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.

Getting things done. Small victories add up.

In the new TV show Fallout there is a great line.  " The Golden Rule of the wasteland is thou shalt be distracted by bullshit every single time." I've never played the game it is based on but the picture shows the two newest distractions in my life.  We have taken care of our former neighbors barn cats since he moved out nearly a year ago.   Long story short the mama cat gave birth in his barn that we we given access to.  We found four little black long hair kittens and decided to take them, as it would probably be the only time we would be able to catch them.   Much to our surprise after a day or so the mama came over and started to milk them laying on our kitchen floor.  She's comes in, feeds them and then goes back outside.  Once they are mature enough to have them fixed we are planning on doing so and then they will go to a good home.   That's the plan...but plans have a tendency to change as one or two of them are findi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Calling in the professionals

 I come from a long line of guys that call in professionals.    Part of that reason is my own lazy nature, part of that reason is that I would rather have it down right the first time.  Everyone has their own skills and abilities, so why not call in an expert to have it done right the first time? In this case; why not seek advice in the battles against the invasives that have not only invaded my yard, but also a nearby piece of property that my neighbor simply refuses to take care of?  I find myself in a bind of my own design. I let part of my property "go wild" in the first place because that area had a lot of exposed roots, stumps and rocks.  At the time, I was not expecting a bunch of invasives, of which Mulitfora Rosa  is the worse of the bunch, to be a problem.  Yet, here we are. I decided to let parts of my yard "go wild" back in July of 2021.  It has proven to be a mistake, and in order for me to ensure that the invasive plants st...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rain and tears and those damned deer. Gardening can be painful.

“ None of us understand what we're doing, but we do beautiful things anyway.” ― Allen Ginsberg   The weatherman stated that we have not had any significant rainfall in over two weeks.  Nor did he see any relief in site. We are not in drought conditions yet, we are just unusually dry.  Interestingly enough, Pennsylvania should be getting warmer and wetter in the future if the climate models hold true.  If we narrow that down even more to my home town , the picture becomes even more interesting.   Solar Punk Pittsburgh For now though, I was worried about my garden.   It is not that big, I basically have a variety of containers around where I am maintaining lettuce, leeks, tomato's, peppers, strawberries, grapes, sunchokes (which I was really interested in growing) and a few other things.     Every garden needs to be watered and I played around with the idea of a r ain water collection systems before, we even had a simple one i...
2 comments
Read more