This and That

Famous tule fog. The whole day stayed this dark. How gothic English countryside eh?

When we moved from Corning out to the new house, I brought plants with me from out of the ground. Unfortunately crab grass came with them. This grass goes dormant in the winter but has tenacious underground runners. I am wondering if it will kill my perennials which share a bed with it. I try and pull it out but it's really pointless. Smothering kind of works to slow it down but never kills it. Also called couch grass, it's a medicinal plant, mildly diuretic. The puncture vine has gotten less and less the more we have inhabited our site. I have decided to let the black mustard which volunteers everywhere be since the bees like it better than any other flower.

Around the farm we have straw bales set out to protect plants or accumulate debris flow. These straw bales only last one season sometimes two, but need to be replaced when they start to fall apart. There are so many areas which need mulch that once they have broken down more, these bales are a needed asset to the farm. Currently, the lemon tree has four bales which are slowly decomposing. They will be spread around the herb beds which has poor soil. Most of these bales grow mushrooms which one of the cats like to eat.

During the winter, my dad, who lives about 20 miles away, brings our farm loads and loads of autumn leaves. Last year he brought many loads as well. After these piles have set for one year, I let the chickens dig through them. It is amazing how the chicken's little feet can shred this mulch to a fine tilth. So now we have great tree mulch. I like to put it into pots to keep the soil from getting hard and protect the seedlings.

I transplanted several tiny fruit trees to larger pots. These were started from kitchen seeds. We know that they will likely never bear edible fruit. They are wild fruit trees and so good for other jobs, such as wildlife habitat, shade, wind protection and green matter. You really can't go wrong with trees unless they fall on your house or get into your water lines. Our fruit trees on the swale have finally lost their leaves. Several of them turned very pretty colors which I was not expecting. I need to find a good place for the stinging nettles. I saw an herbalist's home in a video and she had this huge patch right in her backyard near her house. They are such awesome plants I want to do something like that. Who needs hydrangea when you can have stinging nettles?