Yup, yesterday morning got me thinking about spring…garden, orchard, berry patch…YEA!

I’ve been putting it off because of weather, mud mostly, but yesterday was one of my most favorite times of spring (ok, late winter)…pruning my fruit trees.

I spent a couple of hours hacking away at my apple, peach, cherry trees like a man in love. Okay, that sounds a bit oxymoronish I know. But I am pretty harsh when it comes to pruning. Now remember, several of my trees are only coming into their third year, the other 4 are only starting their 2^nd year. The single most important goal for new trees…setting really, really good root system. The #2 goal is as strong a trunk as you can get.

#3 is great shape…meaning strong branches, well-formed and correctly placed. To get the branches and shape right…I am pretty brutal when it comes to pruning…at least when the trees are young. I think the main idea…keep the center of the tree as open as possible to allow plenty of light in to ripen the fruit. And of course you want to ensure strong branches to begin with…and that means directing as much of the tree’s energy to producing those strong branches.

So the late winter, dormant, pruning is done. Now, I have to find the right location and dig 4 more large holes (3’x’3) for the 4 dormant apple trees my neighbor gave be last year. They have been sitting in a planter pot just waiting for me to not be lazy and get them in the ground. Maybe Saturday…we’ll see.

But the most fun yesterday…planting 30 dormant raspberry bare-root starts. One of my buddies, and a good neighbor, has a huge raspberry and blackberry patch. He offered some of his canes that had grown outside of his patch…duh, of course I took him up on the offer. We dug up 30 really good looking canes, some of which already had the new starts hiding in the ground several inches below the surface.

He also turned me on to a new product called Agri-Gel. It’s a formulation that absorbs and holds water to roots. The swollen crystals adhere to plant roots, reducing transplant shock. Safe, nontoxic, easy to use. Useful for garden seedlings as well as woody plants. Highly recommended for brambles and conifers. Let’s see if I can tell a difference.

I already had my holes dug, had filled them several times with water to get the surrounding area saturated with water. Remember, I live in a dry part of the country, starting out with moist soil is a must. I didn’t use the native sandy soil. I did a mix of my local compost plus Grow King composted steer manure. No added fertilizer at all in the hole to start out. Brambles should not be planted with fertilizer, wait till they are well established before fertilizing.

I saturated the holes really well with water after planting. I will do a light & loose layer of weed-free straw as a mulch today. I will also cut back the canes to 6” – 12” above the surface. Remember, it is not the old canes that will produce the fruit…it will be the new shoots that come up that will produce the fruit.

I checked on my strawberry patch when I was done. Some of the protective winter straw mulch has gotten a little thin but is still protecting my plants. I am not quite ready to uncover them yet, some cold weather still ahead. But they are close, within a month I am pretty sure. I will look for the new growth on the plants, then they get uncovered…should the weather look promising.

I am behind the curve on building my new above ground containers for the garden this year. I am just running out of time each week. I have already scrapped the cattle panel green house due to lack of time. But, I won’t ignore the planting boxes…and you know why…we must grow food this year!

So how are your garden, orchard, and patch projects coming along?

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January 2021 I started our fruit orchard…with 3 trees. So no, the picture to the left is not our orchard, just a nice picture to make you feel good and impress you.

We started our orchard with 2 apple trees and 1 peach tree. In January 2022 we added 2 sweet cherry trees and 2 more peach trees. One of the peach trees didn’t make it.

All of the above were bare root stock and this was my first real attempt at planting bare root stock and it went well. I should share that experience with ya’ll in another article. In March my neighbor was planting a large orchard…122 trees in all. I helped him and when all was done he was out of space and had 4 apple trees left over; 1 in it’s own planter/container, another planter/container had 3 apple trees in it. All trees were a little on the puny side. He gave them to me for helping. Nice! And unexpected…a blessing.

I transplanted the single tree shortly after I got home and it is doing really well. The container/planter with the 3 trees I kept in the pot. They weren’t dormant and I knew that I would probably kill all 3 if I tried to untangle their roots and plant them. So, I kept them on the east deck and took really good care of them. They are all doing well and I will transplant them once they go dormant this winter…after I untangle their roots.

My maintenance system/process is fairly simple and based on the growing conditions here at our place. I will write more about planting them, but for now I will speak to my “maintenance” process. After the windy season, usually mid to end of June, and again in the fall after the weather turns cold but well before they lose their leaves, I perform the routine. And, I only plan on doing so for the first 2 – 3 years the trees are in the ground. After that, the tree will only be tended/maintained as needed.

This is my second article using this new article system with LibreOffice suite…basically from my Impress presentation (PowerPoint equivalent) program into pictures for posting. Then adding a link at the bottom if anyone would like to download the basics in PDF format. So here you go…

< click here to download the PDF file >

Related Articles –

• GARDEN: Strawberry Patch 2022 Fall Update

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OK, this is a new kind of post for me. Yes, it is about our strawberry patch, that stays the same. What is different is how I produce it.

Recently, about 2 weeks ago, I upgraded from our old laptop computer to a new unit. Our old one was running system software and programs from 16 years ago. Yeah, ancient stone tablets…I know. The main problem was the old laptop keep heating up and shutting down…losing work in the process. We didn’t have a lot of choice, had to upgrade.

Along with the computer upgrade I wanted to get away from Microsoft products…that meant leaving Microsoft Office…Yea! After a whole lot of research I decided on LibreOffice suite. It basically looks and acts just as Microsoft Office…but it is free! I have been using it for two weeks, and there is a small learning curve, but it is working out great.

So, I am using LibreOffice Impress (Microsoft Powerpoint) to take photos, adding narratives, and then producing JPEG pictures for the actual post. Then I take the Impress presentation and create a PDF file to attach to the post so folks can download it should they desire to do so.

So now on with the strawberry info…

I have been working on our strawberry patch all summer. My goals were to: 1) establish the original 6 plants in the most healthy state as possible, 2) increase the size of the patch for next year. Goal #1…done! The original 6 plants are in fantastic shape and produced a ton of runners. From those runners I was able to start a whole bunch of “daughter” plants.

So the first round of transplanting yielded 15 plants that I put into 5 more containers. That project can be looked at in a previous post < click here >. Once I got those plants transplanted I was able to start 10 more “daughter” plants. That was successful…and I mean it went really well and the new plants looked great! But I was out of containers and I wanted to test my new raised bed concept.

Next year we are going with raised bed gardening. We tried “post hole” and it just didn’t work out. We ruled out conventional gardening due to the soil and HUGE amount of amending we would have to do…simply wouldn’t make sense from a work or cost perspective.  So we wanted to try container and raised bed styles. This past summer we tried container gardening and it went well. But, I could tell it wouldn’t be practical for any kind of large gardening…meaning, we simply couldn’t grow enough food in containers. But, it would work for something like strawberries. The last of the strawberry patch plants gave us the opportunity to test our raised bed plans.

The last of the plants would go in a 2′ (wide) x 12′ (long) x 14″ (height) that I would build myself. I didn’t want the planters to be complicated, expensive, or difficult to build. So I went with four 2″ x 6″ x 12′ along with some scrap 4″ x 4″ that I had laying around. Yeah, I don’t throw out any lumber anymore…its worth way too much money and comes in useful down the road. I went with a 14″ tall bed, 10″ – 11″ will be soil, then a little bit of wood chips on top, and enough space to allow the water to not flow off and cause erosion problems. I only needed the stacked 2×6’s for a total of 11″ height since strawberry roots only go about 6″ – 9″ deep.

I decided on 2 stacked 2″x6″ boards because they were about 2/3rds the price of a single 2″x12″ board.

FYI…”experts” have opinions on the ideal soil depth in raised beds ranging from 8″ – 11″. Problem is there is no one ideal depth for soil. The depth of the soil is strictly dependent on the plant type…and it varies quite a bit…6″ – 18″ more or less. Here is a chart to give you an general idea…

And even with the chart you can make adjustments…such as with tomatoes. You can actually plant tomatoes horizontally. Since water uptake is the main need for tomatoes they don’t generally care about how the roots are arranged, just the fact that they can get enough water into the plant.

So here are the specifics of the project. You can click each picture/graphic to enlarge it. At the end of the article you can click the link to download PDF file.

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< click here to download the PDF file >

Related Articles –

• GARDEN: Our Strawberry Patch – Fall
• Garden: Hail and Starvation
• Garden: Let’s Talk a Minute…
• Garden – 2021: 3/8/2021
• It’s time for garden prepping !

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About two weeks ago we had a really bad hail storm hit us. Two miles away…nothing. Here…really bad.

So to make it simple to understand…we lost our entire garden…everything! The hail was the size of marbles and came down with such a velocity that it punched holes in the leaves of plants such as our beans and cucumbers. It pulverized our squash and peppers. The newly germinated fall squash plants…beat into green mush. Only the strawberries survived intact…relatively little damage.

So what does that tell me…what is the Lesson Learned for this experience?

Had we been depending on our garden for all of our food…we would be starving now! Yes, starving…as in dying without anything to eat.

Yeah, that was pretty startling. Our philosophy has always been to have enough food storage on hand to get our garden up to speed to feed us. So maybe the first year the garden would still be too small and our experience too young for it to be a sole source of food…but it would supplement our food storage to a great degree. Then maybe by the second or third season we would be pretty much self-sustaining out of our garden. Oooooppppppssssss!

What if that third year was the next year that a devastating hail storm hit and wiped out the garden? What if that was the year that our food storage was down to a few #10 cans left on the self?

Not a pleasant thought!

So we are doing a couple of things:

1. We are going to use a “sunshade” material that handled the hail without issue. It will be ready to deploy on the garden at the first indication of, or prediction of, hail.
2. We are going to look at a rationing plan for our food storage to try and stretch it out as long as possible. The goal will be to cover more growing seasons.
3. If/when the SHTF we will use more garden produce in our diet to increase the length of our food storage usage.
4. We will add another heirloom seed bank to our preparedness.

Note: Hail did some damage to the fruit trees as well, it tore off leaves. If there had been fruit on the trees I am sure it would have destroyed most, if not all, of it. Fortunately the trees are fist or second year and no fruit was set and no major damage to the trees themselves.

Mother nature is a powerful force…you can’t stop it…but you can prepare for it.

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This article came from a question asked of me: What would the top 3 vegetables be in your garden during the apocalypse?

Valid question…although the first time I have been asked that. And it is not an easy question to answer if you are looking for advice from me.

Why’s that? Because you might live in Alaska or Florida or the deserts of New Mexico…and, on top of that, I am no gardening expert.

I’ve lived in and learned to garden in the mid-west, the south-east, and the desert south-west; I am learning to garden in a really nice area of Arizona. Each area was/is different in terms of soil, weather, rain, humidity, sun intensity, etc. Each of those factors control how you garden. So I will answer it differently than you might have expected. I will give you my top vegetables, in priority order, but leave it up to you to decide which is best in your area based on your growing conditions and your health needs.

1. Beans – great source for protein, amino acids, folate, antioxidant, and fiber.
2. Potatoes – calories/fat/protein, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Niacin, Folate, and fiber. Probably a genetic thing as well for me.
3. Squash – vitamins A/C/B, potassium, magnesium, manganese, antioxidant, and fiber. Banana squash has been used to control blood glucose in diabetic patients and greatly assists hypoglycemics. Yellow squash is rich in anti-inflammatory compounds.
4. Beats – Manganese, Copper, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Sodium, Vitamins C/B, folate, and fiber. May reduce blood pressure and blood sugar. May improve athletic ability. Really awesome when pickled.
5. Cabbage – vitamins K/C/B6, folate, protein, calcium, potassium, antioxidant, and fiber. Helps regulate blood sugar and metabolized cholesterol. Anti-inflammatory that may reduce chronic inflammation.
6. Tomatoes – calcium and vitamin A/B/C/E/K, and fiber. Beta-carotene, coumaric acid, and chlorogenic acid, and antioxidants. May be a protective food for people with type 2 diabetes.
7. Peas – contains the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Vitimins A/B/C/E, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, catechin, epicatechin, coumestrol, and fiber. Rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals. May help as an anti-inflammatory, fight diabetes, control blood sugar, as well as preventing anemia. May assist the body’s immune system, and helps prevent scurvy.
8. Peppers – vitamin A/B/C/E/K, potassium, folate, antioxidants, fiber, carbs
9. Garlic – vitamins B/C, manganese, selenium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and fiber. Commonly associated with protection against or helps cure colds, infections, and flu; as well as reducing blood pressure, and reducing total and LDL cholesterol. May improve athletic ability. At high doses, the sulfur compounds in garlic have been shown to protect against organ damage from heavy metal toxicity. Garlic is an antibiotic herb and is marketed as a natural antibiotic supplement. And I have heard the term “poor man’s antibiotic” more than once when talking about the benefits of garlic.
10. Carrots – contains beta carotene, fiber, vitamins B/K, potassium, sugar, carbs, and antioxidants. Also, Beta carotene, Alpha-carotene, Lutein, Lycopene, Polyacetylenes, and Anthocyanins.

Note: Antioxidants help fight the negative effects of stress.

For me…I would try to grow each of the “10” as much as possible. Each one of these garden beauties plays a part in overall health. And this is especially true while dealing with the stress during the apocalypse, TEOTWAWKI, SHFT, or grid-down.

Don’t neglect the idea/concept of having a fall or winter garden…and you can start your plants indoors to get a jump-start on your summer garden. Especially important if you have a short growing season.

Don’t forget to plant heirloom seeds whenever possible…and then seed save! Planting seeds from hybrid plants may result in some very strange plants with or without producing anything edible.

Yes, I know some of these are actually “fruit”…deal with it…I am talking about finding it in a garden which makes it a vegetable to me 😉

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