by George Collins » Tue May 08, 2012 6:20 pm
Matt,
Thanks, I just hope the weather proves to be more cooperative for the rest of the year than it has been so far. I have already lost a few of my trees. The recent two weeks of high wind coupled with a simultaneous lapse in rain fall played havoc with a few of the standards most recently planted. Therein lies a lesson for next year - if a tree can't be in the ground by the end of February, it ain't goin in a'tall. I'm still mad at Burnt Ridge Nurseries for delaying an order made in January (I think it was) until April over ONE little insignificant bush they didn't have in stock. True, they did ask my permission to do so but at a time when I was mentally preoccupied with work and was forced to make a hasty decision. Then there was my order of the low chill cherries from Willis Orchards - I ordered at almost the exact minute that my neighbor whom I helped with the forest garden and his arrived a week later and mine arrived a month later. All of his trees which I set out are living whereas I lost two of the four that went into my own yard.
Then there was the all but the complete absence of any cold weather this year. Some of the specimens that require anywhere close to the average chill hours we are supposed to receive leafing out sporadically or not at all.
So far, it looks as if I ill lose 3 out of 5 cherries, the only almond, the only Japanese persimmon and a May haw.
Live and learn.
Yesterday, after making the mad dash to the walnut grove, one of my sons and I planted some peppers, tomatoes, zucchinis and squash around or just inside the mulch perimeter of several trees in the forest garden. The goal is to use them as a living mulch that may, as a bonus, produce some edibles. Last year, one of the experiments ran was a three-sisters style garden. It didn't produce much but then that wasn't the goal (although it would have been nice), rather it was, in part, to evaluate using squash as a living mulch. Towards that end, the experiment was a resounding success. Squash are very easily grown, productive in the extreme and provide MUCH shade and organic matter and seem to only be plagued by squash vine borers which were a true nemesis. Where the borers left the squash plants alone, they filled the mulch function wonderfully.
As the hay deteriorates around the fruit trees, the hope is that (primarily) the squash plants will provide a seamless continuity to the principle of keeping the whole garden permanently mulched. I anticipate gearing up this play in the future until the time for canopy closure approaches or until they are replaced piecemeal with more system beneficial specimens or edible perennials.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"
"If you can't beat them, bite them."