Doug McGregor

I think a way to build your intuition here is to look at when the tree puts out a flush of new growth from all the stored carbohydrates / energy in the root system, when you bud in the fall the tree is done most of it's growth for the year so often the bud doesn't grow. Chip budding apple early in the year can produce new growth this season just like any other graft, you might use it if you're low on scion wood.

I have a similar sized 3/4 acre project coming up in the spring, it's also just been mowed for years so it has some well established grass and weeds.    There's going to be a heavy amount of weed seeds banked in the soil, so I'm going to use some no till methods.  A couple layers of cardboard and some heavy wood chip mulch in all of the areas where things are getting planted, and then we'll just continue to mow around them.  Trees will get planted in just by moving the mulch and digging a hole, and for bushes and other perennials I like to drop down some compost or decent topsoil in a mound to make small raised beds. It lets them get established and root through the cardboard.   I'm going to continue to have grass over much of the area for years and just gradually add stuff, but if I was doing a larger planting area, and it sounds like maybe you're planning to replace most of the ground cover and you have that soil compaction, you might do well to do a one time till and then use some large tarps to kill all the weeds that will germinate.  Check out the No-Till Growers youtube channel there's some excellent discussion on establishing market garden beds, terminating cover crops, establishing living mulches / ground cover between the rows https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhu5JoRWPgEGDoUFfQHTPQ/videos

This is great, I would also ask chatGPT to provide a calendar for starting everything given your last frost date.  

I have seeds available.

Rhubarb grows quickly from seed, if you found a southern seed source that might be the best way to try it.   You can start some in pots and they're the size you find at a garden center in about 3 months.

The acid treatment isn't required, you can also scarify the seeds in safer ways if they actually need it.  I couldn't find more specific help for Sapindus saponaria, but if the seeds are large enough and there aren't too many you can use something abrasive on each one, the idea is just to make some scratches or sand through one spot so that water can get through the outer seed coat.   If you don't then it's possible the seeds will just need longer to germinate, some seeds like that if just planted want to germinate in the second year.  I would try some kind of scarification and then soak them in water for a day, then do regular stratification which is just adding a small amount of damp sand or peat moss to the bag, mix it up and put them in your fridge.

About your other question, I just got some seeds in for Soapwort Saponaria officinalis (which google says doesn't need any stratification, will find out this spring) and it sounds like you boil parts of the plant to make soap.

I've been planting rhubarb with the same idea, the garden gets the mulch and I get the pies.

If you have some grow lights inside you could start the plants early, they might get big in zone 6 your last frost is in april.. I would keep them in the fridge a while in something like peat moss and plant outside closer to spring.  Having said that I'm starting some from seed inside next month, your roots will take off faster than seed.

Growing these for the first time this year from seed, hoping they'll be perennial in zone 3 with some heavy mulch.   The seed I have is isn't a named variety, are there actually varieties grown from seed or are we talking about cultivars propagated from the tubers?

There's some good information here about the growing season, I would sure like to collect our own seed in the fall - maybe a few plants will make their way into the greenhouse before we get frost.  

Mark Danilovic wrote:I am trying to get some tree seeds going this year and have them in my refrigerator stratifying since autumn - chestnuts and pawpaws mostly this year. Some of the chestnuts have already germinated in the medium and have put out big roots (no leaves yet, they are still basically dormant). Not sure about the paw paws, I don't think they have yet (don't want to mess with them too much).

The dilemma is do I put them in pots now (it's not even January yet) and grow them indoors, or just leave them to chill (pun intended) until at least March or something. I am tempted to go with the former option and start growing them out for a super head-start this year, but I wonder if this will stress them, having such a long first growing season - it will be almost 11 months in my climate from now until late November when we get our first real frosts? Or will that give them a good head start? On the other hand I am worried about them maybe rotting if they are left for another 3 months in the fridge having already germinated.

The ones that have started to germinate should go into pots, I've done this with acorns and once there's some root they want to keep growing - the stored energy in a nut makes the put on some initial growth fast. The suggestions posted above are all good, I would add to that if you're going to grow inside for a few months make sure to use sterile medium and pots.  The first year I tried starting trees in December they had some challenges with pests and fungi by the spring, which lead to a losing battle with sprays etc - I had the bright idea to used some compost from outside.  Outdoor growing with the full sun, wind, rain etc cures those things.    Why not store half of your dormant seeds outside to finish stratifying in the spring, and grow the rest over the winter under some grow lights?   Winter gardens are good, starting mine next month.  The eggs in more than one basket kind of thing usually works out, and you get to A B compare the results by end of the season.