Nancy Reading

I've planted a few monkey puzzle trees here - I love the way they grow straight up in my windy climate!

One thought I have is that mine are mainly for nut production. Of course I may not be the one that benefits in 15-20 years when they start to fruit. Since they have male and female flowers on different trees, and since I won't know until they flower which sex I have, potentially at that point I will have 30-40 year old male trees surplus to requirements. One male can pollinate several female trees for the edible pinons, the extras could potentially be harvested for timber.

Apparently hungry deer can munch on the branches, although I've not had a problem here I have seen trees in cornwall that apparently needed protection. Also be aware that the scale-like leaves are wicked sharp and if you do plant them make sure they are well away from where you want to walk. I keep having to relocate my paths!

Chance Lunceford wrote:Here's an idea I've been pondering over for awhile now.

It's a combination of a perpetual lumber system, a breeding program which can be directed in multiple directions simultaneously, a generational wealth sustainer, a teacher of long-term thinking and patience, and some other stuff.

Here's what I'm thinking, in a loose outline:

- Plant a shit-ton of seedlings of a given species, interspersed with grafted varieties, and heavily over plant in an area large enough that you can plan out a harvesting schedule that runs for between 10-50 years (depending on species, goals, ecosystem, etc). Ideally, sowing an outrageous amount of seed and thinning from there.

(zip)

That's the basic outline. Obviously, you can get into the deep with this, considering site, species, circumstance, etc...

What say you about this?

I love the long term thinking....
I'd add diversity rather than having a single species. Who knows what will do well in a given decade?

Jay Angler wrote:I'm thinking some sort of heavy gauge wire clamshell type thing. It would have to be easy to make, as you'd need a lot of them.

Hmm, I'm thinking something like a slightly larger tea ball infuser?

source

That one would be tricky to put on, but you can get sprung ones with handles:

source
They would come in a bit expensive though. These seem to be available up to 65mm diameter (about 2 1/2 inch) which would probably be big enough.
I guess if you could come up with a source for the cups you could use a simple clothes peg to act as the handle/clip.

r ransom wrote:I love this so much.

I wonder how to keep the upright sticks still while starting the weave.  Stick em in the ground?

That is a traditional way of making creels, so it seems a perfect way of starting out. If you were making lots of houses the same size, then you might want a wooden form to keep them identical, but I would just build it in situ. Willow if you wanted a playhouse that carried on growing, hazel for one that stayed the same size!

Natalie Hogg wrote:I'm not sure about using netting, the CSA doesn't use it, so I hadn't thought about it and was planning on going with cold hardy crops and cover cropping for winter mostly, with the cold frame to supplement.

Each site is different, some people have such problems with pigeons that they struggle to grow any cabbage like plants. There are other ways of dealing with that if you do find out you have a problem. Maybe look around and ask whether other site members have a problem at all.

This is my first time growing a garden myself so I thought a four year rotation was as complicated as I wanted to take things. Are there plants that need a longer rotation?

I believe four is the minimum that is recomended. If you have a club root or an onion rot problem, those can stay in the soil for much longer. In practise though it is difficult to create a true rotation of crop families as many 'weeds' are in the brassica family (e.g bittercress) and mustard and radish (both brassica) are used as green manures. Having a good diversity of crops and including flowering and scented plants will help just as much as the rotation in my opinion.

I don't have access to power so mowing at the plot would be difficult, though grass would make a good mulch source. There is a free pile of wood chips that gets replenishes on site so that's probably what I will use for my paths.

a push -mower is not as much work as you might think (and are often available for free as gathering dust in people's sheds...), however if you have access to woodchip that's great!

I'm vaguely planning that for my first year I only get two of the segments up and running with 'proper' production and cover the other two with cover crops and pollinator plants. Winter cover cropping/ winter veg planting the first segments isn't bad shout, will that work as I plan to use the cardboard with compost and biomass overwinter bed set up method?

Starting small and not trying to do too much is generally a pretty good idea - many beginner gardeners get disheartened because they try and do too much and the weeds get on top of them.
I think whether it is best to wintercrop or sheet mulch depends on what the site and soil is like. If it is in good heart and full of perennial weeds, then maybe a cover crop is best - it acts as a 'nutrient battery' holding the goodness from the soil which is then returned in the form of biomass in the spring. You can see and deal with the perennial weeds as they reappear. If you mulch perennial weeds over winter I think this can actually feed them and they sometimes return bigger the following year. Sheet mulch is great if the soil needs a bit of a boost and the weeds are mainly annuals. The main thing is to cover the soil with one or the other, rather than leaving it bare soil to leach all the goodness out and giving the weeds a head start in spring!

Here she is! I think my photo was pre-digital camera, and I haven't bothered to find it for you. It was at the lost gardens of Helligan in Cornwall UK, not Devon.


source

Apparently she was originally going to be a mermaid who crawled into the woods for a kip, but someone suggested she was a mud maid, the name stuck and she never got her tail. Made in 1998, she needs a bit of maintenance to stop the ivy covering her body too thickly, and has had the odd facial to remove clumpy moss.

She had a wooden armature, and the skin is 'a mix of compost, cement and sand'. I suppose it needs to have something to keep the surface from just crumbling in the rain in Cornwall.

Well one nut.

One precious nut!

a precious walnut

This tree managed to set two nuts a couple of years ago (link), but they didn't ripen well. I'm suspecting that this year will be no better, but given a good autumn there is a chance that this nut could ripen. I'm wondering whether the wildlife will get it and what I can do to protect it.

Jay asked what my most likely nut swipers are here and I guess I'm not sure! Would the strategy be different for different critters? At the moment I'm thinking birds are the most likely - crows probably. Mice maybe. I'm lucky we don't have squirrels on Skye. What other animals like to eat nuts? The other possibility is that the weather could knock it off the tree before it is ripe - towards the end of September we often get quite a few storms, but I guess I can't control the weather!
At the moment the walnut tree is pretty small and one nut might be possible to protect - what about when (in my dreams) I have a large tree full of walnuts? This will be a more tempting target and also more difficult to protect.

What would you do? What strategies can I use now and in the future to try and get a walnut crop?

I like both your designs - the way you can go in various directions from the shed is good. Are you going to collect rainwater from the roof? You can at least direct it to adjacent plants that might appreciate a little more water (rhubarb?). Do you have a water source on site? Can you use a hose or do you need to use a watering can? Having easy access to carrying water is worth a thought, although obviously you would want to minimise that.
Are you planning on perennials at all? Those (once established) ought to be more drought tolerant.
I find small beds can be difficult to prepare and plant - those might be ideal for perennials, or support plants though.

Other things to consider perhaps:
Is 4 feet the right width of beds for you. Most gardening books seem to suggest that, but I find it a little wide to reach the middle by hand.
Having regular sized beds can make it easier to set up protecting structures for season extension or insect/bird netting, if this is something you are likely to want to do.
It looks like you are thinking of a 4 year rotation. Does this fit with the plants you actually want to grow, or will a 5 or 6 year rotation ft better? I do a simple 4 year rotation, mainly because I lose track and each time have to work out from remembering what one of my plots had, where everything else must have been. I can never remember which way round I am going either! But I haven't got clever enough to work out how much I need of anything - I'm just happy when something grows for me!
What is going on your paths? A grass path can be a useful source of mulch (and a less useful source of weeds...) but having a path the right width for your mower makes life easier.

I love planning gardens! Good luck for a super season next year. I would look to try and get some green manures in, and maybe some overwintering crops like broad beans? winter radish might be another possibility.

Ooh! a walnut!

The trees didn't set any last year, which was a bit disappointing, and I thought this year there was no chance as the male and female flowers just didn't seem to align. However I spotted this nut during the week! We're only the middle of August, so given a good autumn (and a lack of awareness from the wildlife) I'm thinking there could be a chance of this ripening?

These must be non-trivial to make...

I saw a lovely sculpture in Devon of a mossy lady... I'll see it I can find a picture. The trick is to keep them living for more than a season.