Mark Morgan

Maybe springtails or some kind of mite?

Sally,
 As long as it is still dormant it's ok. But once buds have broke I wouldn't recommend it. things that are in pots can be transplanted anytime. But if you have to cut roots then moving while dormant is best. Have the buds broke? is it starting to leaf out?

Cant really tell from the video, Maybe aphids. I don't recall seeing aphids move that fast though.

RedHawk,
Thank you for touching on the mineral piece of this. I'll keep coming back to learn more. I'm curious about application rates of minerals and your thoughts on fostering the soil life to get good results in the garden. I've been working toward this goal in my garden for a long time. I've had mixed results in the past, but things keep getting better every year.

Jayden,
 I got the Dramm stix risers and pin perfect nozzles from Growers Supply. They are a distributer for Dramm products. You won't find them on the site, you will have to email them. I think I had to buy five or ten of them at a time. I use three of them in each propagation bed for good coverage. Don't worry about the GPM, these nozzles make a very fine mist and that's what you want for the soft wood cuttings. I've had good success with 10 seconds of mist every 20 minutes.  

Here is a link to Growers Supply, Just email them with what you are looking for. They are very helpful. Growers Supply

Hope this helps.

I'm ready for it! So many plans for the garden this year. I can't wait. I already got stuff popping up out there Garlic, Rhubarb and the walking onions. Good luck to you too.

Thank you for this. I've been tying to learn as much as possible about this very topic. What are your thoughts on using rock dusts to re-mineralize depleted soils? Will you be discussing that as well?

Thane,
You can absolutely remove those branches. They may actually be suckers from a root stock but I can't tell from the picture. If they are then you will definitely want them gone as they are different from the tree you want to see growing. The small one you can just snip off close to the tree with some bypass cutters. the larger ones will require a saw. Make sure to use the three cut method and then after you remove the majority of the limbs then go back and cut up close to the trunk.

I wrote an article about doing this type of thing. Pruning young fruit trees

It explains how to do these operations on fruit trees but it really does apply for most other trees as well. Take a look! Hope it helps.

The Amaranth I've grown is around five feet tall. I've never tried to grow beans up them but I don't see why not. I'll definitely give that a shot this year. I have had some success growing our beans up sunflowers and even the apple trees in our yard. The squash usually ends up running through everything in the garden. So I imagine the three sisters can be pretty diverse and just depends on what works well for you as far as companion planting goes. Always a good idea to keep a garden journal so you can look back and see what works best.

Last spring I transplanted a young black locust from my brothers place over to mine. It was only about two feet tall when I did it. I placed it between two Cortland apple trees in the hopes that some of it's nitrogen fixing qualities will rub off as I understand that could be beneficial. As far as spacing goes if you are trying to start a bunch from seed you can get away with a very close spacing. after the trees are between one to two foot tall its time to transplant them to where you want them permanently. Just make sure to do the transplanting when the tree is dormant. late fall, or early spring where I am, as long as the ground isn't frozen.