A "Pix-zee" peach

At half-price day at the Friends School plant sale, there were some "Pix Zee" peach trees left. We decided to give it a try. The description notes that "Pix Zee" has "...delicious yellow fleshed, freestone peach with red over orange skin. It is a vigorous tree to 6’. Ripens late June. 500 hours chilling. Self-fruitful." It is genetically dwarfed, so it's great for our small yard. The master gardeners at the sale said they have heard folks in Minnesota who have had fruit from their Pix-zee. We will do some winter protection and see how it goes! I am hoping for fruit, although even if it's just ornamental, it's a cool little tree. (Note the first pic is NOT our tree, but another I found of the tree with fruit!)

Three baby apple trees...

We have our apple trees!
Thanks to Steve at Cummins Nursery, we were able to get three 1-year-old dwarf "whips" that we just put in the ground. It will take 2-3 years for them to fruit, but now is the time to start training them. We have Honeycrisp, Elstar, and Zestar apple trees to work with. For anyone loooking to espalier apple trees in their small spaces, I highly recommend Cummins Nursery- they responded to my email right away, walked me through what I needed on the phone, and then shipped the trees within a week. They are able to accommodate small orders like this and were so reasonable!
And they really know their apples. I may get one more... We'll see how these 3 work. They only grow 6-8 feet tall and can be spaced pretty close together, so there may be room for one more tree. They are all starting to bud!

"Like my Uncle Joe in Oklahoma needs the rain..."

We talk a lot about the weather in Minnesota. It's an especially popular topic in the office, where the building I work in is the only one that isn't connected to the others by some sort of tunnel or skyway system. The constant question when anyone walks through the door is, "How's the weather?"

Today, when I came in from lunch, my co-worker and I had a familiar exchange:
She: "So, how is it out there?"
Me: "A little chilly still... I wish it would warm up."
She: "Well, at least it isn't raining!"

Hmmm. At least it isn't raining. But wait. I needed that rain yesterday. Or, more accurately, the newly planted strawberries needed it. And chilly... well, the zucchini doesn't like the chill. It needs to warm up darn it! So I can get those tomatoes in the ground. And the cukes... they sure didn't like that wind....
My point: I think I have a new lens on weather.

I think about what the plants like. I wish for what the plants need. Sun? Rain? To hell with my beach plans... what do those beans want? I'm feeling a new bond with the farmers of the world.... "Like Uncle Joe in Oklahoma needs the rain" (from a Faith Hill song called "I Need You" for those non-country fans out there.) Maybe it's a new realization on the importance of the weather on our food. Sure, we all know grapefruits in Florida don't like cold. But I think I'm starting to feel a lot of empathy for those grapefruit farmers. Warm up, damnit! But not too much... it'll fry the lettuce.

Another garden thing

I have a new garden thing. I mean, another thing I want to add to the garden this year. Espalier apple trees. Yes, I had to look it up to see how to pronounce it (es-pah-lee-ay, in case you're wondering) That's basically a fancy way to say: train baby apple trees to grow in two dimensions in a very small space, say along the wall of our garage. You still get lots of good fruit, but it doesn't take up the space of a tree! (How to do it here.)

When I asked Sean about it, he asked, appropriately, "Are you really sure you want to take another thing on in the garden this year?"
To which I replied, "No. But If we don't do it this year, it'll be a whole 'nother year before we have apples!!"

Apparently, you must get apple trees that are only a year or two old (know as "whips"). They have to be young, so you can begin to train them onto the wires in two dimensions. In about three years, you have apples on them!

Which means... yes. I am going to be doing another garden thing.

Seedlings to Plants

The seedlings have officially taken over... our house has gone from greenhouse to virtual jungle in the past weeks. The tomatoes (all 100+ of them!) had to be re-potted and are over a foot tall, and the cucumbers are getting ready to vine! I need sustained warm weather, stat, so I can get these plants in the ground! I've started hardening them off on the porch, as you can see. Hopefully by this weekend I can plant. I'm solidly in Zone 4, so our official last frost date isn't until May 15th, but I have row covers if needed. I've also been monitoring soil temp., and we have been approaching 65 degrees, which is warm enough for most of my "crops", provided we don't get a frost!

Soil Testing

With the preparation of so much new garden space, I learned that soil testing is a good idea. In the past, I have tested my soil with the do-it-yourself kits you can get at a hardware store. It is unclear how accurate these tests are, so this time, I am going to get the soil sampled at a professional lab... with my University Extension service.

If you are in MN, you can find all the information you need for a soil test at here. Each sample costs $15, and you get a reading on phosphorus, potassium, pH and lime requirement, percent organic matter and estimated texture category. They will also recommend which "crops" will grow well in your soil, or recommended amendments for what you plan to plant. Seems like a good deal to me!

Our results came back pretty much as expected: We have alkaline soil, with a pH of about 7.0. We have a decent amount of organic matter in it, but it is recommended that we add phospate. (Phospate is the middle number in the plant nutrient breakdown you see on packages.) We also need to grow our blueberries in pots. To get our soil acidic enough to grow blueberries would require "heroic measures" in the terms of the Extension office. But, in pots, a few bags of peat moss should do the trick!

We *heart* Natural Built Home

If you are looking for green building materials or resources, look no further. Natural Built Home is like a one-stop shop for the best green building materials out there. We discovered them at the Living Green Expo (which is May 2-3 this year btw) a couple of years ago, but we didn't have any projects that could utilize their products right away. So we just drooled. Me, over the mosaic recycled glass tile, Sean over the reclaimed hardwood flooring.

They will work with you if you don't live in the Twin Cities, as they used to be just an e-shop. Although if you live nearby and you haven't been, you really need to go take a look.

From the Natural Built Home website:

"Natural Built Home was founded in October of 2005. Our mission was to create a one-stop shop for the safest and most sustainable building supplies. We initially provided these products to our customers on the world wide web through our e-commerce website. Our first brick and mortar showroom opened in Minneapolis on Earth Day in 2006."