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i wear a short round scarf (call it the foreskin :) ) which is also thick so that the air going out preheats the air breathed in. saves a lot of sinus and lung troubles for me.
i've already put winter goggles on the list for our next outing to the stores as i really would like to be able to see when i'm walking...
songbird
George Shirley wrote: ...
sounds wonderful! :)
songbird
Look around for one of those military surplus felt face masks. We used those anytime we were topside on a destroyer in the Arctic. Beat frozen nose hair and eyebrow's, not to mention my 'stache. I think I've mentioned before how much I hate cold weather.
49F out this morning and a lot of sunshine, forecast for mucho rain coming though. Won't be long before spring is here in SE Texas. Finally pulled up the eggplants, the sweet chilies are still producing and haven't been frostbitten as yet.Won't be long until the fruit trees are blooming and getting leaves on.
I have one of those full face things , I wear it when I ride the motorcycle in subfreezing temps . It's up to 26? here , predictred high of
32? but I don't think it'll make that up here in The Holler . And there's a 90% chance for 1-3" of snow tonight ... Fruit trees - mine have been in the ground for 1 and 2 years , they aren't doing so well. Suggestions for a fertilizer that's eco-friendly ? These have never had anything but a little fish emulsion last summer , and I'd like to see them grow more , they haven't gottan any bigger since they were planted . -- Snag
We have the same problem, a kumquat and a fig tree in the backyard. We had to dig holes in the gumbo clay and I'm afraid we didn't dig the holes wide enough or deep enough. The trees are growing very slowly but are still producing a decent crop of fruit. We usually add a little composted cow manure every few months and that helps.
At our former home we had very deep loam soil from eons of tree leaves falling on what had, a long time ago, been a sand dune (think ancient bottom of the Gulf of Mexico). Fruit trees shot up like they were on steroids there. I miss that soil and am willing to bet that under that five feet of clay in the back there is another ancient sea bed that would have done the job. Albeit that the clay was laid down to keep us from having to pay for gubmint flood insurance.
I'm thinking of devising something that I could drive down around the trees to penetrate the clay some more and then add fertilizer of some sort to help the roots spread wider and deeper.
what kind of fruit trees? are they on grafted rootstock? how were they planted? how much light do they get? how much water? soil conditions?
i've seen various methods for planting fruit trees in difficult conditions (read Sepp Holzer's works sometime :) ).
once the tree is already in i suppose you could go back and gently dig down close to the tree to find the roots and then trench outwards through the clay and then fill that trench in with better quality soil. (it would look like an asterisk or the spokes of a wheel). the roots will follow that trench outwards. you'll have to keep topping it off as the organic material decays, but it should help as long as the slope is not towards the tree (it should be level -- clay will eventually soak up any extra water in there).
in the future the much easier method is to just make a pile of the best soil you can including plenty of good organic materials and plant into that without doing much digging. the tree will do much better and you can keep adding organic materials around the tree as the pile breaks down. no trenching or digging needed. especially in a small area where you're putting in miniature trees. this way you avoid water logging issues too and the tree roots will eventually find their way down into the clay as needed (via worm holes :) ).
songbird
Terry Coombs wrote: ...
it can take a few years for them to get going. worm castings, horse poo, rabbit poo, dead fish, plenty of organic materials (but not right up against the tree trunks).
i already asked these questions in the other reply, but describing the location, what type of plants, how much light and moisture they get, if they are mulched (and with what), etc. is helpful.
songbird
If your trees are being shaded by the forest (I think you are in a hole in the forest around your house), harvest some more firewood - light makes the biggest difference. But, 1-2 years is a short time in the life of a tree (the best time to plant one is 20 years ago, the second best time is now.)
As for bad soil, with trees I think the best approach is to leave it be when planting - the tree deals with what *is* and grows through it, where a tree in a hole of improved soil in the midst of bad soil is more prone to be potbound and unwilling to poke its roots out. For much the same reason I think a smaller/younger new tree is better than an older one to transplant in a difficult location. While almost everybody would love to be on the loamy gravel, plenty of trees manage just fine on less pleasant soils. Improve it from the top...
Build a ring of compost at the dripline - that's where most of the feeder roots are. Potholing compost/worm fodder (dig postholes, not too close to each other, and fill with compost/compostables) can help get things down more, but it's more work and the worms will do that eventually from stuff on top. But if you want to feel more active about it, go to. As the tree manages to grow, keep the ring at the dripline (ie, moving out.) This will also naturally keep your pile from being built-up near the trunk, which is problematic for several reasons and to be avoided. If you avoid anything too hot you can simply build a pile right there, or you can start it in another location and move it to the trees after it's cooked a few months. Shredded leaves are a good base for whatever else you are putting there - they will break down to leaf mold eventually and will moderate runoff/leachate from more active compost above - don't mix them in, just layer them under, and when you stop turning (if you turn at all) over.
Do not add fresh material when it might induce a growth spurt going into winter. After things are fully dormant you can pile it on, but from roughly August (northern hemisphere) until then you should hold any collected materials in a pile _not_ around the trees - but do keep collecting as much as you can lay your hands on, or have dropped off by the dump-truck load. Manure, spoiled hay, mushroom compost, clean woodash, apple pomace, lawn clippings, etc.
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