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balkanradfem · 3 years

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The basics of growing food

So, growing food sounds very intimidating, and in reality, it's something people knew how to do thru all history, and it's made even easier by new methods of 'no till' and 'no dig' garden. I didn't know almost anything about it until 3 years ago, when I got a plot in a community garden and started growing food with no experience. Still it went good! Here's what I learned:

The basics are as simple as 'if you put a seed underground and keep it wet, it's going to come out.' If you start off from that, even if you know nothing else, eventually you will succeed. The additional stuff is done to ensure success. The biggest actual issue of gardening isn't how, but when. When are you supposed to put all the seeds underground to get good harvest? For most of the plants, it can be as simple as 'Spring'. For others, it's very important just when in the spring you plant it.

Let's say you want to start your first garden, you want to plant some onions, lettuce, peas, green beans, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. All of these can be planted in the spring! But these plants are sorted in 2 categories: Those who can survive a frost, and those who cannot. We call these 'frost hardy' (those who survive the frost) and frost-tender (those plants will die if they're exposed to lower than 0 temperatures). From the ones I listed, onions, lettuce and peas are frost hardy! It means you can plant them very early in spring, such as February and March, and they can be hit with snow and ice and be just fine. They can also be planted in autumn, and they only really start growing in the spring.

Green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini are frost-tender, meaning you absolutely can't grow them before the chance of freezing temperatures is gone. This is known in gardening as 'the last frost date'. Every area has a different last-frost date, so it's good to google yours to be sure you're planting these when it's safe to do so. For me it's mid-April.

Now, since it's a long time to wait for your plants to grow if you've only planted the seeds in mid April, people have found a way around it by planting the seeds in little containers inside of their house, or in a greenhouse, so they grow in a nice warm place on a windowsill, and are moved out in the ground when it's warm and safe. This is a very fun thing to do as you will have bunch of little plants growing in your home. Important thing to know about it is to use really light and airy soil, not garden soil, (you can use forest soil!) and to make sure you're not over-watering them and you give them as much light as possible.

Soil is another big thing in gardening, the grass grows so easily from it, but you can't exactly plant your seeds into the grass; they will get suffocated. For a long time people have tilled the ground to make it empty of all the weeds and easy to handle; however this isn't healthy for the soil, because it ruins the quality of top-soil, exposes it to sun and wind erosion, and it dries up very easily. Here are some beneficial methods of gardening: mulching and no-dig. Mulching means adding stuff like hay, straw, tree leaves, woodchips, pine needles on top of the soil. You're protecting your soil from sun, wind, erosion, drying out, and if your mulch is thick and dark enough, no weeds will grow in your garden. You are gardening by science.

So what does this mean for you, when you're standing before a patch of grass, thinking of turning it into a garden? You need to do this months before the actual planting, using time to your benefit is the smartest thing a gardener can do. You pick a patch of land and bring in everything you can on top: cut grass, hay, tree leaves you raked or found, straw if you have any, woodchips, anything that will stop the grass from growing. If you really want to build up your soil you can bring in compost too! All that organic material will eventually turn into compost and fertilize your garden as it degrades to soil. It's important to not mix it with the soil, and to only keep it on top of the plants. Mixing it will deplete the soil of nitrogen, and you need nitrogen to grow anything green. If you keep bringing in organic material for years of gardening, and on top of that put some compost as well, in 3-5 years your soil will become so rich and soft you will no longer have to use tools to plant in it.

But, hey, if it's your first time, you don't need to aim for perfection. If you didn't prepare your soil in the fall, whatever! You can still pull the weeds, dig around a little to make some clear soil, and plant your stuff! I've done this last-minute planting and it works just fine. Mulching and adding organic material is only the easiest, most scienc-y way to garden.

The next big thing in gardening is spacing and depth: how far apart should your plants be? And how deep to plant them? For depth, the rule of the thumb is 'twice as deep as the seed is tall'. But I've seen people pull various shit in this area and succeed so do what you want. As of spacing, I would also say, try out what fits for you. It takes a year of gardening to get a sense of just how big the plants get, and what would be ideal spacing for each of them. I decided only on my third year to plant tomatoes VERY far apart, because I realized in this case, one plant will give me more than 8kg tomatoes and it's much less work than planting 3 times as many plants that are close together. Peas seem to like to grow close tho, for some reason. Sometimes you can decide you want a bunch of tiny plants because you'll eat them young, so you don't space them on purpose, people do that with lettuce, leeks, spinach. If you want your plants as big as possible with as much yield as possible, give them half a meter and see what happens.

Fertilization is another big thing in gardening; if you add a lot of compost and mulch your garden consistently, you won't need a lot more; however there's a cool free trick you can do (if you're not currently sick): you can mix your urine with 10x water, and water your plants with that. And I really mean mix it with 10x water! Plants can get very fried by it and start to wilt if they're bombed with too much fertilizer at once! There are rules for this: use it when you want your plants to grow a lot of greenery, not if you want them to flower or produce fruit. This fertilizer is rich in nitrogen, and nitrogen inspires plants to grow more leaves! If you wanna fertilize them later in their growth, put a lot of nettle plants in a big container with water, leave it in the sun for 10 days; when it starts to smell real bad, it's ready. (you can also do this with comfrey). Also dilute it with 10x water! Don't use these fertilizers on bean or pea plants, or any legume, they don't like it.

Now I've given you so much info at once, you're probably struggling to take it all in, so here's a good youtube channel where I learned all I know: Roots and Refuge. If you watch this lady garden for long enough, she will tell you all of the secrets.

I remember being a first time gardener overwhelmed with worry; what if I fail, what if nothing grows, what if I kill all the plants, what if I have a black thumb, what if the plants die because I am stupid, what if I put all of this work in and get nothing, what if people make fun of me, what if I run into problems I won't be able to solve. Here are some of the answers to these!

A part of what you grow will DEFINITELY DIE. I can guarantee it, it happens to everyone, every single garden in the world has had plants die, sometimes for no reason at all, but in no case will EVERYTHING die. We all count on a part of our plants dying, becoming slug food, not doing well in general, and we always plant 30% more than we absolutely need. Even if you are personally responsible for killing the plants, the plants will not hold it against you! Plants appreciate you spreading their seed regardless of success, they understand that by trying multiple times you will eventually succeed and they absolutely want you to learn thru occasional failure. The answer is again to plant a lot, and it never ever happened that nothing came out of it. Most often, it's not going to be your fault at all. Sometimes the year will be good for tomatoes and carrots, and bad for peas. It's all okay! Because you just planted extra peas, and you'll get more tomatoes than you expected to have.

If you have the desire to plant food, you do not have a black thumb; the green thumb is in the heart that yearns to grow. You're not stupid if your plants die, plants die for everyone. And people are likely to come at you with million advice; listen to no one, try everything yourself. If they make fun of you, they're gonna look real stupid when you have home-grown food. Any problem you might run into while gardening is google-able! Or you can join a page of gardeners and they'll be happy to identify the issue.

The real main issue with gardening are slugs and bug-type pests, and that is a problem for another day because all I know to do is to yeet those away by hand and shake my finger very sternly at them. Hope this helps!

#growing food #food growing basics #gardening #diy #planting food #plants #home grown food #garden

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sendspoodsnotnoods · 5 years

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Tarantula Care basics:

I've gotten tired of typing out "beginner tips" when people ask for them in Facebook groups, so I'm posting this as a resource to anyone who wants to get a tarantula but needs a place to start with researching. Please research elsewhere as well and be aware that there are many people who are successful at keeping tarantulas that may disagree on certain husbandry topics. This information is based off of the research I've done and how I care for my tarantulas. I may not be an expert with decades of experience, but I am a science minded individual who did a lot of research before getting my first tarantula and who has continued to learn each day I keep these beautiful animals as pets.

Temperatures-

No heat lamp, no heat pad. Fine at normal room temperature. If you're not cold neither is your tarantula. If your house is kinda cold get a space heater for the room you keep your tarantula in. Between 60-80F is fine for most tarantulas. Slightly below or slightly higher won't likely hurt them. If your house regularly goes below 60F then consider getting a space heater.

Enclosures-

Don't buy an enclosure until you know the size of the tarantula youre getting. You could be investing in a huge tank when all you're going to need for the next 5 years is a Tupperware or critter keeper. Give your tarantula at least 2x their legspan in all demensions of the enclosure. So a 2in. legspan tarantula needs at least a 4x4in enclosure minimum. Too large an enclosure may mean you struggle to find your tarantula or that your tarantula has a higher risk of falling and getting hurt. You can be generous with space without going overboard. For example a 3wx4Lx2h in. display case is a bit large for a 3/4 in. sling however it's much more appropriate than putting a tiny sling in a huge enclosure. Small slings are often kept in 4oz or 6oz deli cups and that is completely fine for a few months. Remember that you don't have to spend big bucks on glass enclosures. Often acrylic and plastic is more ideal for providing proper ventilation anyways. Explore stores like the Container Store for ideas. You can use anything from display cases to clear shoe boxes. Invest in a drill and get some 1/16th inch drill bits (that's what i use on sling enclosures, you can use a larger bit for bigger spiders).

You should know whether or not your tarantula is terrestrial (lives on or near the ground), arboreal (lives in trees), or fossorial (lives primarily underground). I won't discuss fossorials in depth in this post because I don't have any first hand experience, however the biggest difference between fossorial and terrestrial is you need to give them A LOT of substrate. Get them a tall enclosure and fill it most of the way with substrate. Most "beginner species" aren't fossorials so it's unlikely you'll be getting one soon unless you get an Aphomapelma seemanni. Tom Moran has a husbandry video on Aphonopelma seemanni if that's the species you're interested in getting.

Terrestrials should have at least enough substrate to burrow if they choose, so at least one leg span if possible. Do not give a terrestrial more than 2x their legspan between the surface of the substrate and the lid of their enclosure. They have very fragile abdomens and can die if they fall from even small heights. A terrestrial enclosure should be wider/longer than it is high.

Arboreals need an enclosure that is taller than it is wide. I like the AMAC boxes sold at the Container Store for slings, however other options include clear pill jars, plastic jars, and file boxes. Be creative. There are also glass exoterra enclosures that people like, however I personally don't like them because they don't give you enough cross ventilation and tarantulas can get their feet caught on the mesh/screen lids. I prefer something with cross ventilation (something where i can add a bunch of holes in the sides). Arboreals don't need that much substrate. Just provide enough to cover the bottom of the enclosure, help keep anything that you may place on the bottom of the enclosure in place, and absorb moisture.

Water and moisture-

You'll see some care sheets say that certain genera and species such as "Theraposa stirmi" (which I would not recommend for a beginner) need "high humidity". What they really need is wet substrate. "High humidity" species need their substrate to be soaked down more frequently or more generously. Many "beginner" terrestrial species are arid species (they live in drier climates). Nearly all Brachypelma, Grammostola, and Aphomapelma can be kept in the same type of enclosures. Give them dry substrate and a water dish, and overflow the dish a little when you fill it. Do not put rocks or a sponge in the dish. Tarantulas cannot drink from a sponge and rocks and gravel simply provide more surface area for mold to grow.

Small slings do not necessarily need a water dish. While they are small tarantulas lack the waxy curticle on their exoskeletons that keeps water in. Because they lack the cuticle they can get moisture from their substrate. Keep generally all terrestrial slings an moderately damp substrate and watch for mold growth.

Substrate-

There are a number of popular options including ecoearth (or another brand of coconut fiber substrate) and organic potting soil. Some people mix vermiculite in with their substrate but vermiculite shouldn't be used alone as a substrate. If you use potting soil ensure it's only soil and doesn't have added fertilizer or chemicals. Topsoil is heavy so doesnt need to be packed down. If you choose ecoearth or coconut fiber, it comes often in dense bricks. Add water to these bricks and pull them apart. You may need to do this ahead of time so you can let the coconut fiber dry off before you assemble the enclosure. Coconut fiber is loose and fluffy when you put it in the enclosure. Pat it down firmly with your hands otherwise the tarantula won't like walking on the substrate. Coconut fiber, topsoil, or specially designed tarantula substrates are all acceptable. Substrates NOT to use: sand, aquarium gravel, woodchips, mulch, pure vermiculite. The goal with a substrate is to provide a maxtrix that the tarantula won't mind walking on that will hold moisture and hold the shape of their burrows.

Tank accessories-

Hides- The most important accessory besides a water dish (which I recommend for all tarantulas besides tiny slings) for a terrestrial tarantula is a hide. This can be a plastic hide bought from a pet store, a piece of corkbark, flat or curved driftwood, a broken flower pot, or half a cup. Be creative. They can be as cheap as you want. Just be sure there aren't any super sharp edges. In a pinch you can make a hide from a plastic soda bottle. Cut out a portion of it and CAREFULLY use a lighter to curve the piece of plastic and melt the edges so that's theyre not sharp. I have used this technique a number of times. These hides then should be partially buried so that they are dark inside, but the opening is visible so they tarantula can use it as a starter burrow. Cork bark is very popular for hides and can be bought from a pet store or online. A variety of other hides can also be bought from pet stores. Anything that's half a cylinder and open on both sides will function well as a hide for your tarantula. A hide can be skipped with super small slings but should be provided once the enclosure is large enough. For slings I've used short parts of powdered drink tubes that I bury with one end exposed on the surface. You'd be amazed what junk you can cut up and use in an enclosure.

Tall anchor points- for arboreal tarantulas they need something that reaches close to the top of their enclosure so they have something that they can climb and use to anchor webbing. This can be a piece of corkbark on end, a pcv pipe, a log, silk plants, or anything! Corkbark and silk plants are the popular choices but you can use a 2x4 (nontreated wood) and paint sticks if you feel so inclined.

Low anchor points- all tarantulas can web, although some will do so more than others. A number of species, especially the popular "green bottle blue" are heavy webbers and should be provided with some anchor points even though they're terrestrial (even though some may argue sort of otherwise). These anchor points can simply be fake plants or something. Protip: fishtank plants are cheaper than terrarium plants and work just as well. Even cheaper are silk plants from craft stores. Just rinse and pat dry any tank accessories to remove dust from the store just in case. All tarantulas can benefit from some anchor points in their enclosures. Also adding a silk plant or two looks nice.

Food-

A tarantula can be fed practically any sort of feeder insect from meal worms to roaches to crickets. Meal worms, superworms, and dubia roaches will burrow if you let them, so before offering them to your tarantula you should pinch the feeder's head so that it is disabled but not entirely dead. Crickets are fine but can bite, so don't leave them unattended with a tarantula. Red runners (B. lateralis) are good but beware that they can infest your home if they escape, so use caution. Hornworms can make an occasional nutrional treat, however only use store bought worms. If hornworms have eaten tomato plants it can make them toxic to anything that eats them. On that note: NEVER feed wild caught prey of any kind. Wild caught feeders may carry parasites such as nematodes that can be passed to your tarantula and may eventually kill them. Purchase feeders from a pet store, online supplier, local breeders (some people will breed colonies of feeders), or from vendors at an expo.

Feed your tarantula a prey item around the size of their abdomen once every week or two if they will eat. If you don't have larger prey items you can feed them a couple at once. If they stop eating do not be alarmed, they might just be full, or they may be in premolt. Some species can fast for up to a year, so you tarantula is not going to die from self inflicted starvation. If it wants to eat it will. If it's not eating then remove the prey and try again in a week or two. If your tarantula is really fat, perhaps just wait to try feeding until it gets skinnier or molts.

Molting-

Tarantulas have an exoskeleton which does not grow with them. Because of that, like all arthropods they will molt, where they shed their old exoskeleton. They will likely stop eating. Premolt, or the period where they may stop eating and perhaps become more elusive or even close themselve off in their burrow, may last anywhere from a week to months, to a year in severe cases. Sometimes they will get duller in color during premolt, their abdomens may get black and shiny, and they may lose hair on their abdomens. If they refuse food and/or seal off the entrance to their burrrow, then leave them be, continue to fill their water dish, and wait to offer food again until they start wandering around their enclosure again.

When a tarantula molts it usually flips over on it's back. DO NOT TOUCH IT. They are very fragile during and after a molt. A molt can take anywhere from half an hour to 8 hours depending on the size of the tarantula. Do not intervene, just make sure they have water and leave them alone. After they have left their old exoskeleton they will be very vulnerable. The new exoskeleton is very soft and takes awhile to harden. Wait 1-2 weeks before you feed them. Best to go on the side of caution and wait 2 weeks if you're in doubt. What's important here is you wait until their new fangs have fully hardened and turned shiny and dark black. After 2 weeks it should be safe to feed. Remember, your tarantula is fine going awhile without eating, waiting an extra week or two isn't neglectful. Just keep its water dish filled and it will be ok.

Useful tools-

Feeding tongs: a must have. They can be purchased at a pet store or online. You'll need them for feeding and for removing things from the enclosure.

Paintbrush or makeup brush: a soft and clean paintbrush or makeup brush can be used to gently touch the back legs of a tarantula and coax it where you need it to go.

Plastic straw: just rinse and save one after a trip to a fast food place. Used for the same use as the paintbrush, but more useful if you have a tarantula that tries to bite (a plastic straw will not hurt their fangs if they bite it)

Wooden chopsticks: I don't see this on many lists but I've found chopsticks can be useful for pushing prey around if they're "playing dead" or for cleaning an enclosure (once again the wood is safer for fangs than metal tongs, however still attempt to avoid having your tarantula bite the chopsticks).

Plastic spoon: i guess it doesnt have to be plastic but thats what i use. Just keep one around. Its good for packing down substrate in enclosures that are too small to reach your hands into, and for digging starter burrows when assembling an enclosure.

Spray bottle: get a clean plastic water bottle for filling water dishes, misting, and wetting substrate. You can buy an empty spray bottle with an adjustable stream from Walmart for a dollar or two. Look near the household cleaning supplies.

Catch cups: collect a variety of clear or translucent plastic cups and bowls that you can poke air holes in. Always have a few catch cups and some flat pieces of cardboard that can cover them around when you open an enclosure. Should a tarantula escape, wait for it to stop moving, place the cup over it, and gently slide cardboard underneath. I bought a pack of clear solo cups a year ago and those are what I most commonly use. Empty containers from shredded cheese work well too and keep those lids in case you want to use them as sling enclosures later on.

Pocket knife: not everyone does this, but I have one old pocket knife that is my feeder insect knife. Sometimes you need to cut mealworms in half for smaller slings, that is the knife I use. Afterwards I wipe the blade off and close it and keep it with the rest of my tarantula tools.

You will discover what tools you find work for you after you have been caring for a tarantula for awhile. At the bare minimum get feeding tongs, a plastic straw, and some catch cups.

Conclusions, disclaimers, and further reading:

This guide is from my personal experience and research, however my opinions may vary from those of other keepers and hobbyists. This advice is based off of the care I provide for my tarantulas however you may find different care works better for you. I highly recommend you read through Tom Moran's beginner guides https://tomsbigspiders.com/beginner-guides/

Browse the forums on arachnoboards. There are many good youtube channels out there as well but some are more informative than others. I highly recommend Tom Moran for husbandry information. He may not be the most exciting and attention grabbing channel, but he has the most comprehensive and well phrased husbandry information than any other single person I've come across.

Each individual species is different and you should research the care and temperment of your particular species, but I encourage you not to trust traditional "care sheets" as many are misleading. I recommend using Tom Moran's content as a resource and asking questions on arachnoboards and other forums if you have further questions. Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

#invertebrate #spider #tarantula #exotic pets #theraphosidae #care sheet #tarantulas #information #long post #beginner guide #arboreal #terrestrial

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jeninthegarden · 3 years

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Jen in the Garden 2021

The Quarantined Garden

Time was not an issue this year because I was at home 24/7 and staring at my garden from my desk in the bedroom window. The view is impressive. I have a fenced orchard with 12 fruit trees. I have a chicken coop with 7 of my original 12 chickens still alive and well. I have three bee hives. I have a fenced in vegetable garden, a berry patch, an herb garden, a lavender field and a hugel of shrubs and native plants, and I am planning a rain garden. This is my 13th year of garden logging. I also have deer, groundhog, possum, raccoon, crows, hawks, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, a fox and an occasional coyote.

I have come to detente in my 16 years of living with a groundhog tenant in the back yard. Groundhogs only live 3-4 years on average, so the resident groundhog changes and the burrow is taken over by a new tenant every couple years. When we cleared the back of the yard this last winter for the orchard, I was finally able to see the layout of the groundhog burrow. It is under the upper 1/3 of the orchard with initially 3, now 4 entrances inside the orchard fence. Because that portion of the orchard is higher ground, it is drier and I planted the stone fruits (cherries and plums) in that half of the orchard, entirely without disturbing the burrow or burrow entrances. I also put the bee hives in that area because drier is better for bees. And I made rings with stones around the burrow openings so that I don’t step in them. They now look like hobbit holes.

The orchard fence is made of wire with 2x4 inch openings. The groundhog generally prefers to go under the fence and has several places where it has scraped exit trenches. Because the orchard is so bare and new I decided to plant squash and corn in there and put up a partition fence to keep the groundhog out of the lower 2/3 of the orchard. That was when I witnessed the Highway Ham Hobbit Houdini actually squeeze itself right through a 2x4 inch opening in the fence wire to escape after digging its way into the partition to eat all my sunflowers and beans. I had to reinforce the lower portion of the orchard with bird netting and really big rocks. No break-ins since, but the dry spell in June made the groundhog peckish and it climbed my cherry tree saplings and ate their lower leaves. It also ate the tops off my sweet potatoes in the upper orchard, and a lot of the yarrow seedlings. It has not so much as nibbled the peach tree. Obviously it does not like peaches.

The spring was cold. I planted in late March and although everything germinated, it stopped growing at about 1-3 inches high and just stayed that way until the end of June. It was rainy and soggy. The daffodils were amazing. Then came June and there was no more rain for 6 weeks. I actually had to water because of the new fruit trees and lavender bushes. The June grass looked like August. Most of the summer crops were ruined, with the exception of the extras that were thrown in the orchard and did really well. I’m not sure if it was because of the extra watering or because that ground has not been cultivated in 60 years, or both. The young trees will not be substantially shading the orchard for many years, so meanwhile I have plenty of space to cultivate between them.

The legume crop was spotty at best. My bean fixation wasn’t fixed so I am doubling down. Greens and Brassicas were just off. It was a deceptively mild winter and we had a very early thaw after almost no snow. But, although the spring was wet, it stayed really cold, too cold. My early greens didn’t get enough sun and my summer greens didn’t get enough water. So I’m going all out on leafy greens this year. There you have it: Greens & Beans is the focus this year…plus a few flights of fancy and the standard deviation into other edible oddities.

I had numerous gardening projects going this past summer and I am surprised at my own progress (having 2 bored teenagers at home added a lot of extra muscle and motivation):

The Orchard. My daughter wants to make sure she gets full credit for planting the orchard. Last winter we had the back 20 yards of the yard cleared and fenced. Although we hired help to do the basic clearing, and then to remove a large concrete pad we uncovered, and to put up the fence, my kids and the neighbor kids, did several hundred hours of work in the spring to remove all the roots, vines and rocks, and then, after the concrete slab was removed, they split 8 pines trees worth of logs and filled in the hole (which was one third of the orchard) and covered it over with dirt, used the remaining logs to complete the great hugel, and covered that with dirt and woodchips. And then it was time to plant fruit trees. We opted for the following varieties, from Willis Orchard and Raintree Nursery: 1 Self-fertile peach, 1 sweet cherry, 1 sour cherry, 1 green plum, 1 black weeing plum, 1 red-fleshed crab apple, 1 red cider apple, 2 honeycrisp apples, 1 self-fertile sugar pear, 1 white pear, 1 yellow pear. These are all 2 year old, 5-7 foot saplings that should fruit next year. Additionally, I ordered a Chicago Brown Hardy Fig, that was planted beside the boulder in front of the house, but is now a house plant (house twig) after the deer found it. I also have a weeping persimmon in the backyard swamp that is living in a cage to protect it from the deer.

The community garden. The InterGenerate community garden in my village was a big draw this past year, attracting new members and greater creativity by existing members. We got a really good watering system in place and made great use of it. The aim of the group is to teach people how to grow their own food and in that vein we donate both seeds and the harvest back to the community. Last year the focus will be on real subsistence crops: potatoes, beans and squash instead of the ultimate (super expensive) tomato. I was enthusiastic and went completely overboard ordering potato seed, beans and squash. This year I will be devoting my plot to leafy greens and hot peppers, things the community we serve really appreciate. I assume interest in our project will be even greater this year. And because my seed inventory is so high, I will also be donating seeds and plants to fellow gardeners. With the water system for the community garden up and running, we have turned our attention to perennial beds and pollinator patches. We have a large patch of goldenrod on the property we are thinking of expanding into a wild flower patch. We also are considering building a communal herb bed for perennial herbs. The mild fall also sparked interest in season-extending materials.

The Pollinator Pathway. This is a national movement subdivided down to extremely local chapters working to connect greenways, nature preserves and public lands with private properties where no pesticides are used to create green corridors that are pesticide free. I am also very self-interested in joining this movement because this was my second year of bee-keeping and I harvested some superb honey. So, started last spring with 2 bee hives and ordered a third. We harvested from the Hyssop (blue) Hive in late July, about 2 gallons. We took about 1.5 gallons from the Sunflower (yellow) hive in September. The Hyssop hive colony was overcrowded so I ordered a 3rd hive (purple) and split the Hyssop hive in August to see if I could build out the Lilac (purple) hive colony for winter. All was well until October when I discovered all 3 hives had “absconded” – they were empty: no bees alive or dead, no honey, pollen or larva. Research indicates there was too much competition for food. It was a crazy year for yellow jackets and I did observe lots of yellow jackets trying to battle their way into the hives daily. So I packed up the hives, wrapped them to prevent infiltration by wax moths, and put them away. In the spring I will clean them and re-locate them (the upper orchard may be too hot), and order two new colonies.

I planted a lot of native plants this year and unfortunately very few survived! June was a bad, dry month, and the month I tried planting everything. Turtlehead Cleome, Jersey Tea, Bergamot, Queen of the Prairie and Joe Pye Weed all failed. And that was a lot of plants! So too, the California lilac failed. The elderberry and a few beebalm survived, so did the buttonbush. The hyssop, salvia and iris did okay. The oakleaf hydrangea died. Astilbe and bleeding heart limped along. Ferns were hit or miss. Thistle and mullein were abundant.

Provence in New York. Last year we bought 24 gallon pot lavender plants on Cape Cod and we brought them home. We planted them in place of the wildflower bed that had petered out and started to go back to grass. They have been thriving with vigorous weeding by my chickens. So we decided to expand and went back to the same farm in Cape Cod for more plants this spring. However, there were no lavender plants, and we met the woman who had purchased every single one minutes before we arrived. She was gleeful telling us that our positions had been reversed the year before when we bought all the lavender the day before she arrived. So we sourced locally, but were only able to find 4 inch pots. Still, we planted 20 more. And all survived and have doubled in size.

The Wildflowers. The chickens were allowed to scratch and bare the soil between the lavender plants this spring and, amazingly, that treatment lead to a huge resurgence of the wildflowers. We had a sea of cornflowers, lots of wild white yarrow, poppies, foxglove, daisies and black-eyed susans and lots of things I cannot identify. Interestingly, the same thing happened in the orchard where the chickens spent a lot of time. I transplanted some of the yarrow to the orchard, as it is considered a good companion for fruit trees. And I moved some foxglove back there too, and still have more to transplant to the front yard. It was so successful letting the chickens weed the lavender that I am going to repeat the process this spring. The chickens do an amazing job of eating grass seed and turning the soil. I always let them in my garden in the spring to help me get a head start on weeding. And they spent a lot of time in the orchard this spring as well.

The Western Wall – This has been a disaster. I am going to move the kiwi berries to the orchard. I planted more asparagus and it did not take. Perhaps this is a bed for flowers only. But the iris is there but not blooming. Foxglove did okay, except that I moved it. The horse radish is okay because it is a weed. The rhubarb is failing. I should probably move it. Maybe this space should be a rock garden. Disturbing the soil, which is heavy clay, lets a lot more water into the foundation. Not good.

Hugelkultur. (You have to say that word with guttural gusto!) What?? It is the method of building a raised bed over buried logs. Finally, the great hugel is complete! All that wood left from our nine pine trees that fell 8 years ago during Hurricane Sandy has been split and buried. Helen and Calvin split all that wood this spring. And 20 cubic yards of woodchips delivered last year have been spread around the property. The great hugel is thriving. I’m dedicating it to native plants, including burdock, thistle and the biggest mullein plant you ever saw - it was 8 feet high and 4 feet around. We also buried quite a lot of logs in the orchard, to fill in the area where we had to remove a concrete slab.

Back to Eden. Scored 20 cubic yards of wood chips, last year from getchipdrop.com. The woodchip and cardboard weed barrier method of gardening worked really well in giant hugle and the front yard. And I got another 20 cubic yards in September. So much more to do. It will be the basis of the two rain gardens we are going to build this coming summer. I am still hoarding carboard. The pollinator patch at our community garden will also require and initial weed barrier of cardboard and woodchips to get it established.

The Herb Garden. I had a little problem with the herb bed two years ago when I let the Bull thistle take over. I like the thistles and transplanted them to the big hugel. I dug out all the little thistle seedlings in the herb bed and got rid of then. The bigger issue with the herb garden this past year was an invasive yellow primrose that I was tossing out left and right. And the violets have taken over the outer border. So I need to be more ruthless about thinning them. Otherwise, the bed flourished. I had to plant more rosemary and more thyme. This is turning into an annual thing. No matter what I do it does not make it through the winter. The oregano however is taking over.

The Shade Garden. I have to subdivide the herb garden into the light and shade portions because most of the herbs just will not grow in the shade portion so I’ve started planting native ephemerals and hosta. I should move the honey berry bushes next year. They don’t mind the location but they have not exactly thrived, so they are destined for the front yard with the blueberry bushes (that haven’t exactly thrived because the deer keep eating them..). Lemon balm and chives, by comparison, have taken over, as has that stupid yellow primrose that just has to go! Now, bloodwort, foam flower, mountain mint, spider plant and woodland stone crop all did well, and oddly, basil flourished there because of the moisture, even without light.

House plants. I think perhaps the fig tree needs to winter over inside this year. It did not thrive outside by the big rock. And then the deer got hungry and ate it. So it is recuperating inside and has a single, new leaf. Next year I also want some large ferns for the front porch. I bought a new wax plant vine (Hoya Obovata) to replace “Hobi” that died; this one’s name is “Obo”. “Brutus II” (a kidnapped Philodendron Hope Selloum cutting from an apartment sublet 20 years ago) has died. My Dracaena Warneckii (“Necky”) is 24 years old and still going strong. My sad little, Christmas cactus bloomed, at Thanksgiving, and now looks pathetic again. My Chicago Brown Hardy Fig is recuperating as a house plant after being munched to s twig by deer this summer; it’s going to be a patio plant for a couple years. The art glass terrarium is a desert wasteland again.

Woodlands. Just when you thought there was no piece of this property left for me to cultivate. I decided to make inroads against the vines and poison ivy on our lower, pine tree border. I mulched and clipped. There are many Japanese maple saplings in that border which I saved from the vines. I also found a bunch of jack-in-the-pulpit and a few ferns. I planted some ferns and astillbe and transplanted some violets and planted some impatiens. I threw some primrose in too, since I was ripping it out of the herb bed. It is very dry under those trees. I hope if I mulch with woodchips it will sustain some smaller plants. And on the upside of the property I have decided the privet row is too monochrome so I am replacing the dead ones with other types of bushes, hopefully a jersey tea or some oak leaf hydrangea. At the very back lower side we still have massive amounts of vines and some invasive wine berry bramble and Japanese barberry I would like to get rid of. There is also the bottom 20 feet of a big pine tree I want to put a possum nesting box in.

Rain Gardens. I am planning out rain gardens in both the front and back yard. In the front yard I have already started to smother the grass in the swale. I planted some blue flag iris in there. I want to add button bushes, a sweet bay magnolia, cranberry bushes and cardinal flowers. In the back yard, I want to put river rock into the back corner and plant some sedges, cranberries, button bushes, ferns around the borders of it. I already have a weeping persimmon sapling growing there because it is one of the only fruit trees that likes to have wet feet.

The seed list this year is a little complicated because I saw a video about the extraordinary amount of people who took up gardening during COVID, who are now hooked and want to try again this year, which is predicted to lead to shortages of every type of garden martial, from fencing to shovels to seeds and fertilizers. I’m good on everything but seeds, so I panicked and ordered everything before taking inventory of what I have leftover. Good and bad. I was shocked that I have received the 2021 garden catalogues only in the last two weeks and already many things are sold out! I have a large seed inventory left from last year but only 5-10 seeds of any type. So this year will be interesting. Additionally, I found that the addition of the fenced orchard has doubled my available gardening space protected from deer and groundhogs. So I need to start planting more. I am also very impatient – quarantine does that to you – and I want high-yielding, early maturing varieties of everything, NOW.

Legumes (follow the Root crops)

So my bean fetish was a bust. I planted lots of bush beans and the groundhog dug into the orchard and ate them all as they were flowering. Pole beans got off to a slow start. I really just didn’t get around to planting them soon enough and the June drought slowed them down.

Peas were also a bust since the spring was just too cold for them and then June was too dry. I saved some seeds and tried a fall crop which only grew a few inches before it got too cold. I used all my saved seeds trying for a fall crop, that failed, so back to the drawing board. Burpee’s “Wando”, was warm weather tolerant, but it was not tolerant of the June drought. So, I thought I’d give it another shot, but Burpee’s is not offering it this year. Burpee’s “First 13 Pea” was unremarkable. Again, the very cold, dark start followed by drought may have been the issue. But I don’t recall a single pea pod that had more than 8 peas in it. So I am not going to do that again. And I have decided that “Lincoln” peas are too tall for my pea fences (fences are 3 foot and Lincoln can grow to 5 feet. Although it is a “beloved heirloom”, I’m skipping it. As noted previously, 250 pea vines takes up all the pea fencing I have space for inside the walled garden. But, now I have all this extra space in the orchard….I might just go crazy and plant a thousand peas, just because I can. But I will be focusing on varieties that are early and prolific, and not too tall.

I saw some really pretty pictures of snap peas (as opposed to shelling peas), which have violet pods, and a semi-leafless and prolific sugar snap pea. I’ve never grown snap peas, so this is something new and it interests me because there is no effort of shelling and no tossing (wasting) the shells. And I have the space, and peas fix nitrogen in the soil.

The soy beans did not germinate so I tossed them. But will try again this year because I recall they are prolific growers. I want profusion, instantly.

Fava beans did remarkably well and bloomed beautifully, but then the dry weather slowed them down and only about half the blossoms fruited. The beans themselves, while delectable, are laborious to shell and skin. I saved seeds and grew a fall crop which handled the cold very well, and even blossomed. But, of course, it was too cold to set pods so I cut and ate the greens and blossoms. Really tasty! And, none of the labor to prepare! We will do that again. They are also supposed to be a good cover crop, so I might sow them all over in the fall.

Winged Beans sprouted, and they had very pretty blue blossoms that I did not test, but believe can be used for a natural, blue food-coloring. Not sure I planted them soon enough – maybe they are more like peas and I planted them on a pole bean schedule?? Anyway, I saved the seeds from the two pods that formed, and we’ll try again this year, earlier, on the schedule with the peas.

Bush beans, the ones the groundhog did not massacre, did really well. I have hit on a purple variety that are hardy and prolific, so we’re going with those again. The black bush beans were all eaten and I didn’t have any in reserve so I think I’ll just let those go.

An interesting article about Rancho Gordo’s native bean project (ranchogordo.com) led us to order several pounds of 10 varieties of obscure beans from remote Mexican villages. I am in the process of testing it they are still viable (put them in a bag with a wet paper towel in a dark cupboard) and can be germinated. If they can be germinated, then I’m going to save a few of each and grow them.

Runner beans- the June drought really did a number on the start of bean season. And then the ground hog broke into the orchard at ate most of the bean shoots. The ones that survived were excellent and runner beans are just not available in the grocery store. So I want to try them again. Last year I ordered Territorial Seeds “Scarlet Emperor” with red blossoms, and Pinetree Seeds “Painted Lady” with red and white blossoms, “Sunset” with pale pink blossoms. And Park Seeds “Stardust”, with white blossoms, the ones the groundhog didn’t eat where very tasty, but barely enough for one bowl. I have some left in inventory and I will buy some more. These are very tasty beans and they have beautiful blossoms that are also really tasty. They are a bit too heavy for corn or sunflower stalks but grew very happily on the orchard fence.

Brassica – Cole - Green Crops (follow the legumes)

I started a ton of seedlings inside. They all germinated. I planted them outside and they went into a suspended animation and stopped growing at about 5 inches tall. Then there was the June drought. Huge waste of space! So disappointed. Next year I will start them earlier, and have them bigger when I transplant them. They are also due for a crop rotation and some calcium supplementing. The cabbages were a complete bust, and the cauliflower. The kale limped along and seemed to perk up in the fall. It is biannual so I have hopes it will re-grow in the spring. The red Russian kale was heartiest and most of what germinated was actually self-seeded from last year. The Portugese Kale was small, but I’m letting it stand and have mulched it with straw to help it through the winter. The fall sown broccoli and collards all germinated and made it to about 6 inches tall, so I mulched those too in hopes of a mild enough winter to let them re-grow.

Spinach, a very fickle crop in recent years, did not germinate, at all. I’m thinking it needs to be started indoors and then treated like tatsoi and planted in its own 12 inch circle. Not exactly a good use of space, but I have all this new area in the orchard that needs cultivation, so will try it in traditional rows in the garden and more spread out in the orchard. Lettuce did well, except in June and July. So this year I am focusing on some heat tolerant varieties. Escarole and Endive were thriving, but this year I have to remember to eat them before the summer because the heat makes them bitterly inedible. The same is true of the French sorrel. I have two large, perennial patches of it, but other than the first, tender, spring leaves, it is fit for nothing but soup; I must resist the temptation to add it to salad! Arugula did very well, particularly in the fall, so I mulched it with straw to see if it will come back in the spring. Some varieties are biannual and the fall planting did not flower, so there’s hope. The nasturtiums did exceptionally well – they don’t mind the drought. And I tucked them in everywhere so there were plenty. I even preserved some of the leaves in the fall – cold pickled in lemon juice brine – to use like grape leaves. Mache is really hard to grow but for some reason the fall planting was a great success. This year I am focusing on a quicker maturing, cold hardy variety. Claytonia and purple orach are still lots of fun and germinate early and well. I direct sow those. I tried cultivating purslane but so much of it grew wild in the orchard this year that next year I will just throw the seeds in the orchard and not waste the garden space. Arugula is always a direct sow. And it is bi-annual so placement has to be thoughtful. This is a re-plant year so I planted and re-planted. The fall crop was much more successful, so much so that I deep mulched it with hay and covered some with plastic. It is still green, in December. I planted the large Italian dandelions for their leaves and roots but they got swallowed up by weeds in the hugel and then the rabbits ate them.

The Asian greens (pok choi, bok choi, tatsoi, mustard, chrysanthemum, Chinese cabbage) were a bust. Just never go going in the spring and I didn’t save any seeds for fall. Too bad because all the fall greens did really well. But this year there are so many crazy varieties available and the bounty in the fall green markets is just haunting me, so I have gone completely overboard on seeds. Maybe that’s the new obsession this year, greens and beans.

Celery, I discovered that you can just put the 1 inch cut end of the bunch directly into the ground, in the potato patch. And they all took root. Some are still alive under plastic. They are actually quite tolerant of cold and wet, so like the onion ends, they will never again be wasted in the compost pile.

Fruits (follow the Brassica and Greens)

I swore off eggplant last year, and then planted some anyway. Just some mixed fingerlings and standard black. I didn’t even have room for them in the garden, really, so extras went in the orchard. Well, the plants in the garden were stunted by the lack of water and too much sun. By contrast, the ones in the orchard went wild – nearly 4 feet tall. And Dan made enough caponata salad I had to jar it by the quart. I actually jar and preserve it. We eat all the eggplant we can grow either grilled, or eggplant parmesan, or roasted for babaganoush, or Chinese stir-fried with chicken and garlic. And one of our favorite restaurants in Key West makes a terrific warm eggplant salad that Dan has reverse engineered. So I’m planting the same again this year – some mixed fingerlings and some standard

I am trying an interesting experiment of over-wintering my pepper plants that did not fruit this year in pots, inside the house. Unfortunately, when I dug them up, I did not label them so, I don’t know if they are hot or sweet. I suspect they are mostly hot. I saved seeds from our very prolific Portuguese Dagger hot pepper (which was an extra that got planted in the orchard and exploded), and from the Chiltepin “Fire Flea” hot pepper seeds from our organic green market. These were the peppers I used to make Cowboy Candy this past fall. I also have a lot of seeds left over in inventory. The sweet Corno di Toro also did really well in the orchard (except that it looks identical to the Portuguese Daggar and I occasionally grabbed the wrong one) so I ordered some more, quick growing, sweet bell peppers. We do like stuffed peppers and I found a really nice Italian recipe for green peppers stuffed with venison and polenta.

The okra germinated well, but bloomed and fruited very sparingly. I tried a lot of different varieties and only the red burgundy and the cow horn produced enough for me to save seeds. The difficulty in growing okra here is the lack of heat makes the fruit form too slowly, so by the time you pick it at 3 inches long, it is already too woody and you end up with an inedible dish that is like okra couscous in small mesh bags. I really like okra, particularly blistered on a grill, but this past season I discovered that the entire okra plant is edible. Leaves can be cooked like collards, and the flowers can be battered and fried like zucchini blossoms. And they are really pretty. So I am ordering two quicker growing varieties that are reportedly cold-weather tolerant. Devil’s Claw did not germinate so I ordered more seeds - a member of the sesame genus, which can be eaten exactly like okra when it is young and is an herb with medicinal uses. The leaves and flowers are reportedly sticky and smell terrible, so hopefully I can plant it on the hugel and the deer won’t eat it.

The corn germinated well in the orchard. And we discovered that my honey bees really liked the corn blooms. I have several videos of the bees all over them, which led us to joke: did this mean the bees were cutting the honey with high fructose corn syrup? I grew Burpee’s Kandy Korn, very delicate and sweet. There are few things that compare to the taste of the first, fresh picked-corn of summer. And that first pick we ate was the last we had because the squirrels relentlessly shredded the rest and broke down the stalks starting that very night. I should throw up my hands and be done with corn. But, I have all this extra orchard space for the next couple years…

The squirrels thought the corn was an excellent appetizer for the 50 squash and gourd vines Helen grew in the orchard this past year. I managed to rescue 4 butternut squash, two buttercup squash and one queensland blue pumpkin and only because I put mesh bags over them before they were very big. Every other squash and pumpkin was gutted as soon as seeds had formed in it. The gourds, on the other hand, obviously do not taste good because the animals left those untouched. We have a nice pile of bushel, dipper, swan neck and bottle gourds drying (rotting) on the front porch. In theory those should have been brought inside and dried and cut and painted. But I was using them as decorations in the fall and lost interest.

And finally, tomatoes, tomatoes. The squirrels and chipmunks were more interested in the chicken feed, corn and squash seeds than in tomatoes this year. But the tomato crop was really late due to the June drought. And, by the time the tomatoes were ripe, almost everything else was gone, so the squirrels started in on any tomato I did not put a nylon mesh bag over. And then they got desperate and started gnawing through the bags. It didn’t help that we had an over-population of squirrels this year. Any given hour of the day there were at least 3 investigating the chicken run, climbing all over the outside trying to figure out how to get inside, to the chicken feeder. And the plum tomatoes in the back of the orchard were entirely undisturbed because they were not in proximity to anything else of interest to the squirrels.

Roots (follow the fruits)

I had a potato fetish this year. I planted 6 trash bags full, and another 12 in the ground, and then another 12 grew back from the previous year. The trash bag potatoes did poorly because they did not get enough water. They were harvested August first and there were no more than a handful of golf ball sized potatoes per plant, though the stalks had dried. The Rose Finn Apple fingerling potatoes were delicious and creamy. The Mountain Rose were interesting, rather nutty tasting. The German butterball look like scaly golden reptile eggs and made a tasty potato salad with diced sausage and a radicchio chiffonade. The Japanese sugar yams were excellent – sweet/nutty and drier than orange sweet potatoes. The extra ones I planted in the orchard were nibbled down by the groundhog. And there were 12 potato plants that re-grew in the prior season’s row. I clearly did not harvest them carefully. Looking back at the 2018 seed list I planted a red, white and blue mix of Yukon Gold, Colorado Red and Purple Viking, and my notes say the Colorado Red were particularly delicious. However, when I dug them up, there really weren’t any potatoes. So I left them there to see what happens next year. I’m over root crops so this year I’m restraining myself to some standard size gold potatoes and some weird, miniature, black potatoes (total click-bait). And the Japanese yams were soooo delicious (thick purple skin and a dry white interior the texture of russet but a pecan-like sweetness) I’m absolutely trying those again.

And remember the random mention of something called “Yacón”?…It is an Andes Mountain tuber related to sunflowers: “Yacón’s flavor is best described as a melding of crisp apples and watermelon with a hint of celery or water chestnuts”. It is eaten raw. It grows tall like a sunflower, only bushier and its roots are large, potato shaped tubers that are supposed to taste like crispy apples. I did buy one and planted it in the back of the orchard. It grew to be quite bushy, but never bloomed. It has a long growing season and I waited as long as I could before digging it up. It tastes like water chestnut to me, not sweet like an apple, but not as fibrous as jicama. It certainly should be eaten raw because it would turn to mush if heated. It is a perennial so I am supposed to save the rhizome winter it inside and replant in the spring. I put it in a small pot in a gloomy corner and let it die back. And now, eight weeks later it has started to re-grow. It was supposed to stay dormant! These plants grow eight feet tall and 3 feet round – not a house plant. But if I cut it back it might die, so now I must repot it and keep it alive until I can put it back outside in May.

The radishes seem to have the same issues as the spinach: spotty germination and needed more space than they were given. I’m tired of radishes. I’m tired of all the root crops! Even the carrots were worthless this year, although, to be fair, the grass beat them out and I did not weed them. They were in the raised bed this year, because of crop rotation schedule and did not get enough water either. Same was true of the beets. The tunips never got planted. The scorzonera and salsify were planted in the great hugle and although they germinated and grew, they are biannual so they remained low to the ground and may not have gotten enough water in the June drought. I will have to see if they re-grow in the spring. The milk thistle did well in the hugel and I am sure it will re-grow. I actually transplanted burdock (I transplanted weeds – yes, I do that) to the base of the great hugle. They are also a biannual so they should come back this spring, however, they did get mowed several times this past summer since they were too close to the lawn, so maybe they won’t.

Maca (the Peruvian radish with ginseng qualities) got lost. I think I might have planted it in the orchard when I was planting the yacon, but forgot to mark it. Because these very strange, large turnip-like rosettes were growing in the orchard and I mistook them for weeds and removed them in August. So, just out of curiosity I am going to plant this again. I still have not grown celeriac successfully and this year I’m not trying. Likewise, rutabaga I’m not timing correctly. I don’t plant it early enough. It is a companion plant for peas, yet I keep putting it in the ground a month later. I’m taking a year off from roots, except carrots and beets, and maca, and some Japanese turnips that look like pink carrots and are meant for pickling which is all I ever do with turnips.

Alliums

It was a bad year for alliums (and for brassicas). The Egyptian walking onions are gone. I will replant this fall because they are so useful and I love their crazy corkscrew, tops. I did the leek/red onion/white onion mix from Territorial Seed and planted them in all the wrong places and the drought in June and July killed every one of them. NO LEEKY DANCE. This year I am starting my own leeks, three varieties for succession planting so I have 3 crops to fail instead of just one. I can grow leeks! I’ve done it before quite successfully. Onions, I’m doubling down and I ordered a sweet, northern mix of sets that I will plant somewhere new! Garlic, I impulsively bought a couple large seed heads in the fall, from a farm stand, and planted it in the orchard, along the center path. It’s in the ground – out of my hands. I even mulched it with straw. I have never before grown garlic, and we use garlic very quickly so not a lot goes to waste, but I am thinking of just tossing any garlic that does sprout in the pantry right into the ground. We have a lot of space where it could be tucked and nothing disturbs it, so why waste it in the compost pile. I feel the same way about onion bottoms. A quarter inch slice with the roots on the bottom will re-grow. Best to put it right into the ground and cover with about ¼ inch of soil. And scallions, I have belatedly learned, should never be pulled, just cut at ground level and allowed to re-grow. And I am going to attempt the same with leeks. The chives, it turns out, are a very good companions for fruit trees, so I planted some seeds at the base of each tree in the fall. We’ll see if they germinate.

Flowers

I’m still having visions of a field of sunflowers, so I bought more seeds. Just have to protect the seedlings from the deer, the squirrels and the groundhog. Cannot direct sow them because the squirrels dig up the seeds like truffle-hunting pigs! Nasturiums were glorious this past year. I finally planted enough of them. And I even cold pickled the leaves in lemon juice to use like grape leaves. Alyssium is a lovely, pollinator friendly ground cover that smells wonderful. I’m going to sow it in the lawn and broadcast in the orchard. The beebalm I planted in the orchard did well, as did the zinnias and strawflowers and calendula. The comfry (labeled the most perfect orchard companion plant) which was planted in very early sprint as un-promising looking, short, cork-sized pieces of root, all sprouted magnificently. It has large, hosta like leaves and blossoms (which are purple), and is long standing, and can be cut and mulched in place at the end of the season, providing good nutrients. Lupine is also touted as a good orchard plant because it is a member of the legume family and fixes nitrogen in the soil. It germinated, but died off in the June drought. It is supposed to be perennial, so maybe some will come back. I sowed a lot of white yarrow in the upper part of the orchard and it germinated well, but the groundhog nibbled a lot of it over the summer. But it’s perennial so we’ll see if it comes back. White clover seems to be the go-to staple for my honey bees, so I’m going to sow a lot into the lawn in the spring. Oh, yes! And I did plant 300 more daffodil bulbs in the front lawn. I also planted 50 large, saffron crocus in the orchard.

Herbs

The obvious conclusion is that the herb garden is not drained well enough for rosemary or thyme to overwinter. So that has to be re-planted, again, every year. This year I will try planting some in the upper orchard where it is drier and sunnier. My tarragon died, so that has to be replaced. The herb bed is over-run with a rampant type of yellow primrose I spent a lot of time ripping out. And the violets need thinning. I need to start moving some to the shaded parts of the front of the house. The parsley is supposed to be a biannual so I mulched it to help it survive the winter. And I also planted Hamburg Rooted Parsley in the fall and mulched the seedlings. Borage and cilantro have self-seeded themselves for the past five years, but I bought more to broadcast sow in the orchard. I also bought sesame because it has lovely seed pods. And I bought black cumin because I love the whole seeds to eat and it has a lovely blossom. I saved lots of basil seeds and have determined it does well in moist, not too sunny locations like the orchard and the shade garden. The mint did well last year and so did the lemon balm. The lemon balm has already seeded itself in the orchard, and there is a big bed of mint (that I never planted and never noticed until we built the great hugel) in the back, left corner of the property. French sorrel is happy in the herb garden – I have two, well established patches now, one in the shade side and one in the sunny side. It is very tolerant of poor drainage. It might do well in the rain gardens. The chives seem to be petering out. I need to sow more in the orchard anyway, since they are very good companion plants to fruit trees. My tarragon plant died – or appeared to – when I transplanted it. I will have to replace it, unless it miraculously re-appears in the spring. Marjoram and Oregano need to be divided and moved around. I have plenty of dill seeds and intend to sow them in the orchard this year.

Seed List: to follow

#garden dreams garden report garden zone 5b

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edentreesarboriculture · 5 years

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Brisbane Tree Removal Costs

Professional Arborist Phil Hackett preparing a tree removal quote

How Much does it Cost to Remove a Tree in Brisbane?

There is certainly a lot of things to learn when you are faced with the necessity of removing a large tree from your property. Unlike small scale trees, shrubs and other common garden vegetation that can be removed with hand operated pruning and trimming equipment, larger trees need both planning from an experienced arborist and a cooperative effort from a team of skilled, strong bodies arborists and machinery to ensure a safe and effective tree removal.

The sheer size and weight of tree limbs and branches creates potentially dangerous situations in the ‘drop zone’, and even a very small branch falling from a low height has the potential to damage properties, structures and of course are potentially fatal to pets or bystanders in the area. When choosing a tree removal company you really should check to see that they are fully insured, hold the appropriate arborist qualifications, correctly maintained equipment and an experienced crew. It might surprise you to know that not all tree lopping providers are required by law to maintain this standard, so do your due diligence thoroughly.

What Factors Affect Tree Removal Costs?

In this section we will discuss some of the most significant cost factors that make up your tree removal quote.

Staff – Climbing Arborists and ground crew

Eden Trees Arborist setting up ropes for Tree Pruning

As we mentioned, a tree removal involves a technical collaboration between both tree climbers and a ground crew to cut a tree down safely. Tree felling is a technique rarely used because there is usually little space in urban areas to drop the tree. This means the arborists will normally use ropes and pulleys to ‘block down’ the tree piece by piece. Each piece of removed trunk or branch can then be lowered to the ground safely and under control. For a large tree there will be a crew of 3-4 bodies at a minimum. As these are skilled positions and very physically labour intensive, they are usually paid well and this is a significant cost factor.

Size of the Tree

Fairly straight forward and obvious. It really comes down to the bigger the tree, the longer it will take to dismantle and the amount of debris that has to be removed will increase drastically. The size of the tree will influence the cost through extra staff and man hours, equipment wear and green waste disposal.

Type of Tree

The species of the tree will influence the cost of removing it if the leftover tree green waste is not recyclable. This would mean the woodchips from this vegetation are not suitable to use as garden mulch or for area beautification. The result is the tree removal company will most likely need to pay to dispose of this waste and these costs will be passed onto the tree owner.

Access Considerations

For a tree located close to the roadway, at the front of the house in a residential street, the chances of having easy access for machines and tree workers is very good. On the other hand, if the tree is located around the back of the property, with no rear access, on a slope with a mountain of stairs in between, well you can bet this will increase the price of your quote. In the situation described, there may be a requirement for the tree to be chopped into manageable size pieces and manually carried to the street when they can be processed through a wood chipper. This would add many extra staff and a lot of extra time. Alternatively, the same job might require a crane large enough to lift the tree waste from the back to the front, and this could run you as much as 5-6K.

For waterfront properties, it is not uncommon to see a steep slope running towards the water way, making it extremely difficult for a tree crew to manually carry tree debris waste back up the hill. In these cases a barge would often be used to float the truck and the woodchipper to the water’s edge, making it much easier to remove the waste. This situation would decrease your manpower costs slightly, however will add the cost of the barge to your quote.

An arborist uses ropes to safely remove tree branches around powerlines. This can only be done in healthy trees.

Condition and health of the tree

For a tree climber to safely navigate and dismantle a tree with ropes, the limbs and branches need to be in sound in structure. This means free from disease and significant decay, giving solid anchor points for the ropes. In many cases, the reason trees are being cut down and removed is because they have died, have diseases and are dangerous. In this circumstance the arborists will need to use either a crane, cherry picker or other type of elevated work platform to safely access the trunk and branches with a chainsaw. The arborist will not be anchored off to the tree structure and no branches would generally be lowered by using the tree structure either. The cost of adding external work platforms varies greatly by type and size, but you can reasonably assume and minimum added cost of around $1000.

Tree Removal Cost Calculator

Eden Trees have decades of experience and hold some of the highest qualifications in the arboriculture industry. Our goal is to provide both value and a quality experience to all our clients and inline with this we have developed the tree removal cost calculator to really highlight our commitment to fair and consistent pricing.

Please be aware that the results you get from the calculator will be as accurate as the information you feed into it. There are also other factors that are difficult to program into a calculator so there may be some variation in the actual quote. The results from the calculator are not a final quote, but we have made it easy for you to forward on the results to us and we will usually visit your property the same day for a confirmatory quote.

Do I need a Tree Removal Permit?

The short answer is ‘You may’ and the long answer is that it is a difficult question to answer, as every Brisbane council (South East QLD) has their own variation of vegetation protection (VPO). To find out if you need approval to remove a tree, our suggestion is for you to give us a call and we give you immediate advice on the legislation relevant to your location and tree species.

How much is palm tree removal?

Palm trees are generally less expensive to remove as they are usually reasonably thin and not as difficult to block down. The real issue is with palm tree waste, as it does not serve as useful wood chip mulch due to its physical appearance and it is difficult to spread. This usually means palm tree waste will be disposed of via a different means i.e Council Waste Stations, potentially adding a little extra to the quote.

The species of the tree may also affect a palm tree removal quote. Cocos palms are an example of this as they are significantly harder and heavier than other palm species and this may add a little extra to your quote.

Are Tree removal Companies Licenced?

As we mentioned before, by law in australia a person does not actually need to be a ‘Certified Arborist’ to remove a tree nor does he need any other qualifications. Obviously this can create potentially dangerous situations where backyard ‘DIY’ers’ or ‘handymen’, could be performing dangerous tree removal practices either for themselves or for money.

When you hire a qualified professional arborist company you are getting someone who has studied tree species, biology, their structures, diseases and the many techniques involved in maintenance, disease management and removal. Professional Arborists would be covered by public liability and workers comp insurance. You can view all of Eden Trees current arboriculture, horticulture and insurance certificates by using the link.

Can I remove a Tree on a neighbours property?

This is a common question and an issue that often results in neighbourhood disputes. Since 2011 in Queensland the laws have been changed to allow you to prune or remove branches on a tree that overhangs your fence line by 50cm or more, and at a height of no more than 2.5 metres from the ground. There is no longer any requirement to return the removed branches to your neighbour.

In cases where the branches are more than 2.5 metres above the ground, you can ask the tree keeper (owner) to have them pruned or removed. If this has not been done after 30 days, you can either employ an arborist to have them removed or do it yourself. You can recover $300 of the cost to remove the branches from your neighbour. If a resolution still cannot be reached due to costs or other concerns, the matter can be brought before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) and they will make a final ruling on the matter.

What does stump removal Cost?

Not as much as tree removal thats for sure. Whenever a tree is removed the stump will remain just above the ground level. The fastest and most economical way to remove an unwanted tree stump is by stump grinding. This service is offered by most tree removal companies and is facilitated using a stump grinding machine. This machine has a spinning wheel with teeth at the front that aggressively grinds the remaining tree stump into sawdust and leave the stump ground down below ground level.

Like most tree services, stump grinding costs will vary depending on the size of job, but generally speaking an average job would take 1-3 hours and cost in the vicinity of $150 – $600.

Tree Removal Brisbane Wide

We certainly hope this article has helped you better understand the considerations when pricing a tree removal quote, while at the same time assist you in making informed choices about selecting a qualified and insured arborist to complete the work.

If you need assistance or advice on anything relating to an upcoming tree project, grab the phone and call Phil anytime 0411 511 127. Friendly, obligation free quotes and advice is at the core of our culture and something we happily do everyday.

Read More Here: Brisbane Tree Removal Costs as seen on https://www.edentrees.com.au

Eden Trees Arboriculture Services 1322-1334 Chambers Flat Rd, Chambers Flat QLD 4133 (07) 5547 0934 https://goo.gl/maps/6yRiLcMMirdNPvGm6

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