Windy Days and Apple Trees

First thing this morning, before I was willing to admit to actually being awake, (It is the one year anniversary of my retirement afterall) my husband said "let's go to Home Depot early this morning (like before breakfast) and get your apple tree".  

More about that later.

A Beautiful Sunny Spring Morning

This has been a fairly busy week, but I haven't blogged anything because until now I haven't finished anything.  I've been whittling away slowly at things.  The weather hasn't been bad, but it hasn't been good either.  There haven't been any really good "let's do a bunch of projects" type of days.  It has been more a "dash out and work for an hour" type of week.  

We dug a big hole out from under the front pavers that heaved in the winter and filled it back with gravel. We got the new load of beautiful fresh, aromatic mulch. but did not get back to mulching because it has been too wet.  Really freakin' wet. We got a dump truck load of rocks for a creek bed expansion.  The truck got off the edge of the drive and got really stuck.  The load got dumped in the middle of everything just to get the truck out.  My husband spent a whole afternoon sorting that problem out.   I spent two or three partial days preparing planting areas but not actually planting anything.  Things came in the mail.  Thoughts piled up.  Goals finally got accomplished.

My potato shipment came and is on the garden shed counter "chitting"

My spring bulb order came and was inspected but isn't ready to plant yet.

The cauliflower transplants got broken up into three tasks.  First the bed was raked and fertilized.  Then I drilled all the holes for the frost cover supports for this bed and another bed.  On the third day I rounded up the right frost cover and the shade cloth and installed that.  Then yesterday I transplanted the ones that were ready.  This freed up a spot under my grow light in the basement so this morning I seeded tomatoes.

This morning the third planting of peas went in with a side dressing of lettuce.

The first peas are looking nice, and the second row is just starting to poke through and will be visible in two or three days, right on schedule.  Those pots have teeny tiny carrots too.  Too small to photograph.

Closeup of peas and lettuce

Now back to that apple tree.  For the past year or so I have known that I needed to plant an apple tree near the garden as a cross pollinator for the two Northern Spy trees.  Away in the corner of the backyard we had three trees that the last owners had planted about 70 years ago.  One, a Yellow Transparent, we cut down a few years ago because we never got any apples from it and as an early, soft apple it was an absolute pest magnet.  Between the crows and the squirrels and the deer it was a feeding frenzy.  Sure its nice to feed the wildlife but I didn't want to draw them into our yard just to eat all those apples and then stay for the next batch too.

This left us with a Macintosh and an Empire.  In a good year we might get a bushel of apples which made really sweet applesauce.  And at least they cross pollinated the Spies. Last year the Empire tree finished dying and we pushed her over and hauled her to the burn pile.  I knew the Mac wouldn't last much longer.  We talked about putting a new tree in the spot where the Empire was but there were two problems with this.  #1 it was too close to the woods so there wasn't enough sun and #2 it was too close to the woods so the squirrels could jump from the woods trees right into the apple trees.  We had trimmed back some of the woods limbs but it was still not a good spot.  We needed to pick a spot in the garden area where we could defend our crop.  Yes, the main reason for planting it would be cross pollination but when you go to the expense and trouble to plant a tree you want to eat the apples too.

We have all of this room, but still there aren't a lot of unused areas.  You have to take into consideration what surface the apples are going to fall on and how it might affect your mowing and if it is in a high traffic area for squirrels and deer so on and so forth.  And it shouldn't be too wet and honestly, just about everywhere is too wet. I decided the only possible spot was along the chicken run where we had planted a triple paperbark birch some years ago.  The birch didn't survive but it is a pretty good place for an apple tree.

We hooked up the trailer and went to HD first thing this morning.  We hit all the lights just right.  The parking lot wasn't crowded.  I picked out my tree, put it on a flat cart and rolled it in to the service desk.  The Garden Center check out isn't open yet this time of year which makes check out of large garden stuff a little but of a hassle.  So I asked them nicely to check me out so I wouldn't have to fiddle with the self check out or wheel it all the way down to the Contractor desk.  Then I wheeled it right back Out the In door.  We wrapped it up and secured it in the trailer and headed home.  The sun was shining.  Everything seemed perfect.  As if it were meant to be.

This Gala apple is a late bloomer like the Northern Spy

After breakfast I planted the tree.  I wanted to get it settled before it breaks dormancy and the weather forecast is cool and rainy which will help too.  At this point, the beautiful sunny, calm morning changed to overcast and windy.  Really, unpleasantly windy.  Gusting 40 mph.  It blew over wheelbarrows and shovels and relocated anything not nailed down including the tarp covers on the mulch and gravel piles.  It was seriously irksome.

I had finished planting the tree and was waiting for the first can of water to soak in before adding another.  I decided I had better put in some T-posts and wire in some supports right away otherwise by morning it would likely be leaning.  I went to the garden shed to get the T-post pounder and I heard sort of a "crack crunch".  I thought "I'll bet we are going to lose some trees in the woods" so I stuck my head out and sort of scanned around and I saw....

This is one of those "I'm not kidding" moments.

The Macintosh.  The last old apple tree the wasn't good for much other than pollination.... was lying on her side.  She held on to the last possible moment and when the new tree was planted and it was OK for her to go.  She went.

I walked out there and gave her a pat and thanked her for her service.

And then I hurried away from the woods and all the other potential falling trees!

 

Peas Are Up

Lettuce to the left and Peas to the right

The first planting of peas and the lettuce is up at 17  days.  They were starting to disturb the soil yesterday and last night's rain gave them the encouragement they needed.  It has been a drizzy, dismal day around fifty degrees so we are glad we made the most of the warm sunshine.  

The only bright spot outside is the first daffodils.  I planted these Tête-à-Têtes in fall of 2020.  Last year they came up but the stems were almost as long as a regular daff.  I was a little disappointed because I wanted them short and compact like I have seen in other gardens.  And these weren't particularly cheap at the time compared to regular bulbs.  At last I am able to enjoy them as I'd hoped.

 

Tête-à-Tête Daffodils

More Mulching

It is just so easy to mulch the landscape beds before the plants grow up! 

And the soil is soft and the weeds haven't sprouted yet.

We put out a string line along the straight edges and go to town,  We dig a good deep edge that keeps the lawn from encroaching.  There are daffodils and orange daylilies in here.  Both can be mulched over without concern for their survival and right now they are only inches high.  This mulch is no longer hot.  In fact, its about ice cold.  So it can go right over the plants.

The length of this bed edge is over 165 feet.  That's a lot of shovels full and a lot of ups and downs. The digging is easy because we are only removing old mulch.  We are following the existing edge and the grass isn't growing yet so the sod is not hard to cut.  The old mulch is put in a pile where it continues to break down and will be used for drowning out weeds or amending lawn areas or as a final layer on clean fill areas.  Its pretty good stuff really.

We didn't know if we would get the new mulch added yesterday or not, but we did.  I was dog tired by the time we finished but I don't feel any the worse for wear today.  Yesterday was a perfect day for yard work.  It was dry and sunny, both warm and cool enough for hard work.

Today was warm again but cloudy and windy.  We are supposed to get some rain by morning which will freshen up the plants and clean the remaining mulch off of rocks and fences.  We took some time to heavily mulch the ground cover around this dry creek bed.  The ground cover is Houttuynia cordata or "Chameleon Plant" which is a terrible thuggish critter.  I wouldn't mind drowning it out some with a heavy mulch layer but it won't be discouraged at all.

That bed in summer

This colorful patch of crocuses is right by the door.  It was a popular spot for honey bees and when I went in later there was a big fat bumble bee passed out in one of the big white blooms.

5 Reasons Why I'm Not Growing Potatoes in Raised Beds | Growing Potatoes...

 This popped up in my YouTube feed today and I really enjoyed it.  He talks about prioritizing garden space, managing soil health, improving cost to output potential and maximizing your joy of gardening.  These are the things we have to take into consideration when we plan our crops.  It follows closely to my own feelings on potatoes.

This year I ordered a small amount of seed potatoes, less than I ever have.  I am planting them in 7 gallon grow bags.  Because I am growing in containers, I have to take into account the cost of soil and/or soil amendments when planning my potato crop.  I chose my favorite white potato "Satina" that we enjoy as salt potatoes when they are new.  

I don't have a really good storage place for potatoes.  They do fine for a few months so I need to moderate the amount that I plant with plans to store.  I've already chucked that last of our wrinkly potatoes a few weeks ago.  I love digging new potatoes and it is satisfying to put some away for storage, but in the deep dark winter I still get a lot of joy from bringing home an inexpensive bag of fresh, clean potatoes from the store.

Second Peas Planted

 

This photo is from the last planting.  Too cold for snaps.

I just went out and planted the second row of peas.  

Four ounces, soaked overnight.

Side dressed with lettuce seeds.

The first planting will not start to poke through until next week some time.

Yesterday's weather:  65 degrees and overcast.  Windy with breaks of sun and occasional sprinkles.

Today's weather:  31 degrees and overcast.  A stiff wind and on and off wet snow.  April Fools!

It's getting to be time to start seeding my snapdragons and marigolds in the cold frame with heat.  

Seems a little foolish.  I'm going to need a sunny day to take the plunge.

PreEmergent Experiment

 In two of my raised beds I have a problem with purslane weeds.  Each year I weed it and manage it but the following year it comes up from whatever seeds are left.  Last year I intended to use a preemergent control but didn't get around to it.  This year we are going to give it a shot.

Corn gluten meal  is derived from the part of the corn kernel that is not used when making corn meal. It is commonly used to control weeds. The oily coating on the corn gluten meal doesn’t allow plant roots to form, so newly germinated seedlings die.  I purchased 10 pounds of corn gluten meal on line and I wanted to get it spread before the seeds started to germinate.

The worst bed is one that I am planning to plan cauliflower and cabbage seedlings in this year.  I won't be seeding anything and I don't want to have to weed every week.

I spread three scoops of the corn gluten meal and today's rain should begin to activate it.  It should be good for five or six weeks and then I will spread a second batch.  I'll let you know if it helps.

It is another soggy day out.  I managed to dodge the raindrops. 

It was also quite warm out and I got a few other things done in the garden.

I set out my pre-sprouted ranunculus corms.   I'll run you through that project when it is complete.  Our weather is supposed to be very normal for the next week with no artic blasts forecasted.  I was sort of hesitant to set out the corms this early.  I wondered if I should pot a few up separately and put them in the cold frame but  thought - "no, I did the research and laid out these dates and I'm sticking to them.  If they don't work out then I'll have to try something else next year."  In for a penny, in for a pound.

This time of year when the ground is soft is also a good time to do some driveway maintenance.  The guys had a tractor ballet going next door scraping the crown out of the neighbor's driveway with a box scraper and taking the material away.

It looked like a bit of a mucky mess, but they took a lot of used gravel out and used it as fill in other areas and then laid down fresh gravel.

Afterwards it was flat and fresh and ready for summer.

This is the first year I have been able to enjoy crocuses during the day.  The blooms only open up when it is sunny.  When I worked I only got to see them on the weekends.  Now I get to enjoy them on any sunny day.

Current Situation

 This is why we wanted to play outside in the mud when we got some spring like weather.

But indoors we soldier on.  

I have six Flame Star cauliflower doing awesome (above far right) and already transplanted out of their seed cell in another tray (below).  

One Diplomat broccoli (upper right cell) trying to sprout from old seeds and I reseeded yesterday.  I have one very nice Golden Acre cabbage seedling (above bottom left) and the second seed I sowed tried to sprout upside down (root in the air) and I moved it to the cell on the right where it seems to be figuring things out.  One Violaceo di Verona seed sprouted sluggishly (above center right) and I seeded more yesterday.  This is the hassle with sowing directly into cells without the plan to transplant as I did the Flame Star cauliflower.  You would think I'd learn

I also sowed hot peppers directly into cells (grow light photo center tray).  I only got 3 plants from 6 seeds, but that is fine.  I just have three empty cells that will drive me nutty. The seedlings look really nice and they are going into a 15 gallon pot so 3 plants will be plenty.   I will sow tomato seeds in a couple of weeks.  This winter blast has reminded me that spring is not here yet and a cold frame can be a difficult thing to manage in April.  

I have made a few temperature related plans for managing the cold frame more reliably than I did in 2020.  But I don't want to get ahead of myself if this is going to be another difficult spring.  I remember one year, 2012 I believe, we had all of the edging and mulching done by the end of March and I had tilled and planted the tater patch.  I hope we don't have snow in May for the third year in a row.