Slowly making progress on the garden

Yesterday, The Boy and I made a trip to Home Depot to get some materials for a few permanent planter boxes.  We're going to put in onions and garlic initially.  Of course, I need to make the boxes first.  One thing at a time....

Diatomaceous Earth is down in the field/orchard

As I've mentioned before, we have a grub problem in the field/orchard.  I've seen quite a few as I've planted the apple trees and blueberry bushes and, more recently, evidence of moles on a hunt for a meal.

While at the townhouse, we learned about diatomaceous earth (food grade) and its many uses.  Apparently, it's great for humans as well as as a "green" pesticide.

Given we had mole problems in both the front and back of the house, we tried it and had fantastic success.  With that history in mind, we're trying it on a much larger scale in the field.

Wifey did an application yesterday around the apples and blueberries, then spread out as far elsewhere as she could reach before running out of the bag we had on hand.

Since it's raining as I type, it should be getting absorbed into the soil now.  I hope it helps!

Four blueberries are in

Yesterday, The Boy and I spent a bit of time and planted the last blueberry bush in our burgeoning orchard.  

Now, we continue watering diligently and deal with the moles who appear to be hunting the grubs I've seen while planting the trees and bushes.  We have used food grade diatomaceous earth with great effect in the past and will do so again.

Three blueberries are in the ground

Nothing all that notable here.  Another blueberry has been planted.  One more to go.

So we have a fig tree and no figs

One of the permaculture trees that we inherited is a single fig tree near the house.  We had a conversation with the previous owners where they mentioned that it hadn't fruited.  While they didn't explicitly state how old it is, I gathered it was a few years.

A few months later, there are still no fruits.  I've been doing some reading to see why that may be the case.

Here's what I've found:

A fig tree likes full sun.

Currently the tree is shaded by a smallish maple.  I already know that I need to do a good bit of pruning to it, but this adds more incentive to do so.

 It may be "immature."

From what I've read, most fruit trees need a few years to reach maturity to begin fruiting.  Some fig trees, apparently, can take as long as six years to reach maturity.  Considering we don't know what the variety is, we can't know about the maturity with this tree. 

There may be too much nitrogen.

I don't think this is the case because we haven't done any fertilizing of the tree.  Also, based on what we're finding with the house and yard, I strongly suspect the previous owners never fertilized, either.

There may be water stress

If the tree has too much or not enough water, it may not produce fruit.  The summer was very dry, so this could be the issue.

It may be the "wrong" kind of fig.

There are some varieties of fig tree that requires cross pollination by a special wasp to set the fruit.  If winter temps get low enough, the wasp can't survive the winters.  Without the wasp, there will be no fruit for that variety of fig tree.

In sandy soils, root-knot nematodes could cause problems with fruit production.

I don't think this is the case since it's in a raised bed and our soil trends toward clay, not sand.

So.....I think we're looking at a lack of sunshine and likely not enough water (could also explain the miniature peaches we had) at the minimum.  It could also be the "wrong" kind of fig as well as being an "immature" plant.

Since we're working on a plan for redoing the large bed in front of the house, it may serve us well to plant another fig in that location.  More to come regarding the developing plans for our front bed.

First two blueberry bushes are in!

Yesterday afternoon, The Boy and I got the first two blueberry bushes in the ground.  As with the apple trees, the plan is to have the earliest blooming plants closest to the house with the sequence of blooms heading east-bound.  The rationale is that as each new set of plants begin to flower, they can be pollinated by the previous plant in the series.

I currently only have four blueberry bushes (represented by the blue circles), but will leave some space for others in case we care to add more. 

In doing reading about spacing, I was surprised to find that it's recommended to have the bushes very close together.  A common reference of 6' apart was mentioned.  I would think that that would lead to there being issues with fungal growth.  Regardless, I have the first two spaced 6' apart.

I also couldn't find anything about how close (or far) to space them from other plants.  I ended up planting them 10' from the apple trees.  Considering the tallest blueberry is expected to be "up to 6' tall" and the apple trees should be at/under that, I figured that would be a safe distance.  If I'm wrong, I'll have to trim and/or transplant the bushes.

I need to figure out where I want to plant raspberries.  I'm leaning toward putting them between the blueberries and walnut trees.  While additional blueberries may be okay at that distance, the fact they don't like the juglone exuded from the black walnut makes me a bit nervous.  From what I've read, that distance should be okay, but perhaps not.  I'd rather not chance it.

Unfortunately, I've also read that certain varieties of raspberries are intolerant to juglone.  Fuuuun.....

I've got a fever! And the only prescription is more fruit plants!

Yes, indeedie-o.  We bought more fruit plants for the orchard this weekend.  Blueberry bushes, this time.

My wonderfully patient and accommodating Wifey succumbed to my requests to go visit Behnke's Nursery again.  We just happened to be back in that neck of the woods yesterday.  Pure coincidence.  I'm just sayin....

Once there, we meandered around the nursery, but ultimately ended up back where the fruit plants were.

While I was taking a look at our options, a nice employee asked if we had any questions or needed help.  He very helpfully answered our questions about amending the soil (do the same as with the apples), highbush vs lowbush (highbush for this area), and whether fall vs spring (fall wins) is a better time to plant.

After he left, I got the "green light" from the wife to pick some out.  After I finished begging all the haggling was over, we got one plant each from four varieties.  In this way, we can span a rather lengthy period of time of the summer growing season with some overlap in productivity.

In most cases, there was only one variety to choose as an option, but there were a few types to choose from in certain time spans (such as late June through early July).  I also avoided hybrids.

We purchased the following:

Patriot Northern Highbush

• large berries
• delicately sweet flavor
• harvest in late June to early July
• grows 3'-5' tall and wide

Bluecrop Northern Highbush

• large berries
• sweet, slightly tart berries.
• harvest in early to mid-July
• grows 4'-6' tall and 3'-5' wide

Blueray Northern Highbush

• very large berries
• rich flavor: sweet, but slightly tart
• harvest in mid-July
• grows 4'-6' tall and 3'-5' wide

 Jersey Northern Highbush

• small/medium berries
• mild to sweet, juicy
• harvest in late July to early August
• grows 6'-8' tall, 5'-6' wide

I have a sneaking suspicion that we will want more bushes at some point.  Perhaps not.  Regardless, I need to take that into account when planting so I have some space to accommodate a few more if we end up wanting to add more.

 Until I can start planting, they're hanging out on the driveway pad.

Learning about crops - Paw Paw

One of the many advantages of this property over the many others we evaluated is that there are some food crops already in residence.  One of them is the paw paw.

In my reading, I keep coming across variations of the phrase of "North America's tropical fruit."  In looking at the leaves, I can certainly see why it has that description.   

 




For those who know nothing about paw paws - or, like me, had never heard of them before - paw paws are a deciduous fruit tree.  They have rather large eye-shaped leaves in a medium shade of green.  

The fruit are the most intriguing part of the paw paw. You can find them dropped from the trees (they're ripe) or can pick them directly and ripen for a day or so until slightly soft.  They only keep for a day or two after being removed from the tree.

The fruit flavors are very complex.  They have a custard-like quality with a mango/pineapple/banana flavor.  While it is somewhat appealing, I'm not a fan of mango.  While I have no intention of removing the trees, I'm not planning on actively spreading their growth, either.  In our household, we're currently planning on using them in smoothies and, perhaps, as a flavor for homemade gelato.


Growing Paw Paw
Paw paws prefer full sun, but can live in part-shade areas.  For reference, mine are typically found near the south-facing edge of the woods-line on my property.  They grow in Zones 5A through 9 and typically prefer wet-to-moist soil.  At full height, they are 25'-to-35' tall.



Nutrition Information
According to Kentucky State University's Cooperative Extension, regarding a respectably-sized paw paw (think kiwi-sized):

They are high in vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese. They are a good source of potassium and several essential amino acids, and they also contain significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc. Pawpaws contain these nutrients in amounts that are generally about the same as or greater than those found in bananas, apples, or oranges.

Specific nutritional information is found on KSU's Table 2 after following the link.

10% of your RDA of Vitamin B-6, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, and niacin.  In addition, the fruit has 30% of Vitamin C, 35% of your RDH of magnesium, 22% of your RDH of copper, and a whopping 74% of your RDH of manganese.

There can be only one.......left.

Today was another day of planting apple trees.

In my drive home as I turned on to our street, I saw that The Boy had been busy again.  In addition to the four apple trees there this morning, the far field (soon to be The Orchard once we have two fruit varieties there or sufficient quantity) was populated with a bag of mulch, a bag of composted leaves, three shovels, a wagon, and a stroller.  I don't know why, but there was a stroller there.

Eventually, I found out that The Girl wanted to help push something to the field so she got to push an empty stroller.  Well..........okay.......moving on.........

Again, the two big kids helped me plant another tree.  Enterprise, this time.  The only change is that The Girl helped dig the hole while The Boy schlepped buckets of water and an extra bag of mulch from the house.  Genius strategery on the part of dear, ol' dad to keep the kids from messing with one another.

In the end, another apple tree was planted in the field leaving only one left all alone on the driveway pad.

Added another "Helpful Site" to sidebar

For anyone who checks the blog periodically, I just added another "Helpful Site" to the sidebar.

In doing some more research about establishing permaculture on my property, I came across Living Off Grid Guide's How to Grow Fruit and Nut Trees article.  There's a lot of great info there about different types of fruit and nut trees, how to plant them, where/when, and what each needs to be successful.

Four apple trees in, two to go.

Yesterday, we planted the fourth apple tree in the far field.  The Boy eagerly prepared the activity by using his wagon to bring the mulch, composted leaves, shovels, and two buckets of water out to the site.  All that in the time it took me to get recalibrated from work-mode to home-mode.

After a bit of time and some hard work from The Boy and The Girl, a fourth tree joined the mix.

 

A third apple tree has joined the mix

Yesterday was another clear fall day with nice temperatures in the mid-60's (Fahrenheit).  Since Wifey was holding her own with The Bear (aka the baby), I took the big kids out to the field to plant another tree.

The Boy was a big help.  The Girl was very enthusiastic but was best suited for the role of cheerleader from the seat on the riding mower.  Everything took longer than the day before -- we planted one tree in the time it took to do two the day before -- but it was more about teaching the kids and getting them excited about having an orchard than being productive.

Regardless, another tree is in the ground.  This time it's a Honeycrisp.  Three trees to go!

The first two apple trees are in the ground!

A few weeks ago, I purchased our first candidates for the fruit orchard -- 6 apple trees.  I held out on planting them because they require daily watering for at least the first week.  With our being out of town last weekend, I didn't want to chance damaging them.

I was finally able to pick them up from Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville, MD the other day.

With a finite amount of time after work yesterday, I only wanted to get 2 in the ground.  Thankfully, a riding mower was included in the price of the house.  It comes with a small trailer so hauling those two trees and soil amendments to the field (future orchard) was easy.

Since I'd pre-dug some of the holes, widening them was rather easy.  Planting instructions vary.  While all recommend digging to the depth of the root ball, some vary the diameter either stating that 2x or 3x the size of the ball is the way to go.  I went with 3x+ just to allow for plenty of expansion of the roots right away.

The help people at Behnke's recommend amending the soil before/during planting.  Since we have a lot of clay in Maryland, I went with a three-part mix of native soil, leaf compost (LeafGro), and pine bark mulch.  The mulch is much less dense than the other two parts and allows for air and water to get down to the roots as well as to help the roots to expand to a larger diameter as the tree grows. 

After a few hours of work, I have the first two trees in the ground.  To help deter deer from feeding on them, I'll be draping plastic mesh from the trees.  I will also do some research into buying a trunk-wrap material.  I don't have that stuff right now.  Soon, though.

Laying the ground work for the orchard

Along with the garden we are planning, we also plan to start a fruit orchard.  Once all is said and done, we plan to have apples, persimmons, raspberries, and blueberries.  There may be more to come.  For now, apples.

Unfortunately, as with most things in our life, there are complications.  Unlike other issues with the house, these aren't water-related.

With the far field, the issue is related to the black walnut trees that are on the woods-line.  I didn't know it until paying one of the area plant nurseries a visit, but, apparently, black walnut is very toxic to a variety of plants.  Its not just the walnuts, it's the leaves and roots too.  According to reading from the nursery (corroborated elsewhere on the internet), the distance of 1.5x the diameter of the tree canopy is considered toxic.  Making matters more difficult is that apples and blueberries are intolerant of black walnuts.  The good news is that plums, cherries, black and purple raspberries, nectarines, peaches are okay.

Today, we bought six apple trees from Behnke Nurseries.  Unlike the other 3 nurseries we visited in the area, they had a number of fruit trees that were also in very good shape.  We purchased two each of three varieties of apples: Enterprise, Jonathan, and Honeycrisp.  We chose the Jonathan because it is sweet/tart, harvested early in the fall (Aug-Sept), and is self-pollinating.  The Honeycrisp and Enterprise are also sweet/tart and pollinate mid-way through the season.

The picture above shows the two black walnut trees in red.  In order to keep the apples away from the walnuts, I laid out the plant locations per consensus as found from resources on the internet.  Thankfully, two of the varieties are semi-dwarf and one is dwarf; due to the smaller size of those two types, they don't take up as much space.

I will be picking up the trees in two batches this week.