Chinquapin

I think I've heard the term "chinquapin" during my life, but it was probably in reference to the Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii). 

I didn't realize there are actual "chinquapin" trees - that thare are, in fact, two native chinquapins: the Ozark chinquapin (Castanea ozarkensis) and the Allegheny chinquapin (Castanea pumila).  They are in the same genus as the Chinese chestnut trees that grow at work, and the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata).

I know, I know...I spend way too much time on "The YouTube."  But I can say that I've learned a lot.  One of the channels I really enjoy is the "Backyard Ecology" channel.  Because I've gotten very interested in putting native plants in my yard and in the woods where I've been removing the invasive privet, I'm always especially interested in the plant profile videos they post.

And one of the recent videos was about the Allegheny chinquapin.  In the video, Anthony talks about how valuable the trees are to wildlife, and of course that made me think, "I want one!"

I wanted to see if Food Forest Nursery carries this tree, but didn't see where they do.  However, it was listed in the "catalog" of Pine Ridge Nursery, just down the road from me in London.  And interestingly enough, they also had a chinquapin called "Ozark chinquapin."  Being in the Ozark mountains, that name caught my interest so I had to ask The Google to tell me more about it.

Now sometimes when I go down a rabbit hole on something, you could call me "Alice" because I get started and I can struggle to find may way back out!   This was one of those instances where the more I learned, the deeper down the rabbit hole I went.

One of the first articles I read was from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, titled "Arkansas efforts to restore vanishing Ozark chinquapin trees take root and grow."

From that article, I learned that the Ozark chinquapin used to be a common tree in our part of the state, but was pretty much wiped out by the same blight that killed the American Chestnut trees in the eastern United States.

And I also learned that there's a group of volunteers who have been working to save the tree.  So I hopped on over to their website to find out what they are working on.  From the foundation's website:

The Ozark Chinquapin Foundation (OCF) is a volunteer driven, 501C3 non-profit organization dedicated to restoring the Ozark chinquapin to the woodlands and forests of the south-central United States as a mature, seed producing tree species. We are working to establish a viable seed base through research and manual cross-pollination of surviving trees to develop a 100% pure Ozark chinquapin that can reproduce and thrive in our forests.

Turns out they've been at this for a while now. and they've actually achieved some pretty astonishing results with their efforts.

At their 2020 conference, Leslie Bost, one of the foundation board members, gave a great presentation that explained what the trees are up against,  described the steps the foundation is taking to save the species, and showed some interesting and very encouraging data about their work.

I also learned that membership in the foundation is $30/year, and with the membership comes a chance to receive some of the Ozark chinquapin nuts (seeds) from trees showing some degree of resistance.

Sign me up!

Because I was so late learning about the foundation, and so late getting signed up, I really didn't expect to get any nuts this year, because they're sent out to members in order of sign-up, and if they run out, you move to the top of the list for the next year.

So I was shocked and delighted to open my mailbox the other day and find a small envelope bearing an "Ozark Chinquapin Foundation" return label!

Inside the envelope was a small ziploc bag containing some kind of moist substrate and several little nuts each with a thin little taproot!

I wasn't going to be able to plant them right away so I put them in the refrigerator as the instructions said.

I couldn't sleep that night.  I had chinquapin on the brain, and I planted them over and over and over in different places all night long.  And when I got up the next morning, I still didn't really know where I was going to put them.  

I knew where I wanted to put them - I wanted them near the area where the storm took out so many trees in 2019 - the area where I've been clearing privet. But the problem is the cattle.  Any tree that's planted down there had to be well protected or it would be eaten or trampled into the ground.

But eventually I came up with what I hoped was a good plan, and on Wednesday afternoon after I got off work, I loaded up my little garden cart and headed to the woods.

First thing I had to do was build some type of protective cage to go around the trees.  It needed to be tall to protect the trees from deer browsing, but also needed to have small openings to keep the rabbits and squirrels from getting inside.  Not really having anything that satisfied both criteria, I settled on getting the height by using some of the welded wire I had found down in the woods, and getting the protection from rabbits by lining the inside of the cage with chicken wire.

Next, I took my little garden trowel and tried to dig a small hole deep enough for the little tap root.  I was afraid of hitting rock, and sure enough, I did.  I ended up moving the hole a bit further away from where I wanted it, but I think (hope) I finally found a spot that would work.

I opened the bag of my precious little chinquapins and carefully pulled one out.

I fed the little tap root down into the hole and crumbled the dirt back on top of it.  "Live long and prosper," I whispered to the little nut.

I put a layer of old hay around the nut, being careful not to cover the nut itself.  I then put a ring of rocks around it, just to help mark where it was planted.  And with that done all that was left to do was drive the t-post and put up the cage. 

Again, it sounds easy, right?  Nope...with so many rocks under the surface, I was only able to drive the post in about six inches.  

The post was stable enough to hold the cage, but nowhere near stable enough to stand up to the cattle.  What to do?

I went ahead and fastened the cage to the post while I pondered on how to better protect it from the cattle.  I had intentionally planted the nut close to one of the big oak trees that blew over in the storm, because I know the cattle won't step over that big log or the limb coming off of it.  That left just two sides unprotected.

Funny thing about that dang privet...I've been finding several uses for it.  And so that's how I decided I would protect the cage.  I would pile privet limbs all around the exposed sides.

Now I'm pretty sure the cattle will stay away from that area because so far they've not shown any inclination to wade into any of the privet limbs I've piled up in various places.  Plus, there shouldn't really be anything in that mess that they "want" so they don't have a strong incentive to try to push their way through.

That's the theory I'm going with anyway.

So with one nut planted and protected, I rushed to try to get the second one planted before the sun set.  I ended up planting it on the other side of the tree, but closer to the woods.  This second tree wasn't protected on two sides like the first, but luckily I was able to drive the post in deep enough that I think it is pretty solid.  A ring of privet limbs and branches from the old oak tree all the way around it should help protect it too.

The instructions say that the trees like rocky dry slopes, so I think this area should be perfect.  I should be able to get water out of the cattle trough by the barn for most of the summer, so I won't have to haul water all the way from the house.  

I planted a third nut in my yard, by a catalpa stump left when that same 2019 storm blew down all those trees in my yard.  Right now, this one only has a small cage around it, about 1' tall.  It does have chicken wire inside though to protect it from the rabbits.  I plan to buy some more of the welded wire with the 1" x 2" openings and replace that short cage.

There are two or three nuts left in the bag and they're going to be planted tomorrow in the upper part of the Barber field.  Again, they'll just have small cages lined with chicken wire for now, but that should protect them from deer browsing until I can get some larger cages put in place.  

I'm so excited by the thought that I just might actually have some Ozark chinquapin trees growing soon.  I've already been out to check on all three of these nuts to see if any have started coming up!   Of course they haven't yet, but when they do, you can bet there will be pictures!  They're like my new little babies, and I'm their proud ol'  mama!

Rain

The rain started sometime early Friday morning, although I'm not sure what time, because even though I was awake, I was too lazy to check the time on my phone.  It was a soft pleasant rain, and the sound of it dripping off the house onto the window air conditioner lulled me back to sleep.

When it was time to take Mo out to do his morning business, the rain had slowed to just a sprinkle, but about the time we went out, it started up again....he rushed to get back inside because while he loves to wade into the creek or lay down in a puddle, for some reason he doesn't like getting rained on!

It rained the rest of the morning, slow but steady.  The ground was already getting pretty saturated by the time the heavier rain arrived at around 3 in the afternoon.

And when that rain arrived, it was a "gully washer!"

Within minutes, the alarm on the NOAA weather radio went off...our county was under a flash flood warning.

It didn't take long for the back yard and garden to go from just soggy wet to little lakes of water.

The garden, inundated with heavy rain.

 The cows all hurried up to the hackberry tree trying to get away from the driving rain.  

Cows sheltering under a tree in the heavy rain.

And it rained, and rained, and rained! 

Walking rows in the garden.

(I couldn't help but think that the walking rows in the garden were acting like swales, stopping the water from rushing down through the yard.  That wasn't my intent when I built the raised rows, but I like that they have turned out that way.)

But by 4:30 pm, the rain had pretty much stopped and when the edge of the clouds moved off to the east, the sun came out and there was the most beautiful double rainbow!

The rainbow.

We could tell from the house that the fields down by Dry Creek and the slough were underwater.  My dad said we got 4" of rain, and because the ground was already very saturated, a lot of it just wasn't able to soak in.  So this flooding was way worse that the last time.

RAF wanted to drive down to the creek to have a look, so once the rain had stopped, we drove down to have a look.

Flooded hay fields.

I highly recommend you mute your video if you watch this...the audio is HORRIBLE!

So while our area had lots of rain and flooding, no one was hurt (so far as I know) or lost their home.  Sadly, the same can't be said for others. 

This same storm system brought flash flooding in Missiouri, where a car with six people was swept away when they tried to cross a flooded bridge. Two of the six didn't survive. 

Twenty-six people lost their lives in Mississippi and Alabama in a massive tornado that devastated several small towns, virtually wiping them off the map.

Are storms getting worse in Dixie Alley?  One might think so.  As I sit here typing this, there is yet another severe weather outbreak happening in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, with two active tornado warnings.  Prayers that we don't see a repeat of what just happened two days ago.

March 23, 2023 Gardening Journal

My second order from Food Forest Nursery shipped on Monday with an expected delivery date of Wednesday, March 22.

But when the tracking didn't say "Out for Delivery" on Wednesday morning, I knew something had gone wrong...AGAIN!  Sure enough...

I called the Lamar post office this morning to see if they could tell where the package is, but they can't see anything more than I can using USPS tracking.  However, the nice lady I talked to said she knew some people who work in logistics, and she was going to see if they could find out why both of these packages were misrouted, and where this package is.

I'm a bit worried about this one though. If it doesn't show up in a timely manner, or if the contents are damaged, I don't think there was any additional insurance purchased on it, and its contents cost more than the $50 minimum insurance coverage.

Maybe it will show up.  I'm trying not to let my pessimistic side win out.  I think I've only refreshed the tracking like 100 times today....

But on a happy note, when I took Mo around the pond today, we saw a dragonfly and some frog spawn!  The Weather Channel lets you enter your zip code to look at your long range forecast, and while I know you can't put much stock in those kinds of things, it's possible that the freeze on March 20 will be our last one of the spring.

April 2023 weather outlook for our area.

Of course that means I'm very, very tempted to start setting out some of my transplants.  I'll think about it some more though...because none of the things I set out early look very good.

Frost damage on the green peas.

Even though it was a weekday, I did manage to get just a little bit done this afternoon after I got off work.  Yesterday I hauled in four cartloads of spoiled hay, and today I brought in four more.  

A mountain of hay on the Charles Dowding "No Dig"/Ruth Stout bed.

On Tuesday, I had set out one of my native honeysuckle cuttings since it should be able to survive a frost, and the roots were starting to come out the bottom of the pot!  It took it a while to root, but once it did, it took off growing like crazy!

But it only made it through one night before something at the top out of the new shoot.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't a rabbit, because it was caged with bricks around it.  Perhaps a slug?

The little honeysuckle vine with its top eaten out.

I really hope it will put out more growth pretty soon, because if whatever is eating it keeps eating it, it won't last very long.  It's just not that big!

As I was walking Mo around the yard this morning, I noticed some big holes in the garden.  "What has been digging those big round holes?" I wondered.  Then it dawned on me what the holes were.  They were the cavities left when the Daikon radishes rotted away!

Daikon radish holes

The radishes did what they were supposed to do...they grew down into that compacted dirt and opened up holes for water to soak in.  Yay for the Daikon radishes!  

I guess all of the cover crops are doing their thing, although I can look at them now and realize I made some mistakes in the way I planted them.  The crimson clover that is protected behind some wire is big and lush looking, but where it's not protected, the rabbits have eaten it back to just little short stems.

Crimson clover mixed with Red Deadnettle in the tomato row.

And interestingly enough, all of the vetch that was interplanted with the Daikon radishes and crimson clover has also been eaten down to the ground.  But there's one small patch that was interplanted with some winter rye, and for whatever reason the rabbits haven't bothered that, even though it's not caged or covered in any way.

Hairy Vetch/Winter Rye cover crop.

I'll need to do some reading about that, and find out if the winter rye is something the rabbits just don't eat or if that's just coincidence.  I really want my cover crops to grow and be successful this year because I think they're absolutely one of the easiest ways to improve the soil!

Since we may have seen the end of the cold weather, I've started thinking about how to lay out my rows in the west part of the garden.  I made two raised rows last year, but I'm thinking I might actually turn those into one Hügelkulture row because they're really too close together.   Plus, I still have several more rotting logs that need a home, and that seems as good a use for them as any.  But we'll see.

For the rest of that area, I'm thinking that maybe rather than try to put in long narrow rows, I might try some wider beds, making my walking rows between them about 18" wide.  I just need to think carefully about how I could plant things like my okra and corn in wide beds because once I get them built, it will be hard to redo them!

But I won't be working on building any new beds for the next few days.  We have heavy rain in the forecast, with a possibility of some severe weather.  

Radar at 8:35 pm on March 23.

That might be a project for the weekend though.  We'll see how things go.

Spring 2023

Sunrise at 7:27 am on Monday, March 20, 2023.

 

March 19, 2023 Gardening Journal

Last night was another cold night, with a low of 23° F.  But thankfully everything in the garden seemed to have made it through Ok, and after tonight, when I think it's supposed to be around 28° F, the weather is supposed to warm back up and be more "normal," whatever that is anymore.

The wind had died down some by this morning too, so even though it was still blowing a little, Mo and I went out in the field and collected three more cartloads of old spoiled hay.  There's still a lot out there that could be collected, but I don't know if I'll be able to get much more before the grass takes it.

Grass coming up where one of the hay rings sat last winter.

Looking at all of the pretty green grass coming up where one of the hay rings had been I kind of shuddered.  I sure hope the composted manure/hay has gotten hot enough to kill most of those grass and weed seeds.

Around 1 pm, I took the cart back down to the woods to cut some more privet.  I ended up going back down the hill where I've been working.

The privet as it looked when I got down in the woods today.

I had intended to just cut enough sticks from the section between the two downed trees to make a load for my cart, but once I got started cutting, I just couldn't seem to stop!  I ended up going even deeper into the thicket, past that second fallen tree.  

One of two ancient Eastern Red Cedar trees taken out by the severe storm in 2019.

That second tree turned out to be a huge Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) - I estimate that the tree was about 20" in diameter about 5' up from the base.   And just a little further to the north was another huge cedar, possibly even bigger than the first one.  How very sad that that bad storm ended their beautiful lives.

The woods are already turning very green down there because the privet trees are all starting to leaf out.  Apparently it didn't get cold enough to hurt it!

And I know that after all of that green will come the clusters of white flowers...followed by even more berries and even more privet.  I just can't stand the thought of it!

So because it's too late to do a cut stump treatment, and I couldn't stand to think about the trees making more berries, I started cutting the tops out of them.  I think (hope) that by cutting the tops off, they won't make any berries this year.  Now they may sprout up from the stump like crazy but I guess so long as they're not making more berries, I can deal with the sprouts...I hope I can anyway.  The thought even came to my mind as I was cutting that if they do start to sprout up a lot, I could always spray them with some herbicide.  I think that would be an absolute last resort though. I hope Walter and I can get back in there this fall and continue where we left off.

Making progress!  I didn't aim the camera the right way so it's hard to see where I cut tops past the big cedar tree, but it's in the area in the upper left of the picture.

I ended up working down there for over two hours, and finally figured I had better head back to the house before RAF started to worry.

Sticks to be shredded.

I had a pretty good pile of sticks, but it wasn't until I got ready to go back up the hill that I realized I had messed up.  I had thrown all of the sticks in a pile with the big end pointing down hill...that's backwards from how they needed to be!  

I had to pick them all back up and turn them around so I could drag them back up to the top of the hill.  

Note to self:  From now on, remember to pile the sticks with the big end pointing uphill!

And just about the time I finished turning all of the sticks, I looked up to see RAF standing at the edge of the woods.  He said he had been watching some deer watching me!  LOL

He helped me load the sticks into the truck, which was very much appreciated, because I had about double what I normally am able to bring back on the cart.  Although I had brought some hay twine with me this time, that would have been a tough walk back with that many sticks.

Little Joe and I shredded them, and I was able to finish out the walking row on the south side of the garden by the Fava beans, and put down about 5' on the walking row just north of the brassica bed.  I think another load this size will finish that walking row and that will only leave a few bare spots at the east end of the garden that need to be covered.  After that, I'll start on the walking rows on the west end of the garden.

I hope that by this fall, some of the little oak trees I've started will be big enough to set out down there.  Two of them are growing really well!

Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata) seedlings.  Right now, there's only one that looks really healthy, but I hope the others catch up.

Unknown oak, from an acorn collected at the creek.  It's also in the red oak group (subgenus Erythrobalanus) but I won't know what it is until it's older.

As the sun got low in the sky this afternoon, I made sure to water all of the seedlings that are under the grow lights, and then covered everything outside up for one more night - the last night of the winter of 2022-2023.

Because tomorrow is the first day of spring....

March 18, 2023 Gardening Journal

It looked like a winter wonderland out this morning.  The sun's rays came over the mountain onto a blanket of sparkling white frost so bright it hurt your eyes to look at it. 

It was, as my younger sister said, a "hard freeze" with a low of 25° F.  

I'm thinking now that I probably got in a rush to get stuff planted again this year.  March can be a cruel month for the garden.  

The peas and Fava beans had already been nipped by frost a couple of nights before - nights when I don't think it really even got much below freezing.  Knowing that it was supposed to be much colder last night, I decided I had better try covering a few things to see if I could save them.

Peas covered with various types of plastic containers.

Thankfully the peas hadn't really started grabbing onto the chicken wire yet - if they had, I'm not sure how I would have covered them.  But since they were still small enough to fit under something, I dug through the recycling bags and pulled out all of the coffee containers I could find (yes, we badly need to make a run to the recycling drop-off!).  Between the coffee containers, some milk jug tops and some plastic boxes, I was able to get all of the peas covered.  

I covered the snow peas, rhubarb and Swiss chard with straw.

The strawberries, Fava beans, asparagus and the east cellar bed were all covered with some of the old sheets I used last summer to shade the plants from the sun.  One apple tree and the new cherry tree were starting to leaf out, so I thought they might both need to be covered too.

Young fruit trees, looking like Halloween ghosts!

I couldn't help but think of Charlie Brown's Halloween costume after I got the trees covered.  

The young leaves were really pulled down by the weight of the coverings, and I wondered if I was doing more harm than good by putting so much downward force on them.  I think tonight I'll try covering them with an old feed bag instead.  

I really thought the brassicas under the row cover would be fine.  But when I peeked under this morning I was upset to see that no, they weren't fine at all.

Poor little broccoli plant.

Now to be honest, I'm not sure if that damage happened last night, or it if happened earlier because the plants weren't properly hardened off.  It might even be sunburn instead of frost damage.  But I guess if they don't make it, I still have my "spares" that are still in pots in the house so I can just start over if I have to.

It's supposed to be colder tonight than it was last night, but the wind is supposed to blow all night so there shouldn't be a frost.  I'll still plan on covering things up though, just in case the weatherman gets things wrong.  

Out of all of the plants in the garden, the only ones that really don't seem to care about the cold are the alliums.  The leeks, chives and garlic handled the cold without so much as a "brrrrrr!!!!"

The leeks didn't seem to be bothered by this cold snap.

Does the cold temperature hurt the plants, or is it just the frost?  I need to see what I can find out on that.

I think the carrots I planted at the end of February have finally started to germinate.  I don't know if they could survive the frost or not, so I make a makeshift cover for them using some old fence wire and bubble wrap.  It's kind of like a "mini-greenhouse" I guess.

Bubble wrap frost cover.

I went ahead and planted another small block of carrots and covered them with the board to hold in the moisture.

More carrots planted.

My sister had texted me this morning and I finally saw it and answered, apologizing for taking so long to get back to her.  I said, "I decided I had to try to get some housework done instead of standing and staring wistfully out the window."  

But by this afternoon, I couldn't take it anymore.  I decided to brave the wind and the cold to collect a few more loads of cow  manure and hay.  Compost bay #3 had settled quite a bit, so I topped it up with some of the contents of bay #1.  Wow...I've never seen earthworms in the compost bins like I did today!

The compost in bay #1 wasn't done yet, but it's getting there!  I put the last of it into bay #2, then hauled in four more cartloads of manure/hay to bring that one up to "full" too.  This time, I put in two watering cans of water for every cartload of manure/hay that I added.  I wanted to be sure that the bay had plenty of moisture.  I really need it to heat up to try to kill weed and grass seeds.  I absolute do NOT want to get weeds and grass from my compost started in my garden!

Topping off compost Bay #2.

I'm quickly running out of time to collect manure/hay though.  The meadow buttercups have started to grow in the field, along with the little winter grasses.  Once everything really gets growing, the collecting trips are over for the spring.

I also collected another load of mostly rotted hay and put it on my "Ruth Stout" area.  I think I may end up using a tarp to "solarize" most of that area this summer to kill off the grass and weeds that sprout from the hay.

The work hasn't all been outside though.  When I got groceries yesterday, I bought a small packet of organic rosemary.  I snipped the tops off of each sprig and put them in some water to see if I could get them to put out roots.  

Rosemary cuttings.

If I can get them to live, the only herb I'll be missing will be the parsley:  Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme....

March 14, 2023 Gardening Journal

Using some of the cardboard that I brought back from my mom and dad's house this past weekend, I decided to extend the garden all the way out to the fence loosely following the "No Dig" method practiced by Charles Dowding.  

So I laid out the cardboard, being sure to overlap it so that the sunlight couldn't reach the grass and weeds.  But because I don't feel like I have compost to spare, and also because I only have three potatoes that have "chitted,"  I didn't put out as much compost as Charles Dowding puts on a new no dig bed.  I only spread out a small bit of composted cow manure to put the potatoes in, but I made sure it was about 4" deep in the center of the row.

Three little potatoes planted in some composted cow manure somewhat in Charles Dowding's "No Dig" method.

I next covered the potatoes and all of the cardboard with some of the hay that the cows didn't eat - I have been taking the cart down into the field and scooping up the hay they had pooped in, stomped into the mud and left uneaten.  Some of it had already started to rot in the field from all the rain we've had this spring, and Yikes! Some if it also already has grass sprouting in it!   I'm really going to have to keep on top of that or I'll just have created a new "grass and weed bed" all along the west end of the garden!

A layer of hay over the cardboard.

Both the hay and cardboard will eventually rot down, and hopefully that will create a nice area to plant in later.  This whole project is loosely following the gardening method promoted by Ruth Stout, although I am not aware that she ever put down cardboard under her hay.  But without digging out the Bermuda grass that's growing in that area, I don't think I would have much success without the cardboard.  Might not anyway.  But I think the cardboard at least gives me a fighting chance!

Now this all would have been better done last fall, giving everything a chance to rot some over the winter.  But since I didn't think of it until just recently, I probably won't try to grow much in it this year...maybe just the potatoes and something like a few sunflowers.  But I hope that by next year, it might make a great place to grow peppers or pumpkins or even tomatoes.

When I called RAF over to have a look, he seemed quite displeased with what I had done.  By putting all of this along the west side of the garden, I've cut off one of his only two paths to get into the back yard with his lawnmower!  I tried to make it Ok by telling him that he can still get through by the back steps, but secretly, my plan is that he won't have much to mow back there anyway!

I've already used up all of the cardboard that I brought home this weekend, and in just doing a rough estimate this afternoon, I think I need about 32 more of the old feed boxes just to cover the rest of that area between the fence and the garden!  And that's not counting the walking rows in the existing garden...I want to cover all of the walking rows with cardboard (and eventually wood chips) too.  I'm going to need a lot more cardboard.

The Pawpaw Patch

To my great surprise, this morning when I checked the tracking for my Pawpaw trees, it had been updated.  "Out for Delivery," it said.  Cool.

The mailman dropped off the box around 1 pm and after he left, I went out to get it, excited, but also a bit pessimistic about what condition it would be in.

The pessimist in me always seems to win out.  

Shipping box, crushed open on one end.

The box was crushed open on one end.   As I pulled it the rest of the way open, I discovered that unfortunately the end that was crushed was the end where the tree roots were, and the plastic wrap around the roots had been jarred and pulled loose during their adventure. 

Poor little dried out trees, exhausted from their long road trip.

The little tree roots were pretty dry.

But I went ahead and put them in a bucket of water as the instructions said to and let them soak the rest of the afternoon.

Trees soaking in a bucket of rainwater.

When I got off work, I took the little trees around back and planted them.  I mixed some of the rotten wood from the log pile into the hole, thinking that might help hold moisture for the roots (if they are still alive).  I then gave them a good deep watering.

Planted and caged.

The last thing was to put some protection over them because young Pawpaw trees are very sensitive to UV light and are easily damaged by strong sunlight.

Protected from the sun.

I had a couple of old shirts and I wrapped the arms around the cages - it really looks like the arms of the shirts are lovingly hugging the little trees.  I tied a hay twine around the shirts to hold them onto the cage.

And so there it is - the beginnings of my Pawpaw patch.  Will they make it?  I hope so.  I have to remind myself that plants want to live, and they can take quite a bit of abuse, whether it be from the water roaring through the woods when the creek floods, or USPS crushing the box they're in and sending them all over the place! (I did file a claim with USPS, but I'm not very hopeful that anything will ever come of that either.  There goes my inner pessimist again....)

And to be even more pessimistic, I really don't have much hope of ever getting any fruit off of these trees either.  While that would be nice, I suspect they're both the same "type" of Pawpaw tree (wild type Pawpaws) and from what I've read they probably won't pollinate each other.  (Now honestly, that seems odd to me because how do they ever produce fruit in the wild if they can't pollinate each other?)  

But to be optimistic for a change, even if they never make any fruit, I just think the tees themselves are beautiful, and they are the host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail (Neographium marcellus), which is also beautiful.  That's really one of the main reasons I decided to get them.  I want to do everything I can to provide host plants for as many species of caterpillars as I can.

I have one other Pawpaw tree ordered, and Derek at Food Forest Nursery has thrown in a second one, I think to help make up for the trouble USPS caused on my first order.  He didn't have to do that - it was very kind of him!  I've decided to put the new trees in the east yard, near Zelda Scissorhands' house.  If any of the Pawpaw trees survive, I hope they'll put out some root suckers that I can then try to transplant down into the woods.  I would love to start replacing the worthless privet trees with some high-value native trees.  

But we shall see.  I'm getting my Pawpaw cart ahead of my horse, as they say.

March 12, 2023 Gardening Journal

Spring is trying.

Signs of spring...forsythia, red maple and daffodils.

 But don't be fooled...it's not here yet.

I think the only thing I really need to worry about is the asparagus, but I will probably put an old sheet over the strawberries just in case.

In spite of the forecast for freezing temperatures, I went ahead and set out the brassicas this morning. They looked like they really needed to be set out too.

The broccoli had good roots, and might have even been getting a bit cramped in the little six-pack.

Those plants should all be fine in the cold, and especially since they're under the row cover.  That is assuming that Tangie will leave things alone....

Tangie checking out the row cover.  "What is this?" and "Can I get in there?"

I got a good chuckle out of little Mo.  Apparently the ground was cold, so maybe sitting up on the Hugelkulture bed was warmer?

The rest of the day was spent working on some miscellaneous projects.  I moved four of the small Carolina Buckthorn (Frangula caroliniana) plants out of the six-pack into their own container (repurposed plastic coffee containers!).  I then moved two others into the now empty six-pack cells, so that only leaves 11 more that need to be separated out into their own pot.

Carolina Buckthorn seedlings.

Next, with RAF's help, I finished moving the old railroad tie and the section of electrical pole out of the field to the east garden bed.  My hope is that by putting ends on the bed, I'll be better able to fight the Bermuda grass that inevitably tries to invade the growing space.

East garden bed, now with ends on the north and the south.

And finally, I visited with my mom and dad for a while.  It was nice to just sit and talk and laugh with them since I haven't been over there in a good while.

Before I left their house, I loaded up some of the cardboard feed boxes and a few shipping boxes.  I'll start putting these out next week to make walking rows for the west garden, and to make a place to plant some no-dig potatoes.