pruning daphne

my daphne does not have much bloom on it this year. Lesson: prune daphne soon after flowering ( round march or april). If you wait until the end of summer and hack it back because you are sick of tripping over it, you will sacrifice next season bloom. going out to play in the sun now. We could use some rain soon.

Do I need a soil test?

Answer: probably! Unless you have checked on your soil in the last year or two. Native soil in El Dorado County tends to be low in nitrogen and phosphorus, two important nutrients for plant growth.Also the pH ( level of acidity) tends around 6-7. This is why we recommend bone meal or other starter fertilizer for new planting, to get the needed phosphorus for root development. HOWEVER, there is too much of a good thing. Too much phosphorus will deter mycorrhizal ( symbiotic fungi) development , which is a main avenue for phosphorus uptake is most woody plants and perennials. A little when you first plant is probably enough. Before you add more fertilizer every year, go to the local garden center and get a simple test kit. Test your soil. It will  save you money ( only buy what you really need, if anything), and it will definitely make your plants happier.

bare root trees

Tis the season to plant bare root... fruit that is, apples and asian pears. Maybe a fuyu too. Adding to my little orchard, now that I have a deer fence. Easy diggin right now too!
Pretty much ready for the MG soils class I am teaching next month. Come one, come all, 9AM Sat. feb5 at the Vets Hall in Placerville. Should be fun! No, really!

seed starting

I attended a talk on seed starting by a fellow master gardener who has it down to a real art. Very inspiring!So I am ready to get a head start on spring, but I don't have a green house. Where in the world am I going to put all these seed trays? I have heat mats, pots, pans (!) soil, soilless, all the doo-dads, but no where protected enough with power for either lights or heat. hmmm. Got a little work to do here. Stay tuned...

double duty for a straw bale bed

The tomatoes I planted in 4 straw bales ( topped with a 1/2" layer of compost) did fantastic. They are of course long gone. by the end of the season the foot high straw bales are reduced to about 6". That I expected. What I did not expect was poking around in that leftover stuff, pulling the old bale windings out, there is 6" of the most fabulous loam you ever saw! Beautiful black, fluffy, light, perfectly composted. So I used it to plant two new fruit trees - Hudsons golden gem apple and a Comice pear, and two berry bushes - blackberry and raspberry. Plus that spot where the bales were still has a huge layer of fluff to plant something else in. Not sure what though, will have to give it some thought.

mulch mulch

All this rain has made it easy to see where the water lays, where it runs off, and where i need to add more mulch. The idea is to keep as much water on the property as possible, not direct it all into the seasonal stream. Soon as I get a dryish day at home, I will get out the tractor ( hope it starts) and get moving! I have a huge pile from trees that were trimmed to un-shade the solar cells on the roof. thank you Foothill Tree, you did a fine job!