New Year Project

 

When we put in this fence line last year, it was intended to give the deer a sense of boundary. To make life easier for both the deer and me, I planted raspberry starts all along the fence line. This attempt to bribe the deer to eat from "their" raspberries and leave mine alone didn't work at all.  Since this line got overrun with weeds, they preferred the nicely trimmed main raspberry patch, and I ended up picking the berries buried in the weeds.  So, this is what it looked like after a year of neglect. Opportunistic weeds like grass, Alder trees, comfrey, foxglove, creeping buttercup, and many more had developed a very hard sod/weed base all along the fence.  The only wire I had put on the fence was a single line of wire to kind of trellis the raspberries.  I really can't stand weeds, so I began clearing the weeds off this fence line and creating a new area adjacent to the main garden for another Hugelkultur mound. We are going to put a more serious fence outside the mound. This side of the garden is the main entry point for deer, raccoons, rabbits, etc. and I'm hoping a better fence will solve some of the problems of critters in the garden.

I began working on clearing the weeds about a month ago. Weather only allowed me to work on it periodically. I realized quickly that I would need a lot more mulch to complete the project, so I ordered another 15 yards of mulch.

I should finish the fence line weeding today, and then I can start on the fun project of installing the actual fence line on the other side of the new garden area.  I'm trying to transition the garden into more of a raspberry thing - I know raspberries do well no matter the weather so why fight to grow more exotic plants that may only do well in a "tomato" year? I may have to open a U-Pick for raspberries. 

I'm also trying to transition to more of a mulch covered food forest and less of a row crop tilled garden.

Raspberry Tutorial

Many years ago when we first moved to our current home on acreage, a real estate client who became a good friend, gave me some raspberry starts.  They are a really great variety although I don't know which one - that's the way with shared plants.  These are thornless and produce tons of berries.

After they have finished producing berries sometime in mid-July, they look like this:

If you've never grown raspberries, it can be daunting to look at the jungle like growth and to know what to do to prepare them to produce again the next year.

If you look at the bottom of the plants, it's easy to detect the old canes - they are grey-brown.  Next year's canes are light green.  If you prepare them as soon as they quit producing berries, it is very easy to do.  If you wait until spring, the canes will all be the same color and it will be harder to do.  If you don't take out the old canes, your plants will still produce, but the berries will get smaller every year, and eventually they will quit producing berries.

So first step:  Use a good pair of clippers and cut the old canes as close to the ground as you can - then remove the old canes.

When you are done removing old canes, it should look like this:

I usually leave the new canes at their full height - just because we have a deer population that loves the tender new canes and they can't reach the top.  Eventually I will weave the new canes onto the wire:

Or you can tie them to the wire if they are too short to wrap onto the wire, but I don't recommend this as you have to untie all those old canes when you remove them after the crop is in.

If you do tie them to the wire, use a simple knot.

There will be multiple new plants starting all around the raspberry row.  I share these with anyone who wants to start a raspberry patch.  If I don't know anyone who wants them, I dig them and put them at the road with a FREE sign, and an unknown stranger usually picks them up.  I love sharing plants!

Picking Raspberries, Making Jam

A few years ago, I took out about half of my raspberries because there was too much guilt in not being able to use them all.  Then last year my old row of raspberries (about 30' long) didn't produce enough - so I transplanted starts to start a new row.

This year, both rows are producing - so I'm back into guilt mode.

Doing my best to keep up - three days into my raspberry picking season, I'm filling the pantry.  My grandkids will be happy!

Working on the Orchard

My aunt used to call me a "frustrated farmer" - and maybe she's right!  I can't seem to stop myself from agricultural pursuits - even now when it is just the two of us and we don't even eat that much.  Our latest project is the orchard.  We decided that planting an acre of vegetables every year for the deer, slugs, raccoons, bear, etc. was probably a bit excessive.  And we are getting older - all that bending, heavy weeding, etc. takes its toll on an old body. 

We had a fair start on an orchard, but it had been neglected and heavy weeds grew around the base of every tree.  Over the years the trees had grown, making it harder and harder to till between them.  After one day of getting whacked in the head by overreaching branches as I drove the tractor through the rows to do the spring tilling, I decided it was time to either take out the trees or make it easier to work.
Coincidentally, the PUD had trimmed the trees along the power lines for miles.  We had offered them a place to dump their mulch, and they brought us about 10 dump truck loads last summer.

I enlisted Ron's help, and he hauled bucketload after bucketload of mulch.  I laid out shade cloth and all the accumulated newspapers after I weeded around the base of the trees.  (Hopefully for the last time!)

When we were done, we had hauled and spread about 100 yards of mulch and covered the entire orchard area with about 6" of mulch.  Being a math person, I pondered our project as I worked and figured that 50' x 40' = 2,000 square feet - at 6" deep, should be 1000 square feet of mulch - and if my math formula from memory serves correctly, divide sq ft by 9 to get sq yards - which is 111 yards.  Could that be right?  No wonder my back was hurting!

So now we have 5 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 1 pear with 4 varieties spliced to it, 2 plum trees, and 1 fig tree.  We also added two varieties of black berries to go with our existing raspberry and strawberry rows.  We have found that it is a lot easier to give away fruit than it is vegetables, and fruit is so much easier to take care of!

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