Stoney Edge: 32 acres in northwestern Vermont

So we went for a little drive out to Elmore Roots Nursery yesterday. I knew I wanted to get at least some lingonberries, a pruning saw, and taste some plums. Well, I came home with 6 lingonberry plants, 6 blueberry plants, 2 cranberry plants, 2 improved pawpaws, the pruning saw, a Rovada red currant, a quart of unnamed apples, a couple of plum pits, a Chicago Hardy Plum, Gaia's Garden, stuff to discourage deer, and a couple of drinks! lol I think I'll be turning one of the raised beds into a nursery bed and see if I can get the plum pits and a few apple seeds to sprout.

Here's a Nanking Cherry from Fedco that's been getting established all summer:


Here's a viburnum that's got fruit I hadn't noticed before. I have no idea if all viburnum fruit are edible or not. This plant was planted by the previous owner's of our home.


Wish me luck with this Pawpaw! Apparently the ones at Elmore Roots got eaten by a moose! They are coming back but that's got to be really frustrating!


Blueberries and Lingonberries


The pictures are a bit fuzzy because it was getting dark out when I took the pictures!

I've only seen a moose once on our property (15 years ago). When my son was about 3 he was in my bedroom and looked out the window. "Why is there a camel next to the car?" A camel? Not really, just a moose calf.

My husband saw a mama and baby moose on the property behind us last year. Even though we are on a hillside it is such a wet area here that there are marshes and ponds all over the place. I have planted pawpaw seeds in the woods with more on their way so hopefully any seedlings would distract any moose from these improved ones near the house. I'll let you know if I end up with a moose in the swimming pool though!

I am parking this rolling sink/counter idea here because I am contemplating an outdoor kitchen and this setup solves a couple of problems! I am thinking about creating a roof over a patio area we don't currently use next to the pool, but pipes that I believe are intended to shunt the pool water when it's being drained are 10 plus feet away. I was hoping to be able to drain the sinks to those pipes so I could just roll the sink over there when I am using it a lot. I might also be able to bring the sink over to the faucet by the garden if I just want to clean veggies or do some potting work. Another possibility would be to have this on the deck as a surface or ice bucket if we actually ever had people over for a party! http://homesteadlaboratory.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-garden-kitchen.html?m=1

Still no frost! I did think we might have been hit at one point because my daughter's Morning Glories had gone all limp. Turns out some creature had nibbled through all the stems at the bottom of the trellis! Probably the same creature that got all the Sunflower seeds from the one Sunflower that had survived our abuses!

We took a trip out to Elmore roots and came home with 2 pawpaws, 6 blueberries, 6 lingonberries, 2 cranberries, a red currant, an assortment of non-plant items including Gaia's Garden, and he threw in a Chicago Hardy Fig for free! Everything has been planted along with most of the bulbs that I'd ordered earlier.

My father-in-law has been helping out around the house once a week. He took it upon himself to bring his string mower and mow around our path. I neglected to tell him about the hazelnuts we planted this spring. Oops! Hopefully they are established enough to come back!

And pictures!
The volunteer tomatoes seedlings:


A volunteer red oak seedling I just found! I'd been thinking we had no oaks but some creature must have recently brought one in!


American Linden leaves make great fancy hats for the young ladies:


Interesting mushrooms near the currant bushes:


What insects eat Elderberry leaves? I thought I only had a deer problem with the Elderberries then I discovered this!

I haven't posted here in a while. We were away for 7 weeks last summer so I didn't do much of anything. I'm still out here though.

I've attached a picture showing a little example of a microclimate. Everything else on the bush is still a small bud.

Ghislaine de Lessines wrote:Except for the piles of snow at the end of the driveway, it's melted though more is expected tonight. I got out before it started raining to seed the area by the road, under the power lines. Some of the seed came in the mail just yesterday. Lupine, yarrow, kale, turnip, Swiss chard, daikon, hollyhock, and some small sunflowers should hopefully pop up out there. Does it count as rain seeding or frost seeding if you get both in the same day?

So I thought that pretty much none of these had actually established themselves but 2 years later I am seeing some nice lupine plants! Yay, for playing Miss Rumphius!

I just pulled out a bunch of strawberry type plants out of this area of spring bulbs. I wonder if they'd make for a good companion plants. The Glory of the Snows certainly lay down nice and flat after they have passed which allows the strawberries to grow over them as though they were a kind of green mulch.

It's been raining all day today so I didn't work outside today. It stopped around 6pm so my eldest and I did some measuring for a fence we need to install, then we walked around zone 1 to observe.

I had noticed earlier today that the woods are suddenly green. The trees have leafed out. We nibbled on some linden leaves which she liked well enough but the mint was far too strong! I noticed that the first set of leaves on the daikon are not nearly as spicy as the first set of true leaves.

The blueberries in the stone walled bed (pictured but taken a couple of days ago in the morning) the house have open flowers but not the ones by the pool. One of my haskaps has flowers but not the other. The red currants are blooming too. The Nanking Cherry blossoms have passed but the serviceberries the previous owners planted are in blossom. I don't think they are healthy specimens and I am tempted to replace them with a shortish tree in the Prunus family.

The blueberries and linden were visited by an interesting small grasshopper like creature (also pictured.) We also saw lots of little slugs. I may bring back the ducks sooner rather than later! 24 Guinea eggs are in the incubator now. I candled them and they all seem to be developing! It's only been about a week so I am not quite sure. I didn't see veins in all of them but they all appeared to have similar sized masses in them. They have thick shells and I am using a small LED flashlight instead of an actual candler.

Picture post!

1. Identification question? It is a vine growing over bush honeysuckle along the stone wall at the town ditch.

2. This may be a wild grapevine? I have never seen grapes on it but the leaves seem grape like.

3. I planted some willow cuttings today. I got 4 varieties from Vermont Willow Nursery that should stay under 15 feet. I planted them under the power lines and 15 feet is the power company's requirement. I am hoping to increase privacy and have a source for cuttings and willow rods for garden projects. I chose to sheet mulch with cardboard and years old woodchips. I should probably think of something to seed into the mulch.

Update
 I didn't get right up to it for a picture and a better count but there is at least one willow that has new growth.  It is a bit muddy in that area and I didn't have my boots on.  I'm worried that they don't get enough sun in that spot.

Pictures
1. Tomatoes are coming!  These are a Currant tomato variety so they are quite small.  It's in a pot on my deck.
2. Today's cucumber harvest. I was away for a few days so they are a bit bigger than they ought to be. They are destined to become cornichon, a very sour French style pickle using my mother's recipe.

I went out to the spot I had planted the willow to see how well they had taken to the spot.  I suspect they don't get enough sun and something has nibbled on some of the plants but about half of them are doing okay.

I'm also posting a picture of the guineas I hatched this spring hanging out in their coop.

Oh, and my husband found grapes on those vines while berry picking yesterday so I am excited about that!

Great thread !

You mentioned Viburnum. We use it alot, although it has its own pest " viburnum beetle" which can wipe it out, as it skeletonizes the leaves repeatedly. The one you show looks more like the "squash berry" the shorter viburnum.  Look for the tall variety.(8-16 feet).

Around here they call it "high bush cranberry" and harvest after frost. Usually made into jelly. I use it as a syrup and add it to hot or cold water. The taste is amaZing , but while cooking , the Smell is terrible. Just so you are warned.

As to what is eating the Elderberry , I have alot of them, might be grasshoppers. THey won't do it for long as the leaves are toxic.

I see you found out about the wild grape vine. I have them too. The young leaves are also delicious as you probably know.

Hope to see more from your place/project.

I got diagnosed with Tennis Elbow this spring so I have been having trouble trying to maintain what I have.  It's particularly frustrating because we removed some trees to allow more light onto our solar system so expansions are possible.

Before that I did make another run to Vermont Willow and picked up 4 more varieties. One variety went next to the driveway by the road and the other three are in the newly cleared area.  They all seem to be doing well.  The original set definitely wasn't getting enough sun so I hope to transplant them next spring.

I have just cut back the ninebark bushes that were shading the pawpaw trees.  They've been there for long enough that they should be able to tolerate the sun.  I am hoping they take off as they are still short little things.  I was interested to note that the understory included wild raspberries and thimbleberries.  Lots of hickory and a few maple seedlings too.  There's a violet plant there that I am not sure I want to encourage as I would like to use different groundcovers I think.

I managed to work around the tennis elbow and harvested the potatoes.  My mom had given me her leftover seed potatoes so I decided to try the no-dig method.   I had an empty 3x6ft raised bed that I added an inch or so of composted cow manure from the farm down the hill.  I nestled the seed potatoes in the compost and covered them with hay.  I added some more hay when tbe plants came up through the first layer. Considering I didn't water them during this very dry summer and other circumstances, I am pretty pleased with the results.  We ate the damaged ones with dinner tonight.  Yum!  Oh, and the bolt must have landed in the bed during the solar panel install.

My husband went out into the kids' "gardens" in the newly cleared area in front of the house.  I took this picture from the slope above and the mammoth sunflower was still taller than me!