03.25.07 GONZO GARDENING

I played catch up in the garden yesterday. Making up for lots of lost time while I was trapped in the back brace. I had plenty of cleaning and tidying to do in the vegetable garden. First and most importantly, get those fruit trees pruned! The espaliered trees have swelling buds, I don't want to prune them in bloom. They stretch dozens of long watersprouts to the clouds. I trim these to save and weave hurdles for fencing.

Then to the beds! All of my beds are fifty square feet each. Five by ten feet. It is a convenient size. It is about as much as I want to dig or work on at a time, so when I finish one I feel like I have accomplished something and quit. But today I turn another bed over, and then mulch four more with hay (two of these with feedbags underneath the hay). I am hoping the heavy mulch will keep the spring weeds down and then allow me to just punch through with tomato seedlings. No dig gardening!

Make time to clean out the asparagus bed, fertilize and mulch it. And give the berry canes and grape vines a good pruning.

The garden is looking good! Now it can really start growing.

2.23.07 FEEDING THE GARDEN MICE

Walking through the garden last week I noticed how badly the espaliered fruit trees are being nibbled on by mice. They stand on their hind legs and gnaw away at the bark which must be sweet and tasty. Now, I have never seen them, but all the orchard books warn about mice damage on young trees and suggest wrapping the base of their trunks with tree wrap. When I look closely, though, the damage seems to be created by little mouse-like teeth! Having no treewrap I use paper grocery bags cut into strips. Instead of tying the paper on which might girdle the tree itself if I forgot to loosen the string, I use small bits of plastic tape. I know eventually the paper will rot away and be absorbed into the soil. And the bits of plastic tape will probably be with us indefinitely. More bits of 21st century plastic detritus adding substance to the soil. It is interesting to note that the only trees affected are the pears and apples. For some reason the two cherry trees are ignored. Perhaps their bark is bitter?