Skip to main content

The fruits of our labor.

     In some ways our first garden was successful.  We did manage to grow a few tomatoes, some wonderfully sweet strawberries.  Fresh basil, rosemary and thyme are used in a more than a few fresh dishes (see our recipe page for a couple of wonderful dishes).  Although they were small, we even managed a few cucumbers.

    Sadly both insects and deer got to my Brussel sprouts.  Although our zucchini flowered like crazy, for some reason we were robbed of this wonderful fruit.  We also failed to produce a single pepper despite our plants growing strong all year.


    It's easy to blame this on a lot of things.  Not having the plants watered enough or the right container or 1001 other things that could have gone wrong.   I'm concentrating on the positive.   My lovely wife Susan loves to make and eat simple tomato sandwiches.  Sadly raw tomato does horrors to my digestive tract, but I can eat them after they have been cooked in some way.

    I proved to myself that I could grow something other than a plastic house plant and in a small way, have a proof of concept for bigger efforts in the future.  Even now we are in the process of preparing a bigger area for next years garden. 

    We hope that by having decided to continue with the container garden closer to the house and, in theory at least, they will be better protected against deer that seem to wander through our yard sometimes.  Our strawberries (and blueberries next year) will be planted under netting, again to protect them.  

    My two dogwoods seem to be doing well, although it will be another few years before they flower.  I'm debating about planting one or two apple trees, although the PawPaw, Persimmons and mulberry bush appeal to something deep in me.  Maybe it's just the name being fun to say or that they seem so rare and exotic.  


    We are still planning on putting in a dwarf apple or two though.  Diversity is never a bad thing, and different fruiting seasons for each plant is beneficial not only to us, but the animals as well.

    I reminded myself that what I'm trying to do is not for me.  It's my legacy for some future hiker or family.  I want to try and find plants that can tolerate drought and heat, help store carbon but are still native to the area. It is not something that I will learn over night.  It's going to take time and research and a lot of trial and error.

    The fruit of my labor - pun intended - would still be at least 7 years from the original planting.   If they fruit at all as things will undoubtedly get worse between now and then.  

    It is going to take patience and hard work on my part.  

    I also know that it just makes economic sense; the investments I make today will pay off tomorrow. At least I hope they will in some small way.  Fruit trees will not only store carbon in their trunks but help cool the air around my home as well as feed my family.  

    There are lots of ways to plan for the heat now and in the future.  We just have to be smart about things and realize that what we do affects our future.  Little steps today turn into big steps in the future.   



Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

When it rains....

Bad things they say; happen in groups of three.  Lately we feel that this has been multiplied by at least three, then that by three.  Nor was this the article I was hoping to publish this week, but here it is warts and all! Thankfully there is nothing seriously wrong with my family health wise, and this is nothing that some more hard work and dedication will get us though.  There is one big personal item that I can not go into details on to protect her privacy but what is affecting us right now is that we are again faced with decisions on what to do concerning some major purchases.   I've already written about having to buy a "newer" car but I'm not going to bore you with details about replacing the water heater or unexpected tax bills.  At the beginning of May, our riding lawn mower died.   This in itself is not that big of a deal because I got a good five to six years out of a used machine, and the fact that it has started to give up the ghost ...
Post a Comment
Read more

When it rains - The conclusion

The month of May for what ever reason seems to be passing slowly, but the year seems to be flying by.   Suddenly we are nearing the end of the month and I'm only now getting to work on the yard.   I did go in search of an electric powered riding lawnmower, for the same reasons that I went in search of an electric car.    Both searches failed, as the local hardware, lawncare and "big box" stores simply didn't carry any electric riding mowers.  I could have ordered an electric mower off of Amazon, or similar site, and had it shipped but then I would be looking at a two week delivery timeframe, and would have exceeded t he budget that I had set for myself. The grass, though high and feeding a variety of pollinators and other insects would simply not wait much longer.  Plus ticks are always a concern in Western PA at this time of year, and one way to control them is to keep your grass cut.   I had already had a few instances of dealing with...
Post a Comment
Read more

Honoring the past - Thinking more about "invasive" plant species.

 Recently I've been giving some thought to invasive species.  I had received both positive and negative feedback on the blog post concerning kudzu and recently I came across a very well hidden, and very small, wild cherry tree while doing some yard work.  Since it's against the house it would have to be removed since the root systems could damage my foundation.   A buddy of mine at work was asking if I was going to transfer it, his logic being that it was a fruiting tree that would not only attract a variety of pollinator's but that the deer would eat the bark and cherries, keeping them away from the garden (which Sue and I swore we were not going to do this year).  It occurred to me that I was going to have to do a slightly better job of identification, since black cherries are native to America , where as other types of cherries are not.  Being able to make a precise identification would be helpful.   I used to be able to identify all these tre...
1 comment
Read more