Gardening: A Growing Trend

While many were stuck at home last year, there was an increased interest in gardening. Seed companies reported shortages, nurseries had more sales of vegetable starts, and urban gardens saw a rebirth of activity. All indications are that this activity will continue in 2021.

The many benefits of gardening – besides, of course, food!

There are many benefits, both practical and therapeutic to growing your own food. Many see it as a way to control the food we eat – substituting store-bought food with their own produce. But there are also great psychological benefits – something we can all use during times of stress. In addition to the comfort of briefly connecting to a Zen moment, there is immense satisfaction in growing something from scratch to full maturity.

Growing Tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest – The Great Tomato Machine

Cool weather plants like peas, beans, and lettuce do fairly well in the Pacific Northwest. You can also grow tomatoes, but sometimes they don’t all ripen. One ingenious solution is the “Tomato Machine” – a trick we learned from Michael and Missy Stucky of Millennium Farms in Ridgefield.

They look odd for the first part of the summer, but the plants grow large and fast. We typically remove the wrap mid-summer – once the plants start bursting out of their cages. This approach always yields red, ripe tomatoes!

Container Gardens Are a Great Option

City dwellers who don’t have the space and no access to a community garden, can still grow their own food in containers. They take up little room and reap the same benefits. Many plants are especially well-suited for containers: lettuce, herbs, and patio tomatoes come to mind.

Container gardens - a growing trend

Even with a full-size garden, we still grow a variety of container vegetables on our deck. Our best success has been with Northwest-specific tomatoes like Home Slice and Silvery Fir. Add a container of lettuce and basil, and you have the convenience of a great salad. Right outside your door!

Gardening: A Growing Trend. And Projected to Continue Growing.

We believe gardening will continue to be of great interest to everyone – city dwellers included. So, start small and try a few things – including container plants. Do some research on what grows best in your area. There are any number of web sites and YouTube videos to help you. It’s best to start with seedling plants to get a head start on the short growing season.

However you do it, you will be rewarded with your own food and the mental satisfaction of growing and nurturing something living.

Want to learn more about container gardening or how to build the Great Tomato Machine? Just contact us, we’ll be glad to share our experiences.

Pruning Fruit Trees in Clark County, Washington

Spring is almost here and, if you live in the country, you might be thinking about pruning those fruit trees in your yard. Growing fruit trees is not a passive activity – especially on rural property where you often find lots of them. They actually require year-round attention for optimum health and better fruit production.

Obvious chores include watering and fertilizing during spring and summer. But trees also require attention during the winter, even though they are mostly dormant for that season. In fact, late winter is the ideal time for pruning and spraying – hence the term “dormant” oil for the type of spray used.

Pruning May Seem Counterintuitive

Cutting off branches from a healthy tree might seem counterintuitive. But careful pruning removes unproductive branches and shapes the tree to produce healthier fruit. After pruning, we spray a light mineral oil that is compatible with organic gardening – no fungicide or herbicide. The oil coats the branches and seals it from mites and other bugs that might show up during the spring bloom.

For ideal conditions, trees should be dry with no foreseeable precipitation for at least 24 hours. Likewise, ideal temps should be close to freezing. Although in some areas, you may be able to prune as late as April as long as the trees have not sprouted leaf buds.

This past winter was a real challenge because it was so wet. Our continuous days of snow and freezing rain made it nearly impossible to get out and take care of the trees. Finally, with dry weather and temperatures still below 40, we found a perfect day in March.

Shaping The Tree For Better Fruit

While pruning is not that hard with the right tools, it helps to know what you want to accomplish with the trimming. A fruit tree continues to grow throughout the year, producing new shoots from its limbs. Unless these shoots have fruit buds, they need to be pruned off. Otherwise, they divert nourishment from the branches that have fruit. Pruning helps direct the nutrients from the tree trunk to branches with fruit.

Likewise, the shape of the tree can determine how productive and healthy the harvest will be. There are several schools of thought about this, but we prefer to prune the center lead (trunk) out. This helps the outer branches spread out and grow into an umbrella shape. The open center allows more air circulation and sunlight into the remaining branches, which helps blooming. This approach also makes it easier to harvest – as the outer branches bear fruit, they tend to bend down, making it easier to reach. Proper pruning can help shape a tree into ideal production.

Sometimes Major Pruning is Necessary

You will often see a mature fruit trees laden with fruit at the very top branches. This makes the fruit nearly inaccessible when the tree hasn’t been pruned regularly. We had a few mature trees on our property when we moved in four years ago. They were overgrown with misshapen branches that criss-crossed inside the canopy. This not only creates a tangled mess, it also invites bugs and disease. And, of course, the harvest was lacking.

So, two winters ago, we did a dramatic pruning that cut back many of the thick, older branches, and opened up the centers. It is a scary proposition and, again, counterintuitive because it looks like the tree will die from all that major surgery. Plus, trees often appear to “suffer” because they will skip a year in production as they recover. However, after a major pruning, trees usually bounce back, and are healthier for it.

And that was the case with our trees – there were no apples last summer. But spring weather has brought tons of flowering fruit buds, and the trees are thriving. Plus, this summer, as the lower branches fill out, the fruit will be a lot easier to reach. Next winter, we will able to return to light pruning.

So don’t be afraid to trim your trees after you’ve determined how you want them to look. Regular pruning and dormant spray will keep them healthy and producing for years.

Clark County News & Views