And the weather challenges continue…

And the weather challenges continue…Whatever can be said about the 2025 spring planting season – and much HAS been said!!! -it’s been a truly challenging series of weather events.  We’re bouncing around for temperatures, dew points and wind levels that’s making it hard for baby plants to catch their breath and settle in to growing well.  I can tell you that managing the plants at the store is taking some real thought and management. 

As of this writing, we’re headed in to our first heat wave next week…if you have newly planted gardens, you may want to use cheesecloth or summer weight garden cloths to create some shade.  I’ve used this trick through the years and it can really help baby plants get settled in.  Also works for dark colored leaves (like Japanese maples) that may be scorching if newly planted. 

Speaking of plants - we just got a delivery of new perennials, shrubs and native plants last week and we’ve brought in our last load of starter flowers and veggies. Come by and check them out.  We manage all of them for health and production and can walk you through how you can keep them going in your own yard.

How about a heating pellet sale?

JUNE 13 – JULY 5   Lowest Price This Year ! 

$369.99/ton - Ask us about delivery

And – having mentioned a heat wave – it seems weirdly appropriate to mention the fact that we’re running our summer heating pellet sale!  This is the cheapest time to buy heating wood pellets since absolutely no one wants to use them right now… New England Wood Pellets are our top selling pellet here at The Good Earth and we’ve arranged for several trailer loads of pellets at the cheapest price we’ll be able to offer this year.  This premium wood pellet is manufactured in Jaffrey, NH. We hear back about the reliability of the heat and the reasonably low ash.  I’ve actually gotten pretty good at running the pellet stove at the store and am very familiar with how the New England pellets burn…

And how about for a brief discussion about chicks?

I need to take a few moments to go over some basics about chickens…

Many of you have picked up baby chicks this year…because chickens are HOT!!!  Having said that – baby chicks need chick starter until they’re about 6 weeks old and then they need to transition to chick grower feeds until they start to lay (around 5-6 months).  It’s worth paying attention to this.  Chick starter is very high protein (20% protein) and that’s absolutely necessary for that rapid growth and feathering that happens in those first few weeks – but then the birds settle down in to a slower steadier growth and need the lower protein levels (15% protein) found in the poultry grower formulas – and these young birds DO NOT NEED (and can’t use) the extra calcium in the layer feeds.  Be sure to transition your young birds as they age into their teen age months!

And a not-so-brief discussion about home orchards!

Now back to the plant end of the operation…Home grown fruits and veggies are HOT this year – and many people are starting home orchards and gardens.  Tree fruits (apples, pears, cherries, peaches, apricots, etc.) are often covered with pesticides (apples are usually the worst offenders) when conventionally grown and need to be washed well before eating.  The much more fragile berries are also sprayed, but are much harder to wash (strawberries are the worst offenders here).  Most people know that fruits of all kinds, and berries in particular, are powerhouses in the bionutrient supply chain – those pesky phytochemicals called anthocyanins are critical for your health.

Everyone loves fresh fruit and we have a marvelous selection of fruit trees but also a wide range of berries.  We’ve got the usual blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries of course but also have elderberries, lignon berries, honey berries (haskaps), grapes and cranberries.  All of these can be combined in a variety of ways to create an inviting area for you to hang out in (which you’ll need to do to keep an eye on them) as well as lots fruit as the year goes along.   

Tree fruits and berries do have the REPUTATION for being really hard to grow – that’s why so many pesticides are used to grow them.   Here’s the thing…most of what you’ve heard is for commercial orchardists not backyard orchards run by people who care – and even commercial orchardists have viable alternatives if they choose to look for it. You’re exchanging time, caring and observation for chemicals.

Ideas to keep in mind when planning fruiting plants

Some generalities…

Most tree fruits and berry trees and bushes are “edge” plants –plants that like the biologically active area where an open field meets the woodland edge.  This is critical to your initial planting and long-term care of these plants.

§  In quick terms – think about creating a fungally dominant soil – based on decaying woody products and mulches. That’s the most important piece of information actually… Work to keep your percentage of soil organic matter at 3% (or better).  This is harder to do than you think, but well worth the effort.

§  Be careful about using too much animal manure unless it’s been composted with a lot of wood chip over time. Animal manures can provide too much nitrate nitrogen (soft growth leading to insect and disease pressure).

§  Make sure there’s enough calcium present –get a soil test to be sure.  The heavier/clayier your soil is the more calcium you’ll need (calcium helps to keep those small clay pieces apart to allow air and water to move).  The sandier your soil is the more magnesium you will need (magnesium helps to hold soil particles together to slow down water movement, etc.). 

What does this mean in practice?

You need a ring around each tree where there is no grass – take the time to cut the grass and turn it over in place to a width of about 4’ out from the trunk all the way around.  Take a soil test before starting so you know exactly where you’re at.  Just before you turn the grass, put on a light layer of calicite lime or gypsum – not the cheap local dolomite lime - and rock phosphate.  Calcium and phosphorus are probably the most critical minerals for fruit trees -not nitrogen… This will put those two key minerals down into the soil as you turn the sod. 

If you can’t get a soil test then use this basic recipe…Mix the following on a tarp and keep dry until used – will store for years if kept dry:

50 lbs alfalfa meal, 20 lbs azomite, 20 lbs gypsum, 15 lbs rock phosphate or bone char, 15 lbs greensand and 20 lbs leonardite or biochar.  You can get all of this at the store but also find some of it elsewhere.  Each one of these ingredients works to stabilize the soil system’s texture and nutritional content to support the tree’s roots to support the tree’s shoots (branches).  Come in and ask what each of these ingredients does!  It makes for a good conversation J

Apply this mixture at the rate of a 3-gallon pail per caliper inch of trunk – i.e. the bigger the trunk, the more mixture you use.  Work this lightly down into the turned over sod or into the surface duff and then cover with about 3” of a mix of shredded leaves and wood chip (not bark mulch unless that’s all you can get).  The mulch should grade to zero at the trunk – no mulch climbing up the trunk!

Here’s another suggestion

Make a list of your favorite fruits – don’t waste the time growing great peaches if you hate peaches! Pick one (or two) to concentrate on and learn that species/variety well. This allows you to develop the knowledge needed to troubleshoot as the season moves along. Make notes!

Create a worksheet for each kind of fruiting plant that you’re planning on growing.  This is where you’re going to do the research and jot down the details about the major issues for each species you list.  Make sure the information you get is from the right growing zone and climate type – this is New England…not England, Washington state, North Carolina, Iowa – you get the drift.  Climate and micro-climate really matter with fruits.

Put each sheet in some sort of notebook (or desktop folder if you’re working electronically) and continue to jot down notes through the years as you learn new details about your friends – and your fruit trees are your friends – treat them well.  You and your fruit trees and bushes are in this for the long haul…

At this point – take a look at your personal expectations as well.  “Perfect” fruits are a product of manufactured expectations and made possible only through the removal of flavor and texture from the fruit itself (breeding) and the application of a complete arsenal of industrial chemicals (management). You’re going to work on growing the healthiest plants from the best home-based genetics.  Most of the fruit will be great- some won’t – but most of that can be made into jams, jellies, pickles etc.

Watch out for “dwarf”, “semi-dwarf” and “standard” trees. Dwarf trees are easier to harvest but require much more nutrition management.  Semi-dwarf trees are the norm for home orchards – easier to harvest than the standard trees but much less demanding for nutrition and other management.  Part of the decision tree you’re learning how to make!

A lot of people consider woody plants of all kinds to be fairly inert – yes, they grow, but they’re not dramatic growers like marigolds or a tomato.  This “inert factor” isn’t true for maples and oaks and it REALLY isn’t true for fruit trees and bushes.  Fruit trees and bushes are perennial, but they need annual care and maintenance.  An example is pruning.  Pruning is an annual event if you want productive trees and bushes. 

Plan on irrigation.  Mother Nature is not known for her consistency and lately she’s been almost childlike in her ability to throw weather temper tantrums.  We’re getting longer, hotter and dryer periods (as well as colder, drier, windier periods) and fruits need water in order to taste great at harvest.  Run soaker hoses or drip lines.  DO NOT USE OVERHEAD WATERING!!!!!  Keep the developing fruit as dry as possible.

Water the trees from September through November.  This is a truly critical time for trees as they absorb and bind water into their tissue for the push next spring.  This will use a lot of water, about 1" at a time every other week.  Think about down spout barrels or gray water if there is a water ban in effect.

Be sure to fertilize, but carefully.  Use an organic, high mineral, low nitrogen fertilizer.  Remember that these plants are fungally dominant so too much easy nitrogen weakens them across their entire structure.  Use foliar fertilizers during the growing season and plan to do your most solid fertilizing in the fall – close to or after leaf fall.  Cover the fertilizer with a fresh covering of woody mulch to trap the old and possibly diseased leaves against the ground so that the erupting microbiology can “eat” the leaves and reduce disease pressure.

And –last but by no means least – all of those insects and diseases really do exist.  As mentioned earlier – take the time to learn about the details of the insects and diseases that can hit your orchard so that you can catch problems before they get way ahead of you.  Here’s the life cycle for our old nemesis – the Japanese beetle just to get you started…from the Alabama Extension agency…and in easy-to-read graphic form. Check the months underneath the graphic and you’ll really understand what’s about to happen as the adults emerge around July 4th.

If you check on line – you’ll see that Google AI has a really good encapsulation of the full life cycle – well worth a quick read if you have the time!

Thanks for reading what turned out to be a longer newsletter than intended!!!  If you have questions, come on in to the store – or check out our next two workshops.  We’ve had all kinds of problems walk through the door and have been able to solve most of them (no one can claim 100%!!!!).

June 28: Managing Gardens for Health and Production-Working with Foliar Sprays, 10:00-11:30 am Here’s where the rubber really hits the road – or should I say leaf??  Foliar sprays can kill insects and diseases directly, but they can also be used to prevent problems from developing and can directly increase the base line health of your plants.  If you’re planning on eating anything from your plants then you’ll also see an improvement in flavor.  limit 10 – and includes enough foliar support for you to spray a gallon when you get home. ($30/person includes leaf inoculants) 

July 19: Troubleshooting the Garden, 1:00-2:30pm You’re back from July 4th vacation and problems have arrived (or are about to!).  This is the time when the expected energy drop in the garden occurs and problems of all kinds becomes amazingly clear. Now’s the time to get on top of whatever is going wrong.  Bring your questions (and any leaves or insects – well contained!) and we’ll see what we can do.  $15.00/person – limit 10