C Quint

Does anyone today use this method? This is the first I have heard of it.

I just found two growing very successfully into 12" trees in our compost heap in northeast Tennessee. They are in the woods.

Is it cedar-apple rust fungus (orange spots on the leaves)? Mine have that and the organic advice I read was to chop down all of the Eastern Redcedars within 2 miles of my trees, which is not possible. Two of my trees, which are heirloom apples local to our area and planted in guilds with comfrey, bee balm, dandelions, false indigo, New Jersey Tea, gooseberries, and mountain mints did not succumb to the fungus, but the columnar apple trees from a local chain nursery, planted near only comfrey, have the orange-spotted leaves now. I'm hoping to minimize the damage for next year by removing cedar-apple rust galls from all of the Eastern Redcedars in our yard (we only have 1 acre) next winter, but we'll see. In the future, I plan to plant only disease-resistant varieties.

I have learned more about my local plants and ecosystem from free naturalist programs at a nearby state park than any of the permaculture books I have read. I think one can get a fair bit of permaculture knowledge at no cost between local nature programs (check all nearby parks, nature clubs, etc.), online resources, and library resources.

We see Sycamores often on hikes near the river and creeks around here, so I will take a look soon to try to identify what is growing in the immediate proximity. Obviously, wetland and riparian plants. I know that we see lots of Spicebush, PawPaw, American Beech, Virginia Creeper, horse nettle, Christmas ferns, and, unfortunately, poison ivy.

Jeanine (sorry for the mix-up!),

Thanks for the information! We may try a few goldfish. My kids will be thrilled!

Carrie

Leila,

Are those goldfish in your pond? I just built a tiny (175 or so gallon) pond this spring and avoided fish because I heard they would eat tadpoles and dragonfy larvae (as well as plants), but maybe it is working well for you? We have a ton of algae growth in our pond! I pick it out by hand when I can, but I am hoping the aquatic plants will multiply soon and balance the ecosystem better.

Carrie

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

Alex Ames wrote:

C Quint wrote:Kitchen scraps can be hidden from view by pulling back the mulch and then putting it over the scraps. They do not need to be noticeable. I have
been using this practice with success.

If I were to do this, I am afraid I would not balance the carbon:nitrogen ratio well when adding kitchen scraps. Do you add some stored leaves or something to balance things, or are kitchen scraps alone fine? Thanks!

We have a Scott's reel mower that I got with hopes of mowing pathways, but it isn't working well at all for me. We have a lot of beds that have woodchip mulch on them, and I can't get anywhere near the garden bed with the mower for fear of the tiniest woodchip or 1mm twig getting caught in the mower. Maybe this is because I am 33 weeks pregnant, petite, and not strong enough to make it cut wood, but it is not working for me. I'm hoping it will get more use when I have converted all of my beds to living mulch and convince our trees to stop dropping twigs.