Gardening In Winter Part III

 Welcome back to another Episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. In the last episode I spoke here about dealing with a Carolina Cherry problem. For those just tuning in, the problem is simple enough at a glance, a roughly 30 foot tall Carolina Cherry that is healthy but, has developed a curved shape. Normally in the landscape this isn’t a problem but this curved tree was doing three things that posed a problem. Firstly, it was casting enough shade over the memorial lily bed that my Asiatic Lilies were growing in crooked. As an addendum to this problem the roots of the same tree were competing with the lilies for water and fertilizer. Second, this tree produces a lot of seeds and on a yearly basis this means pulling roughly a hundred or more seedlings out of the lily bed. These seedlings are another source of competition for the lilies which are already having a hard time. Also, it should be said that while some trees have the decency to have a biological mechanism to prevent their seedlings from germinating beneath their canopies, Carolina Cherry Laurels (Prunus caroliniana) do not. The third problem is the projected growth of the tree which eventually would make it a hazard to the house and other nearby desirable shrubs. Another issue complicating the actions taken was time  Taking down a thirty foot tree by yourself safely is time consuming and requires preparation work so this entire project was done over several weekends with work stopping due to a lack of daylight. As an additional aspect to timing, I had to bring the tree down before the lilies emerged and preferably before the daffodils really got going. The Daffodils emerged in mid-January this year and so the project got fast-tracked. So let’s get started with this winter-structural project so you can see the process as told by photographs. This will be a photo-heavy post so you might want to look at the following on a computer. 

 

The calm before the clipping; here is what the area looked like before I started. Look carefully at the tree in the center, that is my primary target. That Carolina Cherry Laurel has a double-leader meaning two primary growth points and is dangerously curved. A double leader often means a tree might split in half if a sufficient load of ice or wind is put on it and that can spell disaster.

Here is a side-view, in the upper part of the picture you can see the curve is almost a 45 degree angle. This is bad for business because it blocks light, and showers the bed below with seeds which causes problems.

Step one, all solar lights, statuary and such are removed from the Memorial Bed. You can see a lot of little Carolina Cherry Laurel seedlings in the bed, they get pulled out in this step so that the lilies have no competition.

Clearing the hedgerow a bit is the initial phase of pruning because it allows me to see the primary target better which makes the big job of cutting it down safer.

I decided to clear the entire hedgerow since it was all kind of overgrown. This has the advantage of giving me more room to to place the ladder I'll need to use in later phases of this maintenance operation

The hedgerow is brought under control all the way up to the shed, that's fifty feet of hedgerow. Most of the branches trimmed are less than 0.5" so easy stuff, hand pruners and the occasional use of a folding saw.

As I run out of daylight, I do another pass over the Memorial Bed, no Carolina Cherry Laurel seedling is left standing, but there is one more task at hand.

As daylight fades and I am nearly out of time I use three bales of Pine straw to cover the Memorial Bed, replenishing it's mulch cover. The bales aren't pretty at this stage because they've been sitting out but that will change once they dry.

This photo was taken before I moved onto the next phase. The pine straw looks great because it has dried and settled into place, you'd never know this was the site of a Carolina Cherry Laurel seedling mass murder. It was as of this point that I stopped using the Pole Pruner and Extending Pole Saws since they were not cutting it (pun intended) against the main target it was time break out a little surprise for a certain tree.

*Tool Time Grunting Intensifies!* Yeah, I ordered an all-electric 40v 8"bar Pole Chain Saw from Lowes and it arrived a few days before this photo was snapped. It's surprisingly quiet, easy to maneuver and a certain tree suddenly learned who was boss in this garden. If you look closely in the picture the limb that is down is the front limb of the double-Leader I mentioned. Double leaders can be unpredictable in how they fall because the shift in weight can cause the branch crotch to split or the wood can be twisted internally. The saw made quick work of this.

The pole saw made quick work of the down branch itself. It took no time at all to start lopping things off and the slow part was dragging things to the curb.

This is the main trunk of that first leader I cut off. It tried to put up a last bit of resistance with a slip of wood holding it on at an angle where I could not get the saw in. So I cut away any part of it touching the ground gravity did the rest. The trick  is letting the branch's own weight bring it down, but you want to give it some room just in case.

So now with one half of the tree gone the garden already looks better. My trusty ladder posed for this shot and  for note that is a wood 1" thick board under the small feet. I put that there so they don't sink in and put me at risk of falling off.

The second leader is down. The ladder is toppled because earlier while getting off it I misjudged the number of steps and fell off. The ladder decided to join in the fun and thankfully the soil was soft. I got a nice bruise on my left thumb for my trouble so the trees got 0.05 score, to my 8.0 score.

That second leader fight back, as I cut it's last attachment point it fell towards me and against gravity and slapped me in the right hand while on the latter, Carolina Cherry Laurels 0.10, me 9.0 score. Anyway after it was downed and cut up the above picture is what was roughly left.

Here is a side shot, notice the big difference? Side by side you can see I took out ten or more feet of tree canopy. The hedgerow now looks almost straight and things are looking pretty good.

So for this step, I reinstalled the statuary and shepherds hook with a wind chime and then I pulled back the new pine straw, and applied a mixture of Hollytone and Bone Meal. Let me tell you, bone meal gets airborne much easier that powdered limestone. There wasn't even a breeze at that time and it looks like a flour factory exploded.

I was glad I was still wearing head head an eye protection and had on a fabric mask due to the chainsaw because there was dust everywhere. After a few minutes the exposed bed looked like this.

As daylight ebbed and tiredness started to set in, the final tasks of the day were at hand. I watered the fertilizers in (yes you should water bone meal in) and I put the mulch back using a pitchfork. Since it's winter and the irrigation stuff is offline I used a watering can to water things in. And this concludes the major operation to bring down a crooked tree and it's terrible offspring. The tools I used to make all this happen are as follows; Pruners, Folding Hand Saw, Extending Pole Saw, Extending Pole Pruners, Pitchfork, Small Bucket, Trowel, 1 Gallon Watering Can, and a 40v Battery Powered Electric Pole Chainsaw. This far this project has produced two piles of branches roughly eight feet long and about two and a half feet high. The tree in question was an estimated 5" caliper at maximum, but I have yet to take down the central trunk yet, that is the next operation.

So I hope all this tree chopping fun helps all you gardeners out there who are undecided on how to go about handling the problem. A well thought out plan of action goes a long way towards turning your imagination into reality. Oh, this post was not sponsored or paid for by bLowes or Kobalt, It just so happens that I already had a Kobalt Electric string trimmer using the same battery packs as the chainsaw they offered and figured a pole chainsaw will solve more problems at the Botanical test gardens than it creates. Plus it's a lot harder to hurt yourself with a 8" blade electric pole saw than a conventional one. With that said lets look at some other Test Garden Goodness.

This is the week before last's Kale Harvest, six types. From the upper left; Scotch Blue Curled, Russian Red, Marrow Stem, (lower left) Black Magic Lacinato Kale, Winterbor, Lacinato Kale. When the Rainbow Lacinato is ready expect photographs.

Last Week's Mustard Harvest. Japanese Red Giant is up top and Mizuna Mustard is on the bottom. Mizuna is mild and really good in soups and raw in sandwiches or salads. JRG mustard is more like a traditional mustard green but has a more pungent garlic flavor.

 

Here we have the largest leaves in the harvest, the middle leaf is 21" long which is normal for Japanese Red Giant. You get a lot from individual plants but spacing is important.

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Fresh Produce:
Soup Kit: Parsnip: $6.00
Soup Kit: Turnip: $6.00
Garlic Bulbs: $1.00
Seasoning Packets: $2.00
Shallots: $2.00
Parsnips, 1lb: $4.00
Turnips, 1lb: $3.00
Onions, 1lb: $3.00

February House Plant Collection:
Haworthia 'Fat Albert': $8.00
Haworthia 'West Jogo': $7.00
Devil's Backbone: $7.00
Sausage Spurge: $4.00
Starfish Sansevaria: $7.00
Aloe 'Sunset': $8.00
Aloe 'Checkerboard': $8.00
Rhipsalis, Slender: $7.00
Rhipsalis 'Drunkards Dream': $7.00

(More plants TBA, Stay Tuned)

Hatiora salicornoides 'Drunkard’s Dream’ – Drunkard’s Dream Mistletoe Cactus

 

This plant was once known as Rhipsalis salicornoides, but the name changed within the last two decades and you will find some of these plants with the old name on their tags. This is a true cactus and originates in the eastern regions of Brazil. It is found naturally in moist forests, the savanna and rocky areas in an elevation range of 660 to 1750 feet. It can grow up to three feet tall in cultivation and its stems are composed of segments that can be up to 2” long. If exposed to the right amount of light it will bloom in roughly February or March and bear dozens of small yellow to orange flowers that look like miniature Christmas Cactus flowers. This is the plant for you if you have no success with Christmas Cactus or are simply bored with what Christmas Cacti have to offer. Drunkards dream is easy to grow will tolerate a range of temperatures but does not tolerate freezing. This variety of Mistletoe Cactus got its name because its segments are shaped like little wine bottles. This plant can go out for summer and is easily propagated by snapping off a branch with at least five segments and sticking it in soil, no rooting hormone needed.

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This is the third LITFM post of 2021; stay tuned for our next post on or about the 18th of February. Don’t forget to check out of YouTube videos at LITFM-Garden Shorts.

When 2021 says to 2020 ‘Hold my beer’

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, this post was delayed by computer issues. For those who didn’t check the last sparse post, I thought my computer had a bad mother board, but this wasn’t the case. I got a replacement installed it and the problem persisted. I then had to order a new central processing unit and wait for it to arrive which took more than two weeks. Then I had to sit down and install the darn thing…more time lost. Then the holidays hit and well you can imagine how much damage that did to the bi-weekly update schedule. But here we are in a new year which hopefully will be better than 2020. Um…once we get past the rioting and looting at the capitol…and the inauguration and…whatever craziness follows that. You know what, let’s just get on with the garden stuff, at least we don’t have to worry about petunias starting an armed insurrection against the year’s garden plans.

 

Ok, so it’s winter and some of you are thinking, ‘it’s winter! The frost has hit and hit and hit again and hit a fourth time sort of like a Wiley Coyote cartoon’ and you are not wrong. However winter offers a unique opportunity to handle some hard work minus the bugs, and minus the heat stroke! That is a two for one deal if you ask me. Winter is a great time to apply additional mulch, and undertake structural pruning. Structural pruning sounds kind of complicated but it is really just any major pruning of shrubs, bushes or trees that you want to do to remedy any problem that can’t be solved readily during the growing season. So for instance with Dogwoods (Cornus), structural pruning is best done in the winter or early spring before bud break while you can see the actual limbs of the tree without the leaves in the way.  So for instance, when you have Carolina Cherry trees (Prunus caroliniana), which are a semi to full on invasive evergreen tree that is found everywhere in the Carolina region. The method and timing of pruning is very different than with a Dogwood. Carolina cherries despite being in the cherry family are not unlike the Bradford Pear (Pyrus calleryana), in that they produce a lot of fruit and flowers but the fruit isn’t useful and the flowers are a bit bland. Carolina Cherries have fruit that isn’t edible because the seed, twigs, leaves and pretty much everything contains hydrocyanic acid which is poisonous. The fleshy part of the fruit is so miniscule that it’s not worth the effort to extract and thus the tree is not useful in general. As if the aforementioned wasn’t bad enough, using it as firewood is questionable. The only useful aspect of Carolina Cherry is that it a semi-hardwood, and for woodcraft it is quite useful. Additionally for a tree that grows as quick as Carolina Cherry it unlike Bradford Pear does not suffer from weak branch angles of exceptionally weak wood so it stands up to the weather.

This Carolina Cherry is healthy, but it's curved lean is a problem. Sometimes things need to be pruned because of the long term issues they will create if allowed to continue.

With all the aforementioned said, Carolina Cherries are best pruned during the winter before they bloom and drop their cherries. These trees are evergreen, which has its uses but its aggressive reproduction is a problem. If you must have these trees around, you can selectively prune them to take out branches that are hanging over structures or are shading out areas of your garden beds.  In the case of the test gardens we have a cherry problem where two or three trees are shading out the memorial garden. Now in this case, I have to prune the trees pictured below because of their shape that they are hanging over a garden bed and that they keep dropping seeds in the memorial bed.

 

 

From a front angle shows the height of this nuisance tree, and it is obviously not alone.

The second way to deal with tree problems like this is called Prairie Stripping. Before any of you think this involved X-rated stuff, Prairie-Stripping is an age old practice where you cut a 2-3” band through the bark, phloem, cambium and sapwood exposing the heartwood. This effectively girdles the tree but leaves it standing which can completely halt seed development and may or may not kill a tree within a few weeks to a few months.  You might use this method when you lack the means to take down a tree that’s less than thirty feet tall when you don’t have a method of otherwise removing it from the landscape. The tree if killed will decompose normally and other than periodic cleanup of fallen branches will basically stop being a problem. Winter should not be an idle time for you gardeners out there, the seed catalogs are arriving and we’re darn close to when you start your hot-season seeds (February).  So all of you folks out there who read this can get that head start on the crucial pruning of the year and stay tuned for our next episode which will be up over the weekend because this one is turbo late.

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fresh Produce:

Soup Kit: Parsnip: $6.00
Soup Kit: Turnip: $6.00
Garlic Bulbs: $1.00
Seasoning Packets: $2.00
Shallots: $2.00
Parsnips, 1lb: $4.00
Turnips, 1lb: $3.00
Onions, 1lb: $3.00

 

January House Plant Collection: 

Haworthia 'Fat Albert': $8.00
Haworthia 'West Jogo': $7.00
Devil's Backbone: $7.00
Sausage Spurge: $4.00
Starfish Sansevaria: $7.00
Aloe 'Sunset': $8.00
Aloe 'Checkerboard': $8.00
Rhipsalis, Slender: $7.00
Rhipsalis 'Drunkards Dream': $7.00

 

House Plant Spotlight!

Haworthia cymbiformis F. variegata ' Fat Albert'

Hey hey hey it's Fat Albert! This neat little member of the Haworthia family's scientific name is Haworthia cymbiformis 'Fat Albert'. While it does make one heck of an entrance in any succulent collection, it's famous for its leaves which are roughly triangular in cross section. The leaf tips have a neat little biological feature where they are clear to allow a limited amount of light in so that photosynthesis can occur but the plant doesn't cook in the heat. This is a lot like living stones or Lithops in that this plant's shape and features does make it a pseudo mimicry, but then how many perfectly triangular and green rocks do you know of?  Care for this one is easy, water when dry, do not let temperatures drop below 40 degrees, and do not expose to frost. After the threat of last frost in spring you can gradually introduce this plant to full sun, and keep it out doors until roughly September. If you do this, you might have to repot this succulent yearly. Make sure your potting mix drains well, which means you can use regular potting soil with a dash of sand added. Do not let this plant sit in a puddle of water as it will get root rot and that may be a death sentence. Haworthias tend to have white or pink flowers during the winter, they can be quite showy if a plant is big enough to produce multiple stems.

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

 

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

 

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

 

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This is the first LITFM post of 2021; stay tuned for our next post on or about the 22^nd of January. Don’t forget to check out of YouTube videos at LITFM-Garden Shorts.