Category: Food Forest building

Dividing hay around trees and on the hill beds

We still have a lot of work until all trees have a new layer of hay or straw

Last year when we made hay but the rake was not adjusted right. Because of that our hay is extreme dusty. Therefore we will use this hay for the garden. We still have two rows of fruit trees to give a nice mulch layer around there feet, so we started with those. We rolled out a bale of hay right beside a row of fruit trees and gave these trees a nice thick layer of hay. We also gave the mulch around the trees and bushes we planted in the fall a nice fresh up. Lucky me, I had 3 small helpers.

We needed a new bale of hay for the second row of fruit trees. What was left of this bale, I used for the 3 hill beds from last year. Last fall we did 2 hill beds with hay and one hill bed with an entire bale of straw (See Post: Our late potato harvest). The strong winds blew the hay aside a little and the layer was in some places not thick enough any more. So here and there the grass grew trough the hay, but also the small left potatoes stuck up there heads here and there (the pictures are 3 weeks old). With the straw (at the right) that is not the case. The layer of straw is thick enough.

So I ripped out the grass and divided an extra layer of hay over the hill beds. After that my husband mowed around the hill beds and I divided also a thick layer of hay around the beds and at the fruit trees there. Since our move is postponed I want to plant pumpkins here and they grow long and in all directions, so it would be difficult to mow around. A big mulched surface is better for this. And the pumpkins stay cleaner this way. The bale of hay was used up and I finished around the hill beds with little square bales. This hay was still very good, but dusty hay. The colour was still fresh somewhat green. That is the difference in colour you can see on the pictures.

So happy to finish this so far. When there is some more time we need to freshen up the mulch around all of the trees and bushes we planted last fall, but for now we have to take care of the vegetable garden first.

Update on our in fall moved beds

Not all plants live, but the tulips are beautiful

Last fall we had moved our plant beds, where we grew vegetables in last year, because they where in the way. We had moved the Tiny House to that spot. We moved the beds along side our outer fens and planted some trees, herbs and different other plants in them. We covered one bed with wood shavings and where very late with covering the other beds with straw. In these beds not all is doing well, but the bed with the wood shavings is doing well. If I look carefully I can find some Mint sticking there heads trough. The lovage is already growing well.

Unfortunately the dogs can access these beds. They do not walk trough them, but of course with all male dogs, they have to pi over everything. So the lovage has to move to a new bed inside the fens, since I want to use it for soups. Digging out the lovage I noticed how nice the soil has become and the garlic growing beside the lovage already has a nice stem. For 2 years we had started these beds with poorly rotten manure, but now it has turned into very beautiful deep black soil with earthworms in there. The lovage moved to the larger stone bed inside the fens and around the lovage we covered the soil with woodchips.

In this bed with the wood shavings the oregano is also coming up nicely. I have more oregano out of the reach of the dogs, so this does not have to move. Other than that I found a strawberry sticking its leave out of the shavings and of course the thistles are doing well also.

In one of the straw beds I also had planted wild garlic. This has come up beautifully, so it was easy to dig up and also move to the stone bed inside the fens. The plants did remarkably well being moved. They never even let there leaves hang.

In another bed the buckeye is starting to thrive and the forget Me Not surrounding it is also coming up nicely. Some of the sage and some garlic have survived the winter.

In another bed the tulips are looking beautiful. Here I have pictures of the tulips taken every few days.

Planting the last fruit trees

And also planting the lavender and Ivy plants

Finally I found the time to plant the lavender and Ivy plants. With the help of our children it did not take so much time at all. With every fruit tree we planted in our new beds we plant 3 Lavender and 2 Ivy plants, as far as we have plants for that. So take aside the straw, plant the plants, and put back the straw without covering the new plants. We did not have enough plants for every tree, but we will breed new plants out of these the coming years our selves. I am just going to wait for these plants to settle and grow first.

Our field with the new beds was not big enough for all of the fruit trees, so we planted 2 more rows some where else on out property. We still have to put straw around them. With one row we put an electric fence around the trees so the dogs can’t get to them, but we did not have enough fencing for the other row. Luckily we have noticed that the dogs do not bite on these trees, they are big enough already, so we can take the electrical fence down again. I need this fencing for my straw bed, which is getting a thick layer of hay this year.