Lydia John

Jhansi Bobba wrote:Hi
Also i have tree companies drop off the tree rounds to create hugelkulur beds and goal is to create them like a berm along the fence line.

It sounds like you are thinking of long term soil health, which is a really good thing. She's probably thinking about short term fire risk, which is also understandable given recent fire issues in California and the risk of losing home insurance. In Southern California there have been issues with people's coverage being cancelled because of drone flyover pictures showing too much clutter in yards/properties. Not sure if that is an issue further north.

I used a huge amount of mulch early on, but I live on a city/suburban lot, so my situation is different. Personally I try to check in with my neighbors before making any changes along a property line. Similar to you, I explained about the reason for the mulch to my neighbor, but made sure to note that I was keeping it a certain distance away from buildings (local termite issues).

It's your property and you have the right to change it right out to the property line, and on your own timeline...but you are potentially going to be living next to these people for the rest of your life. Perhaps it would be possible to set back the hugelkulture beds slightly? Or to incorporate some kind of decorative fire break, such as a walking path around the perimeter of your property? Or could you rush the process on one small section of the property line where it borders her place, so that she can see what the final product will look like? It's not as efficient as doing the whole fence line at once, but it might eliminate the resistance from the neighborhood.

Final thought--I'm assuming you have already considered if this change in soil height is significant enough to affect the flow of water to your neighbor's land, but if not, that's worth looking into. I don't know if Northern California has the same flash flood risks or drought-flooding patterns that Southern California does, though, so this may not be relevant.

Best wishes with your project.  

I have a row of asparagus in my front yard in the upper portion of a small retaining wall. I had originally planned to plant peppers with the asparagus, because they are supposed to benefit each other, and because peppers are relatively expensive. Peppers are mostly perennial in my climate (10a).

I planted a few peppers, and while they seem to be working, I realized that there is a flaw with my plan: Both asparagus ferns and pepper plants are upright growing and do not provide any coverage over the ground to suppress weeds. I could use mulch, but I'm gardening in a suburban/city lot, so I'd like to maximize the space.

Would ground cherries (or golden berries) work better? They are the same plant family, so it seems like they should provide the same benefits. They cover more of the ground and are spreading. On the other hand, would they choke out the asparagus altogether?

Are there other options or ideas that might work better? I have strawberries already growing somewhere else.

Thanks!

In a section of my yard that has clay soil I planted tree collards, tall kale varieties, and sylvetta arugula. It seems to be doing pretty well, and they are all basically perennial or self sowing in my zone (zone 10). Brassica type plants in general can flourish in clay soil. You could start with those, then down the road add runner beans to further improve the soil and grow up the tree collards and kale stalks.

I'm growing one thornless, low growing goji berry bush in my home garden (Southern California; zone 10). It produced a lot of decent tasting fruit last year, with berries seeming to pop up overnight for a few weeks. I thought that was impressive for a plant that looks like a little handful of twigs with a few thin leaves. A year later it hasn't gotten much bigger. Any tips on increasing the growth rate, or getting it to spread by runner to fill a greater area?


Ben--My berry crop never made it inside because it was wiped out by grazing toddlers, but I did manage to pick one of the fresh berries off of the bush for my chef friend to try. She told me that the fresh berries would make a nice addition to a "plated salad", but that they wouldn't work for a mixed salad because they would fall to the bottom. So if you would like to market the fresh berries to local restaurants, the plated salad application might be something to mention. Because of their size they don't have to be cut up, and they don't roll off of plates like cherry tomatoes. I also noticed that people like them better when they are told prior to tasting that they are related to tomatoes, but that they don't like them as much when they are only told the name/that they are "berries".

I am in a warmer zone, so I can't directly answer your question. My experience has been that they do seem to be a perennial that gets stronger and more weather tolerant over time, in comparison to the first year or two. Perhaps it would be helpful to plant more types of runner beans than just the scarlett runners in case some work better than others. Personally I like these:
https://www.ranchogordo.com/products/ayocote-morado

I found them to be pretty sturdy plants. I tried the Sunset runner beans from Baker Creek, and they are pretty, I've also tried some white flower runner beans in the past but I didn't try to keep those multiple years. The vine seemed smaller on the white ones.

Thanks for your responses. I'm in zone 10a (Southern California). The spot I'm looking at planting it might have more shade in the next few years as my pomegranate shrub gets bigger...that might work out well. Since the ice cream bean tree is evergreen I didn't think about how the fruiting might be affected by pruning time--thanks for pointing that out. I will read up on it.

From what I've read, ice cream bean trees grow quickly, are evergreen, and get big. Realistically, how small could one be maintained in ground with pruning about twice a year? Are the roots typically damaging to porches or walkways? Do they fruit if kept small, or do they need to get big in order to fruit? Would a low water situation help keep the tree smaller?

The reason for my questions: I was eating an ice cream bean the other day and planted the seeds in cups, and now I have several seedlings. They are cute and healthy looking and I'm debating about if I should give them all away or try planting one myself. I would like to plant it in ground (to conserve water) if it is possible to do so without causing damage to the sidewalk. I enjoy pruning and shaping plants, but it's important to me to grow things that can stay in a size range that I'm able to manage.

Cujo Liva wrote:

If I can get over the time/effort/money loss of the fruit trees, I'd plant a couple of nut trees and expand the raised bed veggie garden.

If any of your fruit trees are stone fruit, could you graft almonds onto them? I'm not 100% sure if it would work, or if almonds grow in your area. If it did work you might be able to do it for free if anyone near you is pruning their almond tree and willing to share the trimmings.

My trees are still babies, so take that into account...but here are my thoughts:

I would encourage you to go to your local farmer's market about once a month for a year, even if the food there is not in the price range that you typically buy, and pick up a few pieces of fruit that you haven't tried before. I think that I might have tried slightly different varieties or types of fruit (such as more evergreen fruit trees) after trying different locally grown fruits.

In hindsight, I also should have checked the exact recommended chill hours from multiple sources, rather than relying on the nursery to tell me which trees were "low-chill".

I did intentionally plant some fruits that are more expensive to try to save on groceries. If I was to do it again, I might focus only on the higher priced fruit. What I realized was that price in the grocery store has practically no correlation to ease of growing in my climate zone. For example, if I tried to grow apples I would have only a couple of low-chill varieties to choose from, and they need a significant amount of water. In contrast, I bought a box of pomegranates for my family at Costco and realized I could buy a drought friendly, bare root pomegranate tree for about the same price. Don't rule out any type of fruit till you do a little research.

I planted one nut tree that is not ideal for this climate, but that if it works out it will provide nuts that that will not need complicated harvesting or processing. That is one thing I definitely don't regret--planting only fruiting trees where the fruit can be eaten straight off the tree, and keeping them pruned small. Life has gotten busier since I planted them, and it's nice to be able to go out and enjoy doing tree stuff when I have time, rather than feeling stressed about what the trees need done.

These are the only two I'm growing, but I hope that you are able to find the ones you are looking for. I'm not sure where the purple tree collards come from either originally or along their way to my local area (I started with an cutting that didn't have a variety listed).