trees

just a quick trip around the property to have a look at some apple trees that are up and running ( and growing ) the top photo and the bottom two are of the trees i planted last summer...all three sprouted leaves last month during the insanely hot march we had and i have covered them with frost cloth ( the green stuff in the background of some of the outdoor photos ) on more than one april night...the second two are of the trees under the grow-light in the basement...they don't have frost worries but will suffer significant shock when they do make it into the great outdoors...resilient critters that they are they will be fine...there is good new growth in all five trees...the outdoor ones have already been heavily mulched with compost and i see that as a summer long trend...hill the potatoes...mulch the trees...they are years away from fruit bearing and there's no real telling what kind of apples they will produce ( odds are they will be spitters fit only for cider )...call it an experiment in genetics...perhaps there's a paper in there somewhere.

new apple trees

the apple trees are coming along pretty well...the scarlet runner bean had grown and has put out a vine that is approximately three feet long ( you can see it to the right in the second photo and wrapping itself around the dowel rods i put in the pot on the left in the two bottom photos )...all the organic and heirloom seeds for the spring garden have arrived ( more germination soon ) and i have potatoes that i bought and freebies from the usda coming...the winter wheat on campus and in the back yard is confused...and in a bit more than a month the spring planting of teosinte begins...and the unmulching of the asparagus...it hasn't been much of a winter really and as far as preparation for a new season goes time's just about up...can't wait.

winter in the basement

it's winter but work on next season is already going on...the top photo is of a scarlet runner bean under the grow light in the basement...i'm growing them this coming spring...they're a cool weather crop that flowers and pods in the spring, lays low in the heat, and picks up production again in the autumn...i haven't grown them before so i germinated one so i'd have an idea of what they looked like...in the two weeks or so since it sprouted i've had to transplant it to a larger pot because the roots were coming out the bottom of the peat pot it was in and it has grown to a bit over ten inches in height...robust viners, i may have to construct a basement trellis before i can put it outside in march...i have been trying to ascertain if they are self-pollinating or if this plant is doomed to not produce...the second photo is of a couple of new apple trees i've got going down there...mostly as a back up if my winterizing plan for the trees outside fails...if it does these trees are going to remain potted and protected until spring 2015 when i'll plant again...if my backyard trees come through ( which is plan a) then i will find homes for these next summer. the basement teosinte is none too happy and i am trying to research the plants seasonal cycle to see if there's a period of dormancy or if they are simply not going to make it through to spring and another season outdoors...i have more seeds from the usda but i'd really like to try to get these to go to seed...that may be impossible this far north...more as it comes up.

back to the plants

the odd weather is playing fast and lose with my winter wheat and i really don't know where it will all end up...good, i hope, but my experience is a bit limited and all that i have read still insists on the need for snow form december to march to insulate the plants form the cold...well...no snow...no real extended sub-freezing weather either...peculiar climate these days...natural or anthropogenic...i suppose that all i can do is wait...there's movement in the basement though...i have never grown scarlet runner beans before so i decided to germinate some just so i would know what they looked like when they came up...odd critters...a north american native and grown form heirloom seeds...perhaps not in its original native range, but on the home continent...close enough for my standards ( bear cultural and demic diffusion in mind)...the indoor teosinte is holding its own...the aphid infestation is down to a few individuals sprayed on a daily basis...obviously eggs have been laid in the soil...i heaped the pots with mushroom mulch to provide some needed nutrients as the winter progresses and the addition of the second gro light seems to be working well...there is new growth ( though not much in the way of new tillers ) on both plants so after several months in the artificial environment of the basement i am guardedly hopeful ( as opposed to optimistic which would be a complete denial of life's realities ) that they will see spring and eventually go to seed...my apple trees did well this past season and they are securely mulched for winter...but, realist that i am, i am hedging my bets by growing a few more just in case i have blundered completely...if the backyard trio come through to spring hale and ready to produce another season's growth i will find homes for the newbies...perhaps as a companion to the tree i planted in my daughter's back yard last summer...everybody likes some company...more stuff as it comes up.

home 10-29-2011

i have been neglectful of apple tree updates of late...i'm pleased to say all three are doing fine out in the back yard...still green...still growing...i have procured stakes and burlap so once they lose their leaves i will get some straw and bed them down for winter along with the one i planted in my daughter's back yard...they have quite a way to go before they bear fruit but my current focus is getting them through the winter...i moved the potted zea diploperennis indoors under the gro-light ( which looks very weird through the viewfinder of my camera...some sort of dissonant wavelength of light between the to of them...it didn't come out in the photo but in the viewfinder it looks like waves of light emanating from the bulb like a waterfall...odd) both plants have new growth tillering out at the base so i am hopeful that i can pull them through downstairs...i may have to re-pot them though if they continue to grow...i have several hundred winter wheat plants up in two of the raised beds and in two of the half barrels...one bed and one barrel will be grown as a crop...the rest will be organic matter to feed the worms and more plants next spring...more on the apple trees as i prepare then for their first winter.

home garden II

the apple trees are doing well...all exhibiting new growth...i have been keeping them well watered ( even before the current blast of summer heat ) and they receive full sun most of the day...i haven't had time to do much research about the number of years it takes for an apple tree to produce fruit...for now i am simply occupied with keeping them healthy through the first year...fruit is an issue for the future...the bottom photo is the perennial bed on the south side of the house...i had fits and starts with the yams but they are coming along now...the vines are winding their way up the trellis and should be feeding an expanding root system to carry the plants over to next year...the elephant garlic has begun to die back and will be harvested soon...hopefully with enough viable bulbs to allow another planting...the jerusalem artichokes at the back have begun to form buds and will flower soon...they are running a bit behind the plants on campus which are already flowering but they are in shade part of the day as opposed to full sunlight which may explain the gap in behavior in plants that sprouted at virtually the same time.

orchard II

by the sixteenth of june the three apple trees i had planted four days earlier had shocked so badly that i thought they might not survive...i had loosened the soil around the area i was planting them in and enriched it with compost and manure...on top of that i had them in the front picture window in full sunlight ( it faces west ) for thirty-five days before i planted thinking that would harden them off...it did not and they immediately began to shed leaves, seemingly dying from the bottom up as leaves withered and died from the ground up...happily nine days later they are recovering and all are displaying signs of new and healthy growth on top as well as renewed greening of the leaves that were left form the die-off...i am relieved that i did not kill the little fellows...now it is a matter of keeping them healthy and shepherding them through their first winter in one piece...i may be any number of years away from my first apples ( if i get there at all) but the experience is good...with some work i may acquire enough skill to deliver fruit.

closer to the orchard

over the past week i have been moving apple trees upstairs into natural light and looking for signs of shock...none so far...i am still obsessing...a dozen of the sixteen i had did well under the light...now i need at least two to adjust to the real world...more would be good but i'm willing to settle....how many apple seeds actually get to be trees?