STATE OF THE HOMESTEAD,HALL ROAD GARDENS, Feb 6, 2000
As super bowl XXXIV marked my third anniversary at Hall Cottage, I feel
compelled to report on the state of the homestead. The state of the
homestead
is good, but my consumptive madness is bad and getting worse.
To wit: after studying the fruit tree catalogs for over 200 hours and
condensing
my list from " wish " to "can't live without" I plan to order from 10 (yes
count them, the number of your toes if you are similar to me) catalogs.
Yes, a kiwi here , an asian pear there, here 2 cornelian cherries, there a
Chinese dogwood -- on to $600 or so. I did not ,however get a new $8000
snowmobile
this year -- 15-year-old Chevy announced that if I did she would quit
forever.
My greatest disappointment is that I again regret to have to inform you that
my
badmintor/croquet court will not be in tournament condition for the
forthcoming season.I seem to have made a mistake in planting it.I covered
the enriched seed bed with soybean straw when I planted 3 springs ago.
The seed came up sporadically and the turf is quite tufty, and as you can
imagine, makes straight shots difficult. Weedy soybean straw is a wonderful
resource. I have found it much better for mulching tomatoes and like with
thick slices than trying to scatter it around, as it does not tear apart
easily as does wheat or oat straw. Live and learn, though a last years
planting of clover is filling in and I am optimistic for the Greater Upper
Village Memorial Day Open.
The blueberries surrounding the court are finally picking up, as I
acidified
after my neighbor and fellow fruit explorer, Lou Jones, came by and pointed
out that if you stir up and oxidise acid soil (which was done as the
blueberries are on top of the bank surrounding my septic system) the soil
gets neutralized. As he has constructed over 18 miles of road and 40 (last
count) wildlife ponds and at least 100 acres of fields on his 1000 acres
over
31 years I accept his digging dirt authority. I also put is 3 berry blue
honeyberries around the court to go with the previous two which
flowered last spring but did not set fruit, and another sweet scarlet
goumi to repace the one I lost so the pair are now doing well. Also a
little
further from the court, my shipover (mtn ash \pear cross) and Ivan's
Belle (mtn ash \hawthorne} should shade a resting competitor in a year or
two, and the 50 feet of strawberry beds are temporary but should provide
enjoyment
come June --if I can be ever so slightly smarter than the chipmonks this
year.
Last year my son and I grazed serveral quarts over fathers day weekend --
then the rodents wiped me out. That is it for the north side of the
driveway
if I skip the 3 apricots (2 are over 15 feet in two years), 2 Hall's Hardy
almond ( never seen such a fast grower), 4 Nanking cherries (blossomed but
did not set fruit last year) Summercrisp pear (need to graft on a
pollinator as it is 100 feet from my other true pear ), 2 Marechal Foch
grapes (10 bunches small but tasty last year) , 6 seaberries doing well with
minimal care, 1 mulberry finally picking up and vegetable beds too numerous
to mention.
Now my east 40 --(the 40x100 foot strip between cottage and road). Picked a
grand total of 11 peaches off my 2 third-leaf trees! ten off Hale Haven and
1 off
Reliance, . surrounded by rich vegetable beds they are vigorous beyond
belief. My Superior plum flowered profusely but not Kaga so I brought a
bucket of Purple Heart blossums from Lou but still only set 2 fruit..
Somehow
I missed them all summer but spotted them in Sept and they were tasty. Added
a plumcot, and Sapalta cherry plum, and one of my Purple Heart grafts took
on wild plum rootstock so have a good start to plum alley. I have 18 more
wild plum
rootstocks to graft this spring, scatterd around, their size directly
determined by the richness of the bed. I got a grape arbor frame up
for Concord and Canadice seedless grapes the fall before last, and they
finally
reached the top so I will have to give them more to climb on immediately
this spring.
Now to Cherry Hill -- the 10-foot rise where the big pine is. I had a tree
man lined up to cut it in the fall butI suffered a leg infection and
squandered triple the money I was to pay him. I'l get the 24-inch baby down
though, along with 6 of his mates, and sliced up they
should total at least 2500 feet of lumber tohelp build a shop addition.
Then I can really
complete my planting of Cherry Hill. Presently I have only 3 sour cherries
(Northstar, Metior and Evans) and 2 sweet (Gold and Van) but I plan to graft
some Kristin on each of them). I'll plant Cornelian cherries and white
Nankings and fill in the spaces with Joy, Jan and Joel bush cherries.
I have 12 prunus besseyi rootstocks I bought for 60 c each before I read so
much bad
stuff about them, so for lack of any thing better will try Evans or
Chinese apricot on them and set them at the edge of the woods. Oh yes, I
almost forgot a blue pastel doublewide went in across the road over
Thanksgiving which helped me determine the exact position of a large rustic
grape/kiwi arbor-rustic bench-watertank hider on the hill. I'll get right
on it come April as I have 2 marqius grapes and 2 arguta kiwi in 5-gallon
pots under the house to move out and let loose.
Now last but not least: the Great Southwest , a triangle between cottage,
woods ,and
swamp. My third-leaf green gage plums set a couple dozen last spring but
the blankity blank chipmonks ate them last June before I started serving
them portland cement and cornmeal dinners. Nova pear is doing well,and I'm
thinking of grafting on some Keiffer as the two Asians I put close by
probably won't polinate. One, Yakumo, was the biggest bare root tree I ever
got and I immediately e-mailed Bear Creek doubting its ability to
survive --
but it did with help of doses of compost tea. Also in this area are my 10
types of red,gold,purple and black raspberries. The fall golds are by far
the
best and most prolific, as they are right on the walk from house to
greenhouse so get the pause that refreshes frequently. So, noticing that,
I picked up compost appplications to the other types and they responded. (By
the way my sister made some mighty fine many-colored berry desserts last
summer and I am just as optomistic for this summer, except I will be
remodeling her kitchen. I am ressurecting many wild blueberries which were
burried in
the 60 to 80 foot high forest before I cleared. I am sure they are many
decades
old. but respond to a trim, light and compost. More tasty berries than store
bought
bushes but smaller. Also 4 Finnberries. I got the deck of a
greenhouse/storage shack-future sauna built before snow, another
immediately-in-the-spring if not sooner project. This area below the
cottage is unique, for in addition to dappled light from sparce trees in
the swamp, a little heat rises out of the swamp and holds off frosts for a
couple of extra weeks in the fall. Twice I have picked Fall Golds to
Veteran's Day, though the flavor is gone by November. One pitfall of this
area is that the deer believe the foot-high clover and other delacies are
put forth for them to munch, and 3 times last year I came out of my reverie
on the porch above to scream and throw rocks. This year I hope to advance to
the level of bow and arrow -- though I have contemplated fences,a guard dog
or
donkey or combination thereof.
Now for my new projects: the Northwest Passage, a 60-foot-long area
between the
bank of my septic field and my boundary stone wall, it ranges from 10 to
25
feet in width and gets good summer sun for the middle 7 hours of the day. I
have been planning apple row here all along, but it just occurred to me
that a solid board fence inside the stone wall would make a heated trough
on
sunny days -- so perhaps something more heat loving.??. Kiwis on the
fence, semi dwarf apples down the middle and grapes climbing the apples
like Lou does? Anyway I got it cleared and mostly cleaned up and can now
start leveling during which time I can contemplate the plantings.
Then there is THE SWAMP or more exactly the swampy woods. It is a jumbled
mess of downed trees due I believe to my downstream neighbors putting a
driveway across it 20 years ago that is is essentially a damm. Rather than
let it grow up to whatever, I'd like to influence it to become my low-care
edible swamp forest. Juneberries on the hummocks? Nut trees? willows? I
could use some help on this.
As you see, life is busy for those of us afflicted with consumptive madness.
I do hope the wheels will turn sufficiently for my new Jamaican son-in-law
to join us. I saw last August that where he has been gardening for 6 years
is a lot different. My daughter is only interested in fruit when a bowl
of it is placed in front of her, and my grandson is a pokemon/ video nut.
But we just did plant 6 seeds out of a lime and perhaps when needed, the
green house will be done.
Zone 4 southern NH
