Proposed Planting Map

As promised, here is the proposed planting map for the 10 trees that we will hopefully be able to put in up front this Spring. The Arbor Day Foundation will hopefully be shipping them to us soon.

The two crapemyrtle shrubs, shown in the greenish blue will be going in up at the very front of the property. There is a "temporary" power pole there with some guy wires that I'd like to hide, so the crapemyrtles with their multiple trunks should be able to do that fairly well.

The three american redbuds are shown in light blue. One marking the Western property line, spaced between a catawpa and a bradford pear. Another, just West of the driveway will be placed North of the brown turkey fig, near a proposed future shed. The third will be about 20' North of the driveway over to the neighbors and 20' East of the main driveway.

We're not intending to continue planting in a complete 20'x20' grid like in the back, but the trees are set at the same spacing just in case we change our minds.

The Southern most washington hawthorne is spaced 20' North of the american redbud and the second is 40' North of that. These are shown in pink on the map.

The three white flowering dogwoods, shown in orange, are in a line across the Northern edge of the clearing. The one farthest East will be spaced 40' North of the washington hawthornes. They may be spaced 80' apart, although there currently isn't a plan for more trees along this border requiring us to maintain the pattern.

Planning a Food Forest

I drew this map while trying to figure out where to put a few flowering crabapple trees that we'll hopefully be receiving soon from the Arbor Day Foundation.  The crabapples on this map aren't planted yet, but everything else is already in place. I have posted pictures of parts of this area in a previous post, Clearing in the back.

The driveway from the front leads all the way to the Northernmost corner of the property, there is a turn around we cut and a little area we normally park in shown on the map, it's all dirt forest floor road with no improvements.

The rows of muscadines in the upper right of the map were already in place and are approximately twenty years old. The blueberry bushes planted between them were also planted by the previous owner, but I don't think that they're quite as old. Just above and below the muscadines are two large bradford pears. The top tree on the map to the North of the muscadines has many seedlings growing under it which we may be able to use for grafting material for other fruiting pear species.

Just to the South of the Southern bradford pear is the first persimmon we found on the property, in a little cluster of trees, some of which have not yet been identified. The rectangular area is an area that I intentionally didn't clear with the brush cutter in order to let some wild blackberries come in so that we can train them to tomato cages this year. Meredithe recently cleared the area by hand. There is currently a mimosa tree just to the North of this patch; to the West is the beginning of a rough 20'x20' grid coming into place for the larger fruiting trees which we're putting in first. After we get the larger trees in we'll be able to go back through and add other species underneath stacking the biodiversity as deeply as we can. Right now it's just a baby orchard, some day it'll be a thriving ecosystem, a food forest.

We started with the paw paws in the Southernmost row, then the Fuji and Mollies Delicious apples the next row North. I have them labeled on the map, but I'm not really sure which is which at the moment, I accidentally mixed up the tags during planting. There is a big pine North of the Fuji which I'm hoping to trim up and leave in place. The crabapples will go in 20' to the East and West. This grid could potentially continue along the North side of the driveway to the West for many of the larger fruit and nut trees we'll be putting in during future planting seasons.

So far the system has worked fairly well, first, removing a lot of privet and vines by hand. Then following with the brush cutter to clear the area down to 3" on any smaller brush and grasses. This gives us the space to remove the smaller pines. We like to leave some of the smaller hardwoods for cover while we get the newly planted saplings established.

This area had already been cleared of larger pines, there is even some well cleared area to the North of the crabapple row. Clearing farther West, however, will require removing some larger pines. I'm taking suggestions on what to do with the pine logs, I'm thinking of using them to build a chicken coop and a goat shelter. We just recently removed a large Juniper from next to the big pine. We seem to be removing all of the Juniper, it harbors cedar apple rust which is a disease it shares with apple trees. We have other evergreens everywhere and apples here, and it just doesn't make sense to keep them in our specific situation.

We're hoping to put in 12 trees in the next couple of weeks including the crabapples, but the rest will be planted up front. The other 10 are of various flowering varieties mainly planted for their beauty and attracting songbirds and pollinators so we'll be planting those up front by the driveway and garden. Come back soon and I'll post a map of that front area after this first year of planting and show you where those 10 trees will fit in!

Winter: A Time for Planning

Wintertime is the time of year when a lot of the outdoor activities on the farm begin slowing down. It's a great time to take stock of the past year, learn from it and use the time to plan for the year ahead. We purchased the land almost a year ago now, but it seems like just yesterday. It was a whirlwind for a while, just trying to get our hands dirty and see what we could figure out. I think we're just starting to know what we want to do moving forward.

A lot of this past year involved planting things we were unfamiliar with in different areas around the farm to see what would work, and what wouldn't. The Spring was fun, just planting anything we could find on discount or looked interesting. Then July was hot and dry, everything got fried. We couldn't water fast enough. Of all the months this year I think July was the hardest for me. The Gardenias and Azaleas all lost all or most of their leaves. More than half of them might not make it. The deer discovered our apple trees and had them for lunch. The goji berries lost their leaves, and they never came back, although I have hope that they'll return in the Spring. The loofahs took off like a rocket, and then fizzled.

August was a relief because while it was still hot at least we were getting some rain. Then in September it was still hot and still raining, the same for October, and November and December. So warm! So much rain! We winterized our garden in the middle of December preparing for the first frost which was coming later that week... it was 75 degrees and sunny that day. That which does not kill me (or my plants) makes me stronger. I've had to learn a few lessons this year in strength for sure, patience and I think I've even gained a little tiny bit of understanding. I also think it's time to call an expert.

Our vision for the farm is not your typical mono-culture plant 100 rows of Crop X, harvest, use cash to repeat. We want a sustainable homestead, working with Mother Nature, instead of against Her. Using living systems to improve our water security, soil quality and overall sustainability with each season. With that in mind I made a call this week to Shades of Green Permaculture Design Inc. I have a consultation set up for next week so that they can assess the site and help us shape our vision for the future using their wealth of experience and training to set us up for a lifetime(and beyond) of success. I can't wait to work with them! 2016, here we come!