mowable. 

All mowed grass went into mulch.

Plastic covered areas will be used for bee forage next year.  Killing the grass with plastic cover for the winter.  Late winter I can plant the bee plants.  Most likely annual herbs such as I grew this year in other locations.

The end result will be a row.  Then I dont have to mow circles around the trees.  Much easier and faster, low maintenance.

They have all hardened off.  Not as soft as last year.  Most are about knee high to waist high.  Most are multiple trunk.

If there is super-cold predicted, I'll protect better.  Otherwise, the main protection is screening for herbivores.

Containerized fig trees are in shed now.  No need to panic when there is a hard freeze.  That method worked last year down to 8° F.

Prediction for tonight is 27° F.  I also moved containerized figs at home, into the garage.

Orchard Cleanup. 11.9.14

Orchard Cleanup.  11.9.14

Not much to clean up.  I'm changing approach to soil surface.  Previously, I planted various herbs around each tree.  Now I wonder of the more aggressive of those - peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm - competed with the tree growth.  The soil is very soft and moist today.  So for the first row - Saijo persimmon and the 3 paw paws, I pulled out the herbs and covered with collected maple leaves.  That's the end of the leaves, so something else will have to serve the rest.

Previous mulches have done a good job.  Soil was very soft and crumbly - not soggy clay.

Reading some permaculture, I wonder if this is what some hobbyists call the start of a "food forest".

Propagation Progress Report. Trees and Shrubs. 11.9.14

Forsythia Cutting at about 10 months.  11.9.14

Ginkgo biloba seedlings at about 2 years.  11.9 .14

Laburnum Cutting at about 2 years.  11.9.14

Today I dug up some of the starts I had around the yard  Some were in a vegetable bed that I want to re-orient to vegetables next spring.  Some were in a hedge row and had been chewed by herbivores (Laburnums).  The gingkos needed to come out of the iris raised bed before the roots extended past the chicken wire bottom.

I planted one forsythia start where I dug out the laburnums.  The other is shown here.  I repotted with intent to give more TLC next year for faster growth.

Similar for the ginkgo seedlings.  These have good root systems.

One laburnum was especially chewed up.  So much for them being toxic and repelling herbivores.  The other had more roots than expected for size.

Not bad for not trying all that hard.  Especially the forsythias - all I did with those was stick dormant prunings into the ground, late winter.

Laburnum Cutting at about 2 years.  11.9.14

Repotted Plant Starts.  11.9.14

Raintree Order. 11.8.14

I placed the following order.  Raintree usually delivers in Feb, around here.

4 variety semidwarf apple.  Replaces my graft that died.  Given the deer, I wanted something bigger than the minidwarfs.  Less trouble even though taller.  This one is Akane, Chehalis, Honeycrisp, Beni Shogun.  All with some disease resistance.  Big enough for me to graft more down the road.   

Pixi Cot miniature apricot.  For container since in ground ones always die in late freeze.

Arbiquina Olive.  For container.  We saw lots of containerized olives in the Mediterranian last month.  I can bring it inside for hard freeze weather.

Early to order. Gives me something to look forward to.

Fall Chores. Leaf Harvest. Mulch. Perennial Border. Tree Progress Report. 11.8.14

Tree Row.  11.8.14

Tree Row.  11.8.14

 Leaves are collected from the big maple.  It took some effort.  It's our tree, but near the neighbor yard.  If I don't get them, they collect and burn.   I don't want to argue.  So I collected when I could.  This was a lot of leaves, none the less. 

Instead of a large leaf pile for compost, I piled them around trees and shrubs for mulch.  Seedlings of weeds were beginning to grow in the grass clipping mulch I applied early summer, now wet.  The leaves will kill those weeds and add more nutrients to soil.  The worms will like them.  Once I mow, it will look neat.

Tree row - most look good, becoming established nicely.  Linden, laburnum, Crimson maple, Mountain Ash, all excellent growth.

Front Perennial Border, West  11.8.18

Front Perennial Border, East.  11.8.18

The only tree in this row that didn't make it was Kousa Dogwood.  My fault for not being aggressive about root pruning when I planted it.  Now replaced by Japanese maple, a volunteer from Vancouver yard, has a lot or promise and surprisingly large in its 3rd year.  Will need some formative pruning winter, no problem.  That one has nice green stems and reddish fall leaf color, weeping branches.  Nice.

Front border, the big western end is done.  Added cedar chips on top of the pine needles.  The pine needles were too sparse, would have allowed weed seedlings.  I hope this is low maintenance for a long time. 

The eastern end hasn't been started.  I have to pace myself.  Want to today but it's 1:00 and a ton of homework to do. 

I love the fog in the fall mornings.  Peaceful, soothing, mellow.